ADM Clothes Closet: A Spotlight Story

The ADM clothes closet is a non-profit organization at ADM run by senior Celia Kreifels. She started this organization over Covid year (2020) when everyone was at home and masked up. The idea behind the ADM clothes closet was to bring in apparel and a sense of belonging to new students, foreign exchange students, and financially struggling students. The closet is known to appear at the student council’s new student tours at the beginning of the school year but is always open if needed. The closet is present in many spots in the community. She has a small closet with designated sizes in all 5 schools in the ADM district. The high school and middle school share a closet that contains adult sizes and is located in Mrs. Miller’s classroom.

The inspiration for the ADM clothes closet came from the spare time that came with covid in 2020. When cleaning out her closet Kreifels found many ADM clothes that she no longer wore or were too small. She wanted to donate the clothing but also wanted an ADM student to be able to get usage out of the clothes. So she started the closet. She reached out to the ADM counselors asking if there was a need for donated ADM clothing and it’s gained popularity and size ever since.

The road to growing the closet hasn’t been easy though. Some of the difficulties experienced have been people reaching out asking to donate gear that is not ADM apparel. “As much as I appreciate them wanting to help the gear does have to be strictly ADM and I run into a lot of people asking to donate other clothing,” Celia says. Another struggle has been obtaining the correct sizes. When the closet was first formed the biggest thing was finding enough sizes to provide for all of the age groups and students that she wanted to help. Her solution to this was to promote as much as possible. Kreifels posted an ad on Facebook reaching out to the community asking for their donations to start up her organization. Mrs. Miller promoted the idea through the school. And Hannah Sanders held lunches with the new students and exchange students where they were able to shop within the closet for some ADM gear. 

With Kreifels being a senior this year the big question surrounding the ADM clothes closet is what is going to happen to it after she leaves. In response to this Celia stated, “Right now the plan is for Student Council to take over the high school gear and my sister will run all of the elementary operations.” She also touched on the idea of staying involved with the closet based on her College decision.

The ADM clothes closet has helped many students feel welcomed into the district this year. A few of them were asked to come forward and talk about the closet. Emily Neal (10th grader) and Jolynne Roeder (10th grader) shared their points of view. They both appreciate the closet very much and felt as though it helped them transition into the ADM community. “It was nice to have something to wear to sporting events or around school, it helped me feel like I fit in.” Neal stated. Roeder also touched on this subject, “It made me feel included and it was nice to not have to be stressed about finding clothing that repped the ADM logo.” They both talked about how the ADM clothes closet was the main source of their ADM gear when they first got here. As a new student or exchange student, it’s hard to be aware of booster club clothing orders and obtain gear so they both appreciate Celia and her organization very much. “Overall I just think it’s awesome that there’s something that makes new students feel welcomed and appreciated, It makes you feel special,” Neal said.