Earlier this month, the De Soto High School LITE team (Leaders in Teen Education) hosted a clothing drive for a charitable organization called Blake’s Closer.

The DHS volunteer group chose to host the drive after Jennifer Sosna, librarian and leader of LITE team, got in touch with Blue Valley West High School student Blake Carnes. When the Blue Valley Multi-Service Center Clothing Closet was closed due to program restructuring by the Johnson County Human Services in December of 2010, Carnes started her own organization in partnership with Stilwell United Methedist Church.

“I saw the constant need for clothing in the community and so did my family, and we knew that was our chance to help so I asked if we could start Blake’s Closet,” Carnes said.

For the first year the LITE team had ever worked with Blake’s Closet, DHS did quite a good job.

“I thought we’d get 500 or so [donations], but we’ve already collected way more than that,” Sosna said.

In total, DHS students collected 3,274 clothing items, including shirts, pants, socks and jackets.

This amazing turnout took everyone by surprise.

“It was overwhleming, incredibly overwhelming,” Sosna said.

Carnes was also shocked when she learned of the donation size.

“No school or organization had collected that many items and I was thrilled by the schools involvement,” Carnes explained. “When I heard how many items were collected I was immediately thankful because that will allow us to serve more people than ever.”

After far exceeding the goal of 500 items, Carnes will be honoring DHS with a plaque and special acknowledgement on the Internet. All of the donations from DHS will be open to ‘shop’ on Oct. 29, 2011, at the Blake’s Closet event.