Clyde’s Student Needs Closet is a non-needs based clothes pantry that focuses on providing basic clothing to students.
Speaker of the senate Aiyanna Quinones, SGA’s resource manager Madeline Metzger and former senator-at-large Isabella Polombo, who are in charge of the closet, focused on providing daily attire as opposed to Clyde’s Closet’s focus on more formal attire.
The closet provides personal care items and clothing such as winter coats, pants, shirts, hats and anything else a student might need for their daily wear.
The closet’s next initative plans to give out winter break kits, which will provide students with what they need over the break while campus is closed. They are partnering with MOSAIC, who is helping fund the kits to provide the winter clothing.
Currently, the closet has a rack behind Clyde’s Cupboard in the Student Life office, where anyone can scan their barcode then take what they want off the rack. The closet mostly operates based off a pop-up system, or it opens when people with a need reach out.
Although the three people in charge of the closet would like to see it grow into a permanent service, they are facing significant staffing issues.
“At the moment, we are doing pop-ups because, for the most part, it’s two and a half of us every week, so we haven’t been able to put it on as often,” Quinones said.
To keep the closet open in the future, they hope to bring more people onto their team. “We’re going to be gone in the next one to two years, so continuity is one thing we’re all thinking about,” Quinones said. Polombo called on student leaders to get more involved in the closet.
“Our project really signifies what it means to help others, what it means to advocate for students and the wellbeing of students on this campus and genuinely learning to draw from community through acts of service,” she said.
The three feel that this initiative really benefits the wellness of students and allows students to reach their full potential.
“People need access to their most basic needs in order to feel safe,” Metzger said. “It’s basically impossible to imagine students to go through their education and be active members in our community if they’re not having their basic needs met.”
To help effectively provide students with what they need, they encourage students to provide their feedback.
Students looking to get involved can volunteer for the winter break kit initative or volunteer to help out with inventory and pop-ups.
Future opportunities for students looking to get involved include particpitating in ClydeCon in the spring semester. The large event gives students the opportunity to thrift, swap clothing and grab free clothes from the student needs closet.
Students interested in donating to the student needs closet can donate shoes, new socks, new underwear, sanitary items, hair brushes and hair ties and more inclusive sizing for clothes.
Photo from UCCS photography database.