Lost But Never Found

Today, out of sheer curiosity, I counted the items of clothing left at school and sent to "Lost and Found." There were exactly 51 sweatshirts, fleece shirts, sweaters, jackets, and one 'hoodie' shirt.

My school, like many others, has a process for these things. The first stop is always the Lost and Found barrel in the cafeteria. Items in that barrel get heaped up and tamped down and stirred around whenever something new is added. The clothing develops a distinctive musty odor after awhile.

Then, somebody gets fed up with the overflowing stack of unclaimed clothing and dumps it outside on the walkway across the quad area. The logic behind this action is that the kids will walk by the jackets and sweatshirts and see something that looks familiar and pick it up. It makes sense, theoretically.

The 'dumper' usually doesn't return later - which means the sprinklers will come on or it will rain and the unclaimed clothing will become wet. Then the smell is more on the "ripe" side. Mildew and musty together don't win friends and influence people.

Then, the groundskeeper shows up for his weekly mowing session. He doesn't want to ruin his lawnmower, so he shovels all the clothing back into the barrel. His nose crinkles up while he does this.

Several days later, the whole process starts up again.

Now, with a student body of at least 600 students (520 if you subtract kindergarten), you would think the zippered sweatshirts, pullover fleece shirts, and pink Tinkerbell hoodie would be claimed. Especially if they are laid out along the sidewalk and all 520 children walk by them and over them and ON them every single day for a week. At least 10 percent of these kids are missing a piece of their wardrobes - but no. Nothing gets picked up or examined, nothing is returned to its rightful owner.

You would also think that the parents would notice. I mean, how big is a child's wardrobe in a Title 1 school, anyway? That Scoobie Doo sweatshirt was no bargain the last time I saw it at Target, and the jackets run at least $30 each. You'd half expect some slipper-wearing mother to leave her car running one morning as she stomps over to the walkway to find her daughter's SHIRT for gosh sakes. It never happens.

Does the family even MISS these items? Where do they think that blue hooded sweatshirt ended up? Does nobody miss the little hot pink zippered sweater with two front pockets and a tassle on the hood? Doesn't gramma at least ASK what became of the green denim jacket she bought Junior for his birthday?

At this point the clothes are now molded into one stiff and unforgiving postion and it will take a shovel to scrape them back into the barrel. The barrel will be placed OUTSIDE.

Somebody will eventually donate all these clothes to Healthy Start. They will be washed, dried, and placed on the rack by size for the annual clothing sale.

Some young mother will be happy to find a pink Tinkerbell hoodie for a quarter - exactly like the one her daughter lost last Fall.
:-)K