Clothing help available at Hutchinson Community College

By Laci Sutton / Managing Editor-Content

Hutchinson Community College has an abundance of resources available to help its students succeed, including tutoring, counseling and health services.

Thanks to the HutchCC Catholic and Non-Catholic Connections Club, there is also a free assortment of clothing and accessories for students in need.

What started as a coat drive in 2021 quickly evolved into a large winter clothing drive. The more donations they received, the more the group realized how big of an impact they could make.

With the help of HutchCC custodial services coordinator Stony Wilson, the drive turned into a permanent closet space located in the basement of Parker Student Union.

The clothing is available to all HutchCC students and is free of charge. No judgment and no questions asked.

Students looking to shop the closet may contact Molly Stahl, a HutchCC speech instructor.

“What I do is go down and unlock it for them, then I step out and tell them to grab whatever they’d like so they may have privacy while they shop,” Stahl said. “We have bags in there for them to use as well as tote bags and back-packs they can also keep to carry their items out in.”

The closet includes purses, bags, shoes, winter clothing, job-interview attire, bedding, and much more. All items are sorted based on type to make for easy browsing.

Thanks to the donations of students and local community members, the closet is currently fully stocked.

A thrift store located in western Kansas, Ideatek of Buhler, and St. Elizabeth’s Ann Seton – a Catholic church in Wichita – have also been excellent resources for stocking the closet when extra help is needed. 

For anyone interested in donating, there is a drop box located next to the cafeteria in PSU. Donations can also be arranged and given directly to Stahl.

“We’ve been blessed with a generous space, and we know we’ll go through the items,” Stahl said. “We also plan to send items to other organizations if space starts to become an issue.”

Stahl can be reached by email at stahlm@hutchcc.edu or by call or text at 316-243-6264.

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