Students in the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club stay after school on Wednesdays to upcycle old clothes.   Their mission is to recycle old materials and turn them into items they can donate to different organizations. 

“We are repurposing them; we use the old t-shirts to create something else. Like right now, we’re making dog toys,” said FACS teacher and club sponsor Catherine Czifra. “So we’re tearing the t-shirts up into strips and weaving them into dog toys. Then we’re going to donate them to an organization that works with dogs that are having trouble finding homes. This is something nice that we can give to those dogs,” FACS teacher Catherine Czifra says. 

Czifra mentioned that the club is working to make hats to donate to the cancer clinic at Fairfax Hospital that supports women with breast cancer. One organization the club donated to is 39 Veterans; McLean High School FACS students helped deliver the products.

Anyone who has taken FACS can join the club, but there is a limit. “We can probably have up to twenty people in it, but because we’re doing these big projects, we can’t get too big,” Czifra said. Although, 8th grader Entisar N. thinks a bigger team would help get projects done in less time. 

In the future, the Home Ec club plans to make things for children at hospitals, stuffed animals for homeless children, dog bones and treats for shelters, and baked goods for teachers. 

“Everyone participates in coming up with ideas, like, everybody sits around and talks about what they think would be fun and a good project,” 8th grader Eva S. said.

At the moment, the FCCLA is making hats. It is a fun space where people can hang out with their friends and also help make things for people in need. 

“My favorite part is that we give what we make to charities and to shelters,” Eva said.