Dress Like You Club provides clothes for students in need
Winter coats, sweaters, T-shirts, and even simple tennis shoes are all privileges many students take for granted. Many unfortunate students don’t have the means to acquire school-appropriate clothing, but the Dress Like You Club is hoping to change that.
The Dress Like You Club was formed at Southwest High School in September 2023 and is committed to providing clothing and shoes for students in need.
The club began with a single idea. Club President Diego Mendoza, senior, came up with the vision for the club during the summer of 2023 and made it a reality thanks to the support of the SHS associated student body and Cory Fitzsimmons, a science teacher at SHS.
“One day I felt like I had too much,” Mendoza said. “I have so much I’m taking advantage of so I was just like I want to do something about it.”
The club had a rocky start with difficulty getting people involved and spreading news of the new organization, but people began to join once they heard about the club’s mission.
“I went to the first club meeting and Diego was explaining what the club was, which is donating clothes, and I had a lot of clothes to donate,” Airis Lizarraga, senior, and club vice-president, said. “I wanted to be able to help those in need by giving them clothes and providing a support system within the school.”
The club is specifically looking for donations of school-appropriate clothing since they want to give students clothes they can wear on a daily basis.
Fitzsimmons said that the clothes must follow the school dress code with no depictions of drugs or weapons, no excessively short bottoms, or cropped shirts. The clothes must also be in good shape. They do not accept overly ripped or stained clothing; the clothes must be washed before being donated.
“The criteria is just, is it in good condition?” Fitzsimmons, club supervisor said. “We don’t want to give people bad clothes, we want them to be getting nice things.”
Although the club is fairly new, they have big plans for the future. Mendoza said he hopes to one day see the club and its mission reach other schools across the Imperial Valley.
“I hope to see this club getting to the people that need it, “Mendoza said. “That’s the whole purpose of this club, for homeless and foster students, so we want those clothes to get to those students.”
In the meantime, students can find the Dress Like You closet in the SHS library. They can also drop off unwanted or unused clothing pieces in room I-46 to contribute to the club.
“It feels nice to help out others who are in need and give what you can to them,” Karely Lazos, sophomore, said.