North Texas students set record service hours, collect 2,503 coats

Students across North Texas turned volunteer work into a measurable lift for The Storehouse Community Center, logging more than 2,161 service hours and helping collect 2,503 coats and other cold-weather items through a six-school winter clothing drive.

The effort came from 40 student leaders in The Storehouse’s Youth Leadership Council, a program founded in 2021 to give high school students leadership experience while advancing the nonprofit’s mission to “feed, clothe, and care as neighbors in one community.” The council included students from 19 area high schools in places such as Carrollton, Dallas, Frisco and Plano, showing how widely the network has spread across North Texas.

The new total topped a previous council mark of 2,114.25 volunteer hours across 50 students, even though this year’s group was smaller. That matters because the number of hours is not just a bragging point for teenagers looking to pad a résumé. It is the labor behind organized projects that reached families with concrete needs, especially in a region where growth often grabs the headlines and local need can get lost in the background.

The coat drive fits squarely into the way The Storehouse operates in North Dallas. The nonprofit says it provides food, clothing, resources and education for neighbors, and its 2023 impact report shows the scale of that work: 4,396,144 pounds of food distributed to 63,541 families, 91,353 articles of clothing given at no cost to 3,498 households and 2,045 winter coats distributed. The new student-led total of 2,503 coats and cold-weather items compares favorably with that annual winter-coat benchmark and underscores how much impact a focused campaign can produce.

The model also explains why the program works. The Storehouse has said families often must choose bills and food over winter coats, so clothing drives fill a practical gap rather than a symbolic one. By pairing student leadership with a nonprofit that already has a distribution system in place, the council turned school energy into immediate help for neighbors. That same broader system includes Joseph’s Coat, The Storehouse’s free clothing program, and a workforce-development effort that the nonprofit says has helped 82% of trained neighbors move into stable, high-quality jobs.

In Collin County and the wider North Texas region, the takeaway is clear: teen-led service can do more than inspire. It can move goods, build leadership and strengthen a local safety net that responds faster and more personally than larger systems often can.