Mia Cabardo and Jahmere Grant carried a box of pants out the front doors of East Stroudsburg High School South and to a vehicle waiting outside.
The students, members of the school’s Key Club, hope those pants will create opportunities for others. The club sorted 650 pairs of new pants purchased by the Pocono Mountains United Way and distributed them to 10 clothing closets on Friday.
“We're just a really passionate group of students, and we were really excited to be a part of this project,” said Mia, a junior at the school and president of the club.
Thanks to a connection with a warehouse in Chambersburg and using donations, the United Way purchased the 650 pairs of pants for $2 each.
“We just believe treating people with dignity and respect is so important, so giving them high-quality pants that can be used in very versatile settings was the right thing to do,” said Michael Tukeva, United Way president and CEO.
The organization reached out to the school district for help. Key Club members sorted the pants by men's and women's sizes and prepared them for clothing closets in the region. Students stocked some of the pants at an in-school pantry frequented by their peers.
“As soon as Key Club was contacted to help out, we were completely willing and ready to go,” Jahmere said. “We alerted our club right away that we have this need.”
The United Way has seen growing need in the community, including a 40% increase at area food pantries.
"Times are tough, and so we recognize that little things like this are a way for us to give back and support people in their journey to find employment, but also to show up at work in high-quality clothes that allow them to feel that they have value and that they are going to do an amazing job that day," Tukeva said.
Gina Scala, chair of special education, rehabilitation and applied behavior analysis at East Stroudsburg University, picked up pants for a clothing closet.
The Top Threads closet started as a way to help education students when they went out into the field and has since expanded to other departments. The closet will now include new pants.
“We really see the community as being a critical partner with us and helping us to remove roadblocks that stood in the way of students doing what they had to do,” Scala said.
