Our KNX Hero of the Week, Cara Kim, is making her community better by creating a unique donation store at her school!
Kim, a 17-year-old senior at Torrance High School, created TarTar Threads, a boutique-style donation center in a spare classroom.
“The store has mannequins donated by our fashion department and it has dlothes like Lulemon, Target brands, and instead of having the traditional price tags, it has positive messages written by students across our campus,” Kim told Heroes host Heather Jordan.
The boutique allows students dealing with financial insecurity at home to get a new, clean pair of jeans, or a pretty dress. It also helps with awkward situations at school, so kids can feel secure in their clothing, in the case of an emergency.
The idea came following a conversation between Kim and her principal, Karim Girgis, according to a press release. In that conversation, Kim learned that the PTA gift bags made for underserved families were often turned away or not picked up.
“You don't want to feel like a burden to someone, even though we're all struggling,” Kim said. “We don't want to feel like on our end that we're like the problem in a situation.”
Students can go into the boutique one at a time through an online appointment system. The boutique is staffed by counselors and student volunteers, according to the press release.
“It's an amazing project,” Kim said. “t's not just about people donating. It's the fact that people see this and they reach out, not because they want to benefit from it, but because they want to be a part of the solution.”
Kim said she wants to continue helping others after graduation.
“My goal is to become a lawyer and try to become a policymaker and just try to advocate for the people that can't say much. I just really want to stand up for those people in the future,” she said.
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