The 2022/2023 school year has officially ended!
As we end this school year, we reflect on how we served the needs of our students and all that was made possible because of support from our community.
While we recognize our accomplishments, we also evaluate how our students’ challenges deepen and expand as the world evolves and their access to social media and other technologies becomes a prominent part of their daily lives.
This end-of-school season, we’re seeing a focus on the topic of bullying and mental health across the schools and communities we serve.
Our organization provides clothing and other basic necessities to students in need, and there is a direct connection between access to basics and mental health and bullying.
Here’s how:
- When children have the power to choose the clothing and basic necessities they want and need, they gain a newfound sense of confidence, which impacts their mental health.
- Appearance and lack of clothing is one of the most common reasons students are bullied. When children have a variety of clothing that’s in line with current trends, the visible sign of poverty disappears and bullying is stopped before it starts.
What our students have to say
We conducted an end-of-school-year survey for middle and high school students to gauge how they feel about Catie’s Closet, the importance of having access to clothing and basic necessities in their schools, and how bullying impacts their school’s community.
Half of the student respondents thus far cited poverty, clothing, and appearance as the reason bullying occurs in their school.
When asked how important it is to have access to clothing and personal items right in their school, one student told us:
“It’s nice to have new clothes to wear so I don’t have to wear the same thing everyday.”
Another said:
“It is extremely important to have a closet like this for our student body. Due to the fact of the demographics of our students and their families. Some of our students are financially responsible for their clothing, working jobs, taking care of family members, sometimes they don’t have time for themselves.”
Hearing directly from our students will help us better understand the challenges students currently face and how Catie’s Closet can be a consistent resource throughout their most formative years.
Preparing for the next school year
When the school year comes to an end, Catie’s Closet begins its busiest time of the year.
We’re currently located in 123 schools across Massachusetts and New Hampshire and operate three Distribution Centers in Dracut, Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts. With these closets and Distribution Centers, we serve more than 85,000 students.
Over the next school year, we expect to open 20 more closets.
To prepare for each school year and ensure our closets are stocked and Distribution Centers are filled to support those closets, our team works tirelessly throughout the summer.
We visit our closets to note necessary updates, collect, sort and process thousands of donations, organize and fill every existing and new closet. And we do this all while also operating our SOS Urgent Response Program, which serves an additional 5,000 students throughout the year.
Always there for our students
While students are up against growing challenges, we know they can be very resilient when given the proper tools, resources, and support.
No matter what, Catie’s Closet is committed to being a constant tool, resource and support system to students across our communities.
We invite you to join us as we serve our students through summer and prepare for the 2023/2024 school year to ensure our students have everything they need to succeed.
