During the month of February 2025, JSerra's Kirsten Hibbard Environmentality Club, a student-led organization dedicated to environmental sustainability, ran a formal dress drive to benefit Cinderella's Closet, a local non-profit organization that serves vulnerable youth in Orange and Los Angeles County. The service project intended to reduce fast fashion's environmental impact while simultaneously giving back to the community. Thanks to this initiative, 99 formal dresses will now be worn again, giving students in need the opportunity to attend their high school dance.

The Kirsten Hibbard Environmentality Club promotes eco-friendly programs on campus, including a student-led recycling initiative that raises money for The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano. According to President Kaylah Tasser, the club’s mission is to educate JSerra students on practical ways to care for the environment and promote sustainability. Most recently, they turned their attention to the "fast fashion" industry, a major global pollutant due to its wasteful manufacturing processes. Formal dance dresses, which high schoolers typically only wear once, are a great contributor to fast fashion’s negative impact. Therefore, the Environmentality Club decided to focus on this issue during the Winter Formal season, allowing JSerra students to help the environment while also supporting other students in the SoCal area.

Local organization Cinderella's Closet serves high school juniors and seniors preparing for their prom by providing gowns, shoes, and accessories at no cost, ensuring that their special night is memorable. By donating gently worn dresses, the club not only championed sustainable fashion but also gave local students the opportunity to enjoy their high school dance. The drive was promoted to JSerra students, faculty, staff, and parents through flyers, school announcements, the daily school live television broadcast, The Lion Report, social media, and the weekly school newsletter, The Lion Lowdown. The result was an incredible 99 dresses collected by the club and delivered to Cinderella's Closet's San Juan Capistrano drop-off location.

"This was our club's first time working with Cinderella's Closet, so we were really hoping that the JSerra community would respond to the call for donations," Kaylah stated. "We were overwhelmed by the generosity of Lion Nation and are very proud of the impact it made. We are so grateful to everyone who donated to this cause."

Kaylah, along with club leadership members Emily Zimmerman and Audrey Nobles, met with Erin Carlton, the Director for Cinderella's Closet, to deliver the dresses. When asked what was particularly special about this project, Kaylah remarked, "Thanks to JSerra’s generosity, 99 students will now have the chance to experience the magic of their high school formal!"

For more information about Cinderella's Closet, visit their WEBSITE.