MATTHEW CAPALBO, the Project 351 ambassador representing North Reading Middle School, is learning leadership skills by conducting a clothing drive at the school for Cradles to Crayons. (Maureen Doherty Photo)

 

 

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — The Middle School’s Project 351 ambassador for 2022, eighth-grader Matt Capalbo, is incredibly excited to launch his Cradles to Crayons clothing drive next week at the school.

This statewide leadership development program brings together one eighth-grader from each of the state’s 351 communities to mentor the next generation of leaders. Volunteerism is a core component of the program so each year the students return to their schools after their initial meeting to apply the skills they’ve learned by leading a volunteer activity – a clothing drive to benefit Cradles to Crayons.

Capalbo has gotten the school’s peer leaders involved with his clothing drive as he is learning that leadership also involves delegating and working cooperatively with others to achieve a common goal.

They are collecting new or gently used clothing suitable for newborns through age 12 (no shoes) for Cradles to Crayons.

Asked what his pitch would be to convince the peer leaders to sign on to his volunteer project, Matt said he’d tell them: “By doing this we can make a real change in the lives of many people who are in need of clothes but can’t get them, so by doing this we are able to provide them with the clothes they need.”

The Cradles to Crayons donation boxes will be located at the front entrance to the Middle School next week to enable donations to be easily dropped off upon arrival. “I plan to have two or three boxes so if you are bringing a donation to school you can drop it off when you arrive. I hope to have the peer leaders decorate the boxes so they are not plain UHaul boxes,” he added.

“We will do a quality sort on April 8th and everything that is not able to go to Cradles to Crayons, such as t-shirts with logos from outside of New England, will be donated to a secondary source,” he said.

When asked why Cradles to Crayons would be concerned about distributing donated clothing to children in need adorned with logos of teams from outside of New England the reasoning was quite logical but not something most people would consider at first.

“They don’t want the children to feel like they don’t fit in if they’re wearing something they don’t support,” he explained, adding if the kids came to school wearing a Yankees t-shirt, for example, knowing they’re rivals of the Red Sox they might feel awkward when asked by others why they were “supporting a team they didn’t like,” Matt said.

COVID has put a damper on Project 351 over the past couple of years. Normally, the kids meet just after the first of they year in-person. This year, it was done virtually again.

“Instead of meeting in person we had a YouTube live-stream for 45 minutes with previous Project 351 ambassadors now in their high school years who talked to us about their experiences,” Matt said, adding, “Governor Baker also participated and told us what a great honor it is to be selected for it.”

Now that Covid restrictions are being lifted, the ambassadors will be able to attend a leadership summit at Gillette Stadium in June, which he is very excited about.

Asked what he has learned from his experience with Project 351 so far, Matt said, “I have learned different ways I can deal with difficult situations like racism and I am currently learning how to lead a service project and become a more active part of my community, which is great.”

Like a typical eighth-grader, he loves video games and playing his trombone. He was pretty pumped about having recently gotten a new trombone. He’s a member of the Middle School concert band as well as the recently formed Middle School jazz band. He’s pretty talented at it too, being just one of three  band members to be chosen, through audition, for the Northeast Junior District Band. Next year he is looking forward to joining the Marching Hornets.

Matt is the son of Kerry and Joe Capalbo and the big brother of Alexis, who is a sixth-grader at the school.