A TikTok video and a student who needed a hairbrush provided the inspiration for Sydney Bailey to meet the needs of the kindergarten through fifth grade students at Winn Holt Elementary in Lawrenceville. While the original idea posted online was to collect supplies to one classroom, Bailey expanded the concept to embrace the entire 1,300 student body.
Bailey, who is in her fourth year as the school’s clinic worker, usually handles students’ illnesses and medications. Now, with an expanded storage area called the Care Closet, she also doles out new tennis shoes, jackets, snacks, ramen noodles and mac ‘n cheese for home, reusable water bottles, school supplies, book bags, toilet paper, socks, gloves, deodorant, toothpaste and hair care products, including bows and brushes.
The project has been going strong for almost a year, but it’s only been in the last few months that Bailey has opened up the closet to the entire school community.
“The whole thing was jumpstarted when a student came and told me the person who had custody of them didn’t know how to do their hair,” said Bailey. “We went out and bought hairbrushes and did her hair. Initially, we just ran to the store to fulfill the needs.”
Bailey realized the need went well beyond the basics. She consulted with then Principal Ellyce Cone and carved out space to create the closet and stocked it with supplies to meet a range of needs. Staff members made contributions, and Bailey received two $300 grants from Publix and donations from the Lawrenceville First Baptist Church to stock the closet.
“A lot of times, kids will come in for something like ChapStick and wind up getting other things to take home as well,” said Bailey. “We now have two storage cabinets and display shelves like a grocery store. If the supply gets low, we pull stuff out of storage. And that happens regularly because we go through supplies quite a bit.”
Bailey also shops regularly for items she knows students need.
“I’ve been very happy with how it’s turned out,” she said. “And the kids are, too. They really like going in there to see what’s available.”
Information about Winn Holt is online at gcpsk12.org/WinnHoltES.
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