Johnston-McQueen Elementary students have new place to get shoes, clothes on campus

LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) - Johnston-McQueen Elementary School has partnered with nonprofit Communities in Schools of East Texas to provide a shoe and clothes closest for their students.

It all started last year when P.E. teacher Rochelle Northcutt saw the need in her own classroom.

“I would have numerous kids that would come up to me and ask me if I had shoes because theirs were either too big because they were having to wear their parent’s shoes, or they’re too small.” says Northcutt.

According to the school nurse, there was even a need for more uniforms as students would sometimes have accidents or polos would get snagged.

And that is where Communities in Schools comes in, to identify needs on campus and finds ways to help students stay confident in the classroom.

Communities in Schools coordinator Andy Sanders says, “So we said, you know what, let’s see if the community could help meet that need. And we were able to begin our school year, this is a brand new effort that is only about a week old.”

So far, the closet received donations from teachers, parents and community members like Gwen Sievley who put a lot of time and effort into making this readily available to the students.

“I just enjoyed it, really. It was just a great time just to go around to resale shops basically for these uniforms. I just took it home and washed them and ironed them and made them look fresh again.” says Sievley.

Sievley has owned a daycare for several years and is no stranger to the needs that children have, so she wanted to reach out to help in any way she could.

The closet is also serving other campuses across the district, like Judson Middle and the Montessori school.

Sanders says this effort plans to keep moving forward.

Sanders also hopes to meet physical needs like gas cards and food, and create partnerships with other nonprofits in the future.

If you would like to donate, you can drop off items at the Johnston-McQueen Elementary School. And if you would like to get involved to help meet other needs for the school, you can contact Andy Sanders at cisjmcqueen@lisd.org.

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