By Alison McFerrin

The Selma Times-Journal

Come Aug. 8, one fashion will come back into season — school uniforms. This will be the must-have attire for stylin’ city school students. In anticipation of this yearly ‘trend’, people may want to hit the mall, but not to purchase clothes — to donate them.

“It’s a way to relieve the parents of the stress of school coming up and ‘we don’t have the money to buy this, that and the other,’” said Selma City Schools truancy officer Lorraine Capers.

The annual Selma City Schools uniform drive will be held Monday at the Selma Mall from 9 a.m. to noon. Used and new uniforms will be accepted.

“Most of our uniforms are used, but they’re in excellent shape,” Capers said. “We take the uniforms, we wash them, we iron them, and we distribute them.”

Capers said she hopes to collect 3,000 uniforms during this drive, to have on hand for the students who need them.

“It’s a big part of them coming to school and not giving me excuses,” said Capers, who began this program — along with Wallace Community College and the Department of Human Resources — about ten years ago after realizing many children were missing school because of not having the proper uniform.

With the help of AmeriCorps and the Freedom Foundation, donated uniforms are washed and organized by size and school so the children who need them can get them.

“I give out more to younger-aged children — middle and elementary school,” Capers said. “We have some pre-school kids who are required to wear uniforms as well.”

All sizes of uniforms are needed, and for all schools — Capers will have printed lists of each school’s requirements, and the uniform policies are available at Central Office as well.

Capers said the availability of donated uniforms is of real help to parents, “especially when those families have kids who grow out of those uniforms.”

Uniform shirts are about $10, pants are about $14 and shoes are about $24, Capers said, and are available at Super Dollar, Maxway, Dollar General, and JCPenney.

For more information contact Capers at Selma High School: 874-1680.

The drop-off point will be the Selma City Schools bus in the mall. If you miss the donation day, you can also leave donations at the Selma High School front office or call Capers to request a pick up.