Sophomore Maya Schlessinger has had a passion for clothing and community service projects since joining Girl Scouts in elementary school and spending a lot of time in quarantine on her sewing machine. She also does community service with One Spirit and her mom’s clothing business called Playdate NYC.

“I had the idea around November about starting a new sewing club,” Schlessinger said. “There’s no sewing club at Valley, and I wanted to incorporate community service aspects with making and donating clothes.”

Schlessinger started Clothing for a Cause, the new sewing club at Pascack Valley. It was founded last spring and has held meetings every Monday during lunch since the start of the school year. The club meets in room 114 to make clothes using the sewing machine.

“I’ve always had a love for sewing,” co-president Maura O’Flynn said. “I loved creating things, and when I heard that the club was going to donate to organizations where people may be in need of some clothing, I thought it was a great way to get involved.”

O’Flynn also does volunteer work for different clubs like the PAW club and says it feels great to give back to the community. Schlessinger and O’Flynn plan to get more people involved with the help of family and consumer sciences teacher, and club advisor, Annette Molino.

“It’s super exciting because it brings awareness [to the fact] that there are lots of ways you can contribute to people in need, so it gives us a way to do that,” Molino said.

Clothing for a Cause plans on making many items such as masks, shirts, skirts, pants, hats, pajamas, and more. The club also plans on switching meetings to Monday after school from 3-4 to get more people involved. Their goal is to get more students to sew and to give back to their community.

“It’s important that more people can have the chance to be a part of something because some people don’t get the opportunity to be in some of Molino’s classes and to have the experience on sewing machines,” O’Flynn said.