The cafeteria at Zephyrhills High is a busy place — serving more than 300 breakfasts, 850 lunches and about 100 a la carte items each day.
But beyond delivering daily meals, this cafeteria is also a place that helps students make their dreams come true.
There’s a storage space, in the kitchen, where there are scores of gowns, dresses, shirts, dress pants, sports jackets and shoes.
It’s a place where young women and men can be outfitted to go to prom, or homecoming, a wedding or graduation.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
The closet was set up about five years ago, and hundreds of students have used it.
“The kids come in during their lunch and try them on,” said Suellen Smith, cafeteria manager at Zephyrhills High.
“We stay back there with them, and we make them have a fashion show,” she said.
The students change in a bathroom next to the supply closet, and then they come out to show how they look.
“Even through it’s in a kitchen, and it’s in the middle of lunch, and we’re running around with hot pans … I make a couple of my co-workers stop and try to make it nice for the girls,” she said.
As they model the clothing, Smith responds.
“I tell them how pretty they look,” she said.
Or, she might mention: “I saw another one in there that you might like better.”
Smith said she wants to make sure the students leave with clothes that put them in their best light.
“We make sure it fits. I don’t want them going out with something that doesn’t look appropriate,” she said.
She also recommends that students choose classic looks, rather than trendy attire.
I tell them: “You can take that to college with you. You can wear this to a New Year’s Eve party.
“When we make a match, I cry. I openly weep. I’m actually feeling like they’re my own daughter,” said Smith, who has been managing the cafeteria at Zephyrhills High for 15 years.
The clothing comes from all sorts of sources — people in the community who know about the closet, former students, staff members.
“Sometimes, I struggle with larger sizes,” Smith said, and when that happens, she puts a post on Facebook.
“Then, miraculously, two days later, I get some dresses,” Smith said.
“The day before yesterday, somebody brought up a whole bin of dresses and shoes. A dress came in the courier Friday,” she added.
While she can’t recall the precise particulars of how the clothes closet began, she believes it started the year the county’s Cinderella Project moved to a location in Trinity.
“That’s a long way to drive for my kids to go, to Trinity. They don’t know how to get there, and some of them wouldn’t have a ride,” Smith said.
So, Smith said, “I just have my own event, all of the time.”
While girls are more likely to come to the closet, it is also intended for boys, Smith said.
Sometimes the boys are reluctant to come to the closet, so their girlfriends will come pick something up for them, Smith said.
The clothes closet is just one of the ways that Smith reaches beyond her daily cafeteria duties to touch lives.
She’s also heavily involved in Relay for Life activities, has been involved in homecoming festivities, pitches in at school events and has served as a mentor.
Earlier this year, she was honored for her many contributions.
She received the Community Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Florida School Nutrition Association in May, and also received the district’s “Best Behind the Scenes” award.
While gratified by the honors, Smith quickly credits her family and staff for enabling her to do the things that she does.
Published September 23, 2015