Carolyn Collins is a high-school custodian. One day, four years ago, she was about to take out the garbage in the early darkness of the morning when she heard someone knocking on the door of the cafeteria.
She went to open the door and there were two students- a boy and a girl who looked at her nervously and asked if they could come in.
Even though the school didn’t start for two more hours, the boy said that he and his sister were tired of waiting outside.
The boy and the girl said to Carolyn that they had been living in a car together with their mother.
She dropped them off early in order for them to get ready in the restrooms.
This is when Collins’ eyes began to fill with tears. Since the teens were hungry, she made them some milk, cereal, and fruit.
Collins Creates the Giving Closet
Today, this custodian has a giving closet in the school that she came up with inspired by this heartbreaking moment. The closet is full of clothes, shoes, food, toothpaste, shampoos, deodorants, etc.
All of these things are free for any of the students in the Tucker High School that’s located 25 miles from Atlanta.
Collins who’s 55 said that she was aware that these weren’t the only children struggling. So, she wanted to do whatever she could to help them.
Only hours after she let in the homeless students, she visited several stores after work on her 6-mile drive home.
She spent $200 on socks, snacks, underwear, toiletries, notebooks, and pencils. The next day, she contacted the principal and let the school staff know that she was planning on helping the students in need.
She said she’s hopeful they will provide her with the needed space to do this.
They said that an old storage room is available. That day, Collins cleaned it out and her ‘giving closet’ was ready.
The Success of the Giving Closet
As of 2014, any of the school’s 1800 students who need things like school supplies, book bags, clothes, food, soap, etc. can quietly say it to Collins and she’ll open up the closet for them.
According to Eric Parker, 43 and principal of the school, Collins has a giving heart and she’s a real beacon of light for the children in need.
Unfortunately, this school has a lot of students who’re poor and around 10 to 15 children who’re homeless at any time.
Parker further added that the commitment to the school’s children is heartwarming and children know they can trust her to help and listen.
Collins, the Wonder Woman of Tucker High School
Between her work duties of polishing, sweeping, mopping, and taking out trash, Collins always finds the time to restock the closet and reach out to students.
She’s also doing her best to help children because of another, much more painful reason.
Sadly, several years ago, Collins and her husband received a terrible phone call before Thanksgiving.
Their son, while visiting a friend, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed during a home robbery.
Collins misses him every day and she says she wants to provide children what they need so they don’t have to steal. She doesn’t want other parents to experience what she did and lose a young child for no reason.
According to her estimates, she’s helped around 150 students with the giving closet and spends around few hundred dollars per month.
But, others from the school help too- teachers, other students, and community members also donate a lot of stuff.
Students Love Collins with all their Heart
Some of the former students described the immense impact of this woman in their lives.
One such student is Kennedy Carroll who’s 22 and a graduate from this school and is now attending Savannah State University.
He said that Collins made sure he was okay and asked if he needed something after he and his mother became homeless and had to move in with a relative they didn’t get along with.
She gave him clothes, good shoes, food, toothbrushes, etc.
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