Next Level Giving

BHS Career Skills has taken the idea of giving back to the next level. Their Free Shopping Event for BCSD families-in-need filled the First Baptist Church chapel with clothing in all sizes for adults, children, toddlers and infants, as well as maternity clothes and school supplies. The donations, which included brand-new designer items with tags, amounted to over $48,000. 

“It feels great to help out,” said student Christian Pinel.

This is the third year for the event, and the staff and students have hit their stride. 

Students from Donna Schneider, Sarah Barnes and Denise Galgano’s Career Skills class along with Maider Solores, the District’s Community Outreach Specialist, spent the past four months getting ready for the event, which had more than 353 customers who arrived at a designated time slot on September 16th between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. and gave away over 3000 pieces of clothing.

On the day of the event, classroom aide, Kim Gagliardo, sat on the floor with Justin Gagnon, Benjamin Luna and Christian Pinel and explained the best folding methods. “Hamburger, hotdog,” she said, meaning fold it wide and short first, then fold it long and narrow.

“This Christmas sweater says it’s a 36, does that mean it goes in the XXL stack?” asked Christian.

District Office administrators also chipped in to help out.

“The quality of the event and the items means so much to families–these are beautiful brand new clothes with tags,” said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment Maggie Mccabe-Andriello who was lending a hand by folding and stacking clothes.

Tables were piled high with clothes stacked by size and type: winter coats and snow pants, long sleeve shirts and sweatshirts, hats and mittens, t-shirts, pants, and Halloween costumes. In total, there were 100 bags and 38 boxes of brand new clothing brought over by the BCSD custodial staff. Congregants from the church also helped move bags and boxes of clothing.

The clothes were either donated by families and the PTA, from the lost-and-found, and from a generous donation by the United Way that included brand-new Calvin Klein and White House Black Market clothing. 

 “We are so grateful for the generosity of our community,” said Schneider,  “Their support makes experiences like this possible and shows our students the power of kindness and connection. Events like this fit right into our classroom mission—teaching life skills, building confidence, and creating meaningful opportunities for every student to grow and shine.”