'Closet' opens at Lakewood

Jan. 10—Much-needed relief has come to students at Lakewood High School as they recently opened their new Cinderella's Closet and food pantry. A project that was made possible quickly thanks to a unified community effort.

Both the food pantry and Cinderella's Closet are located on the LHS campus housed inside an old mobile unit that was revamped during these projects. Inside, students are able to get free food and other items to help them get through without ever being hungry. Plus, while visiting, they can shop for everything from a nice dress, tuxedo, shoes and accessories to everyday casual wear, also for free.

The idea for the pantry came from Lakewood's Career Development Coordinator Heather Tew, who shared the story on what compelled her to bring this to Lakewood.

"So this is actually a double project wrapped in one," she said. "I came into this position at the beginning of the semester in August and I knew that in years past, there was a program called Backpack Buddies."

"We were serving students through that program, and we still are, but my vision and hope was to expand that into a food pantry," she continued. "I wanted to make it where students don't just get quick, easy meals on the weekends. With this pantry, they can come and shop for free in a place where they can get any kind of food — not just food either. They can get personal hygiene products and household products — especially those, because even if they have food stamps, they can't use those food stamps for those items."

"That was really my hope and vision, and I didn't think that it would actually come to fruition so quickly."

It was during the time she was formulating ideas for the pantry that the opportunity for its location came available which was, at that time, her biggest roadblock. Fortunately for Tew, the school was building a new mobile unit for classes, opening up a vacancy elsewhere.

"So our school is in the process of building a new mobile unit to house more classrooms and our problem originally with this food pantry vision was having nowhere to put it," she said. "With that new unit, I knew that it was coming and they were working on it over the summer."

"Whenever I got hired, I asked Mr. John Goode, my principal, was there any room in that big mobile unit for a food pantry and he said no it's all filled up," Tew continued. "But, he did tell me we had an old mobile unit that I could share with our Cinderella's Closet and so that's where we went with that."

It was after that she began working with fellow colleague and English teacher Trisha Millem who was heading the Cinderella's Closet. Tew would then go on to explain how the Cinderella's closet works for those unaware.

"Cinderella's Closet, this is where the two and one comes into play," Tew said. "Cinderella Closet is just a little space for girls to come shop for prom dresses, homecoming dresses, shoes and accessories for free."

"It started super small several years ago, but I think maybe last year, one of our teachers, Trisha Millem, received a huge donation from a consignment shop that was going out of business," she said. I don't know if they only carried prom dresses, or what, but she received hundreds of prom dresses and shoes and accessories."

"So we needed a place to house all of that and all the food that I was hoping to be able to stock, get and keep for the student."

From then on their work to transform the old unit into what it is now begun. Something that should've been a long and tough process if not for the support they received from Lowe's.

"Mr. Goode said we can have the old mobile unit once it gets cleaned out and that'll be where we house it and I said okay," Tew said. "This mobile unit was pretty bad off and I'm telling you what, this next opportunity just landed in our lap."

"Lowe's Home Improvement came to Mr. Goode and said they partner with Hometown Heroes, which is where they get grant money to pretty much do projects for communities and they wanted to know if we had any project for them to put that money to use for us."

Naturally, they requested aid for the mobile unit restoration but even Tew was surprised by how much Lowe's was able to offer and support them.

"Of course we said yes, you can help us remodel this old mobile unit to house the pantry and Cinderella's closet and that's exactly what they did," she said. "I don't know what their budget was, they never told me, but they asked me tons of questions. Then they came out took a look and they talked to Miss Millem about Cinderella's Closet and to me about the food pantry."

"After they got our vision they just came out and revamped the whole thing and it looks awesome."

"Not only that, they did it all for free," Tew said. "They supplied the materials, they supplied the labor, they helped us design and decorate. It was just a complete 180 from what it once was."

If the support from Lowe's wasn't already astounding when it came time to fill the food pantry, the aid from the community continued to pour in.

"When we got everything set up for the food pantry we had the stuff for the display like the refrigerator, shelving and all that but we didn't have any food," Tew said. "So then it was down to how I could get donations and keep them coming."

"We had reached out to local churches at the beginning of the semester and at first we got lots of donations and we had enough food for Backpack Buddies for months," Tew continued. "But, after a little while, those donations started to die down, then I was running low, and the students were getting used to being able to take that food home every weekend."

"It was starting to get a little nerve racking and I was like how am I gonna do this?"

It was at that moment she reached out to the local Salemburg Christian Food Bank and her worries were soon put to rest.

"I found the phone number to Salemburg Christian Food Bank and it happened to be Mr. Norman McPhail's cell phone number," Tew said. "I told him the predicament that I was in and he just said don't worry about it, we're gonna handle it."

"Pretty much that's all it took and then he asked what I needed just to get the Backpack Buddies surviving before we move into the whole food pantry," she said. "He also said, tell me what you need to last the year, the rest of the semester or for a few months so the students have food to take home on the weekend."

Tew was left mesmerized after what McPhail was able to pull off next.

"I told him what we needed and I'm not sure exactly what he did next rather he solicited or reached out to the community and told them what was going on," she said. "Seriously, I don't know what he did, but he brought so much food it really just lifted the stress, burden and worry straight off my shoulders. That whole food pantry is stocked from top to bottom with food for these Backpack Buddies

"It is unreal and we are all so so grateful."

As for the quality and set up of the Cinderella's Closet, Tew assured students they won't just be getting leftovers or bad hand-me-downs.

"After the revamp, we made sure all the prom dresses got displayed in the mobile unit and it looks like a little boutique," she said. "You won't go in there and feel like you're getting a handout or anything and that's what we were hoping for. Because, whenever you're thinking like, I don't know, a free prom dress, you're probably thinking we're just gonna get the bottom of the barrel pick. But, when you walk in there, there's really nice dresses and it just looks like you're walking into a store."

Tew then mentioned that they are currently open to accepting a storage unit, dry cleaning services and alterations as donations for Cinderella's Closet.

However, she did note that while they are grateful for further donations for the Cinderella's Closet, it was packed with prom dresses and so they're only accepting specific items currently. These included men's attire, such as suits, tux, dress shoes, ties and other related items.

"We would like to expand the men's wear because we have so many prom dresses," Tew said. "We don't want it to be just for the ladies and we don't have very many items for the fellas. So if anybody has any of those, we'll take that but as of right now, we're not accepting prom dresses."

For more information or donations to the unit, Tew said reach out to her at htew@sampson.k12.nc.us as the point of contact for the food pantry. For the Cinderella's Closet, contact Millem at tmillem@sampson.k12.nc.us.

Reach Michael B. Hardison at 910-249-4231. Follow us on Twitter at @SamsponInd, like us on Facebook, and check out our Instagram at @thesampsonindependent.