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Silo School to offer free clothes closet to community

DURANT – Silo School has no extra space, but the staff is searching for a place to house a community clothes closet.

The closet operated over Christmas break on December 21, when the families who were served by Silo’s Angel Tree project came to pick up the gifts donated by teachers, school staff, and local churches. Sixty-three families received gifts for their children through the Angel Tree project, and the school plans to continue to serve these families and more through the clothes closet.

Since school was out December 21, a classroom was used to distribute clothes, but when classes resume January 3, all available space will be used for teaching.

The school is one of the fastest growing in the state, having added students at a rate of sixty percent since 2001, and ten percent in the past year, with enrollment at 840, in a school built for 400 students. Office space has been converted to classroom space, and four portable buildings had to be brought in this past summer.

Despite these difficult circumstances, every effort is being made to serve the community, says Elementary Principal Katie Brister.

“We hardly have enough room to house all our students, much less a clothes closet, but we are trying,” Brister says.

School-based social worker Donna Ramsey headed up the Angel Tree and clothes closet efforts. There is great need for the clothes closet in the district, Ramsey said.

“There are many families in our district who don’t even have transportation to get into Durant, so a local service is needed,” Ramsey said.

Student groups BETA, FFA, FCCLA, and 4-H helped sort and distribute clothes at the December 21 giveaway, and Brister said these students would continue to run the clothes closet.

These student groups do community service projects year-round: the 4-H group organized a food drive for local needy families at Thanksgiving.

When a location for the clothes closet is chosen and operating hours decided, the information will be announced. For questions in the meantime, please contact Ramsey at 924-7001.