The Kindness Closet club first originated back at the old Morgan school in 2015 to bring sunshine to students’ lives. After the school closed down in the spring of 2016 the club wasn’t started up again in the new Morgan school in 2017 until a few seniors Jacquelyn Ciarleglio, Avery Vece and Karla Duque came to Spanish teacher Laura Luther, the advisor for the club, to kick the club back up again during there junior year in 2025.
Jacquelyn Ciarleglio, Avery Vece and Karla Duque were involved in the Courage for Kindness Club when they were freshman and during their sophomore year the club shut down due to limited participation. The Courage for kindness club was only to make the school more positive through events that already were planned at Morgan for charity. The club did things like bake sales for students. The girls believed that the club had a huge impact on the school in various ways, like bringing little ounces of kindness in students’ lives to help them sustain a good school year.
Feeling its loss, the three came together their junior year and brought attention to Mrs. Luther about their idea of the creation of the kindness closet club that is now successful today – bringing in more dedicated members and seeing a growth in participation.
Senior Avery Vece mainly wanted to make a difference when picking this club back up again alongside the other contributors, “I wanted to make it more private and not as public, so students don’t feel uncomfortable knowing they need help and knowing there are places in the school where they can get what they need,” said Vece.
Kindness closet meets three times a month, before school, to generate ideas to help the less fortunate students at Morgan. In the beginning of this 2025-2026 school year, the club met to set goals for what they wanted to accomplish and finalize already made plans from last school year. “The goals for this school year is to supply as much as we can to students all around the school, such as keeping up our closet full of personal items, some clothing, some snacks and making sure everyone gets what they need,” said Laura Luther.
There are bins placed around the school – in Mrs. Luther’s room, guidance office, athletic office and front office – that are filled with essentials that students need throughout the school day such as snacks, personal hygiene items, etc. These bins are restocked by club members each month after school in Mrs. Luther’s room to keep them filled.
The club has several plans for the year, including, writing Valentine’s Day cards, giving Thanksgiving dinners to families in need, as well as holiday and Christmas gifts.
Mrs. Luther, along with the club, feels extremely lucky to receive a ginormous money donation of $1240 from Four Kids’ Cookies by Mrs. Amy Morrissey to supply students with treats earlier in the 2025-2026 school year. Although this is different from what the club traditionally offers, they are excited to see how these students feel about having a treat to make their day a little sweater while they are put in school classrooms in bins and holiday bags.
To start this 2025-2026 school year, members of the club came together to fill bags with personal items each student needs to make their school year successful. “In those bags, we provide school supplies, school spiritware, a homecoming ticket, prom ticket, booster sports pass, hygiene items, food like bagged snacks and non-perishable items,” said Laura Luther. A huge item that is a big part of getting the school involved is the booster passes. The club provided these, so the students in need can feel more welcome in the school atmosphere at any game during all three sports seasons.
All of these items filled in the bags are chosen from the kindness closet club and are able to get the items from grants the club receives from the Clinton community. The club applies for grants as well, such as the Clinton Education Foundation, which gives the club so much money to support students, such as $250 the first time the club applied for the grant last year and in the 2025-2026 school year they supported the club with $750. Retired Clinton Public School teachers have supported the Kindness Closet Club in the past, generously donating $700 last year, which helped the club in many meaningful ways.
This club has opened many of the members’ eyes in many ways and has taught them life lessons. “This made me realize that there are a lot of students that are struggling in silence and don’t have the products they need to live their day-to-day life, so giving what I can to help them if they don’t know if it’s directly from me makes me feel accomplished,” said Vece. When the club members see students using the bins to their advantage, they know they are doing something powerful.
The kindness closet hopes to continue to make a lasting impact at The Morgan School, proving that even small acts of compassion can create a stronger, more supportive community. Expanding out of the high school and spreading this idea of giving to the other students within the Clinton Public Schools is something that they are looking into for the near future.
