‘Uncommon Threads’: Mesquite Junior High Launches ‘Not Your Typical’ Thrift Store
‘Uncommon Threads’: Mesquite Junior High Launches ‘Not Your Typical’ Thrift Store
Dawn Mackay
On Thursday, September 26th, Mesquite Junior High (MJH) celebrated the opening of their campus thrift store, ‘Uncommon Threads’, with a community event on their campus. The event brought together community members and the staff, students and families of Mesquite Junior to celebrate the opening of a one-of-a-kind campus project.
The store exists to provide all MJH students and families easy access to much needed clothing and essentials. However, this is not your typical campus store. Everything about the way “Uncommon Threads” operates intentionally reduces stigma for families, while providing them with what they need. The original vision of Mesquite Junior principal Kari Castro is a well-designed, well-stocked thrift store, brought to life by the local community.
The store itself looks like a retail environment, stylishly decorated, with clothing racks and displays like any you would find at the mall, and shelves filled with clothes that junior high students actually want to wear. Students, scout troops, GPS alumni, MJH staff, and the people of Gilbert have all come together to create a truly unique and supportive shopping experience for the students and families of the school.
The team leaders behind this project are school social worker Hailey James and ESAP counselor Dr. JJ Reid. They have worked directly with the local community to secure plentiful donations, often through Facebook groups like “Go Gilbert”, and have partnered with “Vans” and “Big Lots” to stock the store with clothing that students are excited and proud to wear. Sertoma of Mesa also provided support to get the project started, with a $5,000 grant to turn a classroom into a store and for important supplies like hangers.
Students and families can visit “Uncommon Threads” by appointment, ensuring a relaxed and private shopping experience. The currency of the store is “Mustang Bucks” which can be earned by Mesquite Junior students through acts of kindness and respectful behavior on campus. So not only is the store providing an important service to students and families, it is also actively promoting real acts of kindness campus-wide, as Dr JJ Reid explained, “We want the caught being good when no one else is looking kind of kindness.”
It has taken an entire community coming together to make Principal Kari Castro’s vision become a reality and the community can continue to support this important resource for MJH families by reaching out to the school to donate clothing and lightly used items.