Family hosts clothing, toiletries drive for Catie's Closet

NEWBURYPORT — A River Valley Charter School family is collecting clothing and toiletry donations for Catie's Closet as a way to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service on Monday.

Catie's Closet is a Dracut-based nonprofit that stocks clothing and toiletries in unused spaces at schools so students can get what they need without going out of their way. 

Erin Seaton, who teaches in the education department at Tufts University, said many of her students work with Catie's Closet as interns or student teachers at the schools the nonprofit supports.

 Catie's Closet has seen a "100% increase in clothing and toiletry requests for children living in poverty" amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the nonprofit's website. 

In recognizing this need, Seaton said her family wanted to complete a service project centered around helping children for the National Day of Service.

Seaton's oldest child is a graduate of the charter school and her daughter Cady is a sixth-grader there. When Cady reached out to the school staff to see if they would host a bin and encourage donations, they were quick to take on the project, Seaton said.

Catie's Closet accepts toiletries such as shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, deodorant, feminine products and lotion. New socks and underwear are also welcome, as well as new or gently used children's clothing. Winter clothes and jackets are especially needed right now.

Christina Carico, a special education teacher at the school, spent Monday collecting donations with her son Zeke, a sixth-grader at Nock Middle School, and his friend Bennett Beaulier, a fifth-grader at Molin Upper Elementary School. 

Carico put out a call for donations on Facebook and right away, several families responded. They drove to six houses to pick up donations outside each family's home and brought them to Seaton's home in West Newbury, where she is collecting everything.

Zeke, Bennett and Bennett's 5-year-old brother, Gus, made thank-you cards for each home where they picked up donations. 

Seaton will continue to collect donations through Feb. 1. For more information, email eeseaton@gmail.com.

For more on the mission of Catie's Closet, visit www.catiescloset.org.