Ponderosa Middle School hosted its first Bobcat Boutique today, a free clothing giveaway created to support students and families.
Ponderosa PTO member Cassandra Cuellar played a major role in preparing for the boutique early this morning, along with many Ponderosa staff. Cuellar first heard about the idea during a PTO meeting and immediately stepped forward.
Cuellar has a son in eighth grade at Ponderosa and is also the mother of Lamar and Jamar, who graduated from Klamath Union High School in 2024.
“I saw the emails come through and said, ‘I’m all in. Let me know what you need,’” Cuellar said. “With everything going on right now, food stamps changing and people having a harder time, we just wanted to help families.”
Over the past week, families, teachers and community members donated hundreds of clothing items.
As school ended, a large wave of students filled trash and paper bags with clothes they liked and took them home.
“I got here around nine and was in the art room pulling everything out, organizing it, sorting it. It was a lot of clothes, way more than I expected,” Cuellar said. “When the kids came in earlier, they were so excited. Kids love thrifting and being able to choose things for themselves … with it being free, it was huge. They didn’t have to ask their parents for money.”
Today was the first of two days where the boutique will be open for families to take clothes home. The second date will be from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3 at Ponderosa.
“You saw kids from every walk of life in there,” Cuellar said. “It wasn’t just kids in need. Everybody felt comfortable grabbing something. There was no judgment. And honestly, kids can be tough on each other these days, but today you saw them being kind and excited for one another.”
Students were encouraged to take items not only for themselves but for their families as well. Ponderosa plans to continue collecting donations of clothes at the school’s front office before the Dec. 3 giveaway.
“As they came in, we told them, ‘Grab something for your sibling, or your auntie, or even for Christmas gifts.’ And they loved that,” Cuellar said. “It made the whole thing even more special.”
