Connecting Through Clothes
From Feb. 2 to Feb. 3, members of the Latino Connection Club organized a thrift store where they sold clothes collected through a donation drive held at school. The goal of this was to collect money for Corazon de Vida, an organization that provides support for orphans in Baja California, Mexico. According to data from the California Department of Education, 11.7% of students enrolled at Peninsula are Hispanic or Latino. Despite the large number of Latino people at the school, senior Alejandra Muller always felt that the Latino community at Peninsula did not receive enough representation. This led her and her sister, Sophia Muller, to submit their club charter to create the Latino Student Union in September of 2022. During this time, senior Tommie Phillips also submitted a charter form for his club, La Conexion Club. The Muller sisters’ original idea for their club was to mainly volunteer and promote donation opportunities to benefit Latino communities. Meanwhile, Phillips’s purpose for his club focused on creating engaging activities for students to participate in and learn about Latino culture. By October, the two clubs decided to merge and form the Latino Connection Club, with Alejandra Muller and Phillips as co-presidents. Alejandra Muller became president of the service branch and Phillips the president of the activities branch. Additionally, Sophia Muller became the vice president and is involved in both branches’ decisions.
The Latino Connection Club strives to help students of Peninsula gain better understanding of Latino culture by participating in culturally relevant activities and serving Latino communities through fundraising events. Alejandra Muller decided to hold the thrift store after she experienced a college merchandise exchange in her Service Learning Leadership class, where students bought and traded clothes with each other. She loved this concept since a lot of students wear similar styles of clothing, allowing people to find many options of clothes that matched the new college they had committed to. When the club decided to hold the thrift store as their next fundraiser event, they began to collect the clothes with a donation drive that lasted from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27. Buckets were set up around the school where students could drop off their unwanted clothing. Some teachers gave out extra credit to students who donated clothes, prompting further engagement. By the end of the drive, they gathered a total of 25 large trash bags full of clothing. This considerable sum of clothes posed a welcomed issue because organizing it proved challenging.
“Coming to school and folding the clothes was very memorable,” Sophia Muller said. “It was an overwhelming amount, it was heavy and we had all the clothes in the baseball shed, so taking all that stuff and sorting it into price ranges and folding it all was stressful, but fun.”
The members of the Latino Connection Club ended up spending nearly four hours dividing all the pieces of clothing into different prices, with T-shirts and shorts selling for $2, hoodies, jeans and sweaters for $5 and high-quality clothing like dresses or trendy items for $10. Corazon de Vida also helped the preparation as they put Phillips in contact with the owner of Inka Wasi, a Peruvian restaurant located in the Peninsula Shopping Center. This allowed the club to sell food at the thrift store as well, creating more revenue and attraction. To advertise for this event, Alejandra Muller and Phillips created a video which some teachers showed to their students. Posters and social media posts were also used to promote this event. By Feb. 2, the thrift store had been fully set up in the gym and thoroughly prepared. Going into the thrift store knowing all that it took to get the event ready, Alejandra Muller was thrilled.
“I was honestly super excited,” Alejandra Muller said. “When I was talking with my friends and different classmates, everyone was exhilarated to help out with the cause so I was extremely optimistic going into it.”
The event met and exceeded their collection goal as they had originally estimated that they would raise $150 dollars, but the event raised $865. For two days, the gym was full of students buying clothes and food from the thrift store during lunch. With this event, students simultaneously purchased clothes of their liking as well as helped raise money for a good cause. Going forward, the Latino Connection Club hopes to hold the thrift store annually.
“A memorable moment for me was seeing a girl walk out with one of my favorite shirts from freshman year,” Phillips said. “That shirt had been sitting in my closet for a long time, but another student was excited to add it to her wardrobe. I enjoyed seeing how students were able to repurpose used clothing and I hope we inspired more unique fundraisers at Peninsula.”
