Collins, known as Mama Carolyn, Auntie Carolyn and other familial monikers given by the students, said some students will come by the closet and ask for supplies. At first, it was snacks — granola bars, bottled water and Gatorade — but she expanded her reach upon hearing of other needs from students, teachers and counselors. She got the idea for the closet on Sept. 24, 2014, when someone began banging on a cafeteria door at the school around 6 a.m. She asked the students, a boy and a girl, what they were doing at school so early. That was four years ago, the day she hatched a plan for a school “giving closet” — food, clothing, shoes, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant and more — all free to any student at her school, Tucker High, about 25 miles from Atlanta. '” 
 
 Hours after she let in the homeless siblings, Collins stopped at several dollar stores after work on her six-mile drive home. Hearing about it was one thing, but seeing the relationships she has with the students and the families and how she has touched them and been a blessing to them … 
 
 “The academic piece is our focus, but we can’t focus on that if some of the social emotional needs and other human needs of our students aren’t being met. “She has such a giving heart, she’s a beacon of light for every kid in need,” said Eric Parker, 42, principal of Tucker High School. Whatever problem they might be having in their lives, they know they can trust her to listen and help.” 
 
 
 
 Carolyn Collins’s giving closet at Tucker High School in Tucker, Ga. (Carolyn Collins) 
 
 Between her duties of mopping, sweeping and polishing, Collins said she always makes time to stock the closet and reach out to students. Collins doesn’t like to talk about the terrible phone call that she and her husband received six years ago, one week before Thanksgiving. Noticing significant homelessness among students, Collins — who has worked for the school eight years — said she started collecting items as a way to give students needed supplies, clothes and toiletries they could not otherwise afford. “And I basically told her, ‘everything.’ I didn’t have clothes or good shoes or food, or even a toothbrush. Collins’ generosity recently caught the attention of Comedian and talk show host Steve Harvey, who highlighted her story on his television show and got sponsor Sam’s Club to give $5,000 for supplies. “When I tell them, ‘I love you,’ and I see the smiles on their faces, that’s pure joy,” she said.
– For four years now, Georgia high school custodian Carolyn Collins has been quietly making sure the students at her school have what they need. It started when, as she was getting ready to take out the trash, two students knocked on the cafeteria door and asked to wait inside. They were homeless, living in their mother's car, and had been dropped off at Tucker High, about 25 miles outside Atlanta, hours early to get ready for the day in one of the school's bathrooms. Moved by their plight, Collins, 54, made sure they got some breakfast—and then came up with her plan, the Washington Post reports. She bought $200 worth of food, toiletries, socks, underwear, and school supplies and asked school administrators to give her space to set up a "giving closet." She was soon running it out of a 15-foot by 6-foot storage room, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Now, Collins still spends a few hundred dollars a month on items to stock the closet, but teachers, students, and community members also donate supplies, including clothes, shoes, book bags, and more. She also got thousands to spend on the students during a segment on Steve Harvey's show last month. Many students at the school live in poverty, and Collins estimates she's opened up the closet for about 150 students over the years, letting them take what they need. "If a student needs something and it’s not in the closet, Ms. Collins will go out of her way to get it or find somebody else who can," says the school principal; she's even been known to help with prom wear. Collins, whose son was killed during a robbery six years ago, says she wants to make sure no student feels the need to turn to crime. She hopes to someday open more giving closets.