Watson College students help develop better clothing distribution for low-income children
Locker Room 345 takes donations from Dick鈥檚 Sporting Goods and shares with those in need
Inside an old warehouse in Binghamton, hundreds of boxes are stacked atop one another and fill the shelves with thousands of clothing items donated by Dick鈥檚 Sporting Goods.
Volunteers for 鈥 teachers, police officers, parents and more 鈥 work tirelessly to ensure that children in underprivileged neighborhoods can pursue their education without worrying about having something to wear.
Unfortunately, finding a way to get every item to every student in need is a difficult undertaking, even for the most kindhearted organizers.
To improve the order fulfillment process, a team of industrial and systems engineering students and computer science students from 黑料视频 helped Dick鈥檚 and Locker Room 345 as a project during the 2022-23 school year.
Getting started
Kim Myers, a leader in the local Binghamton community and member of the Dick鈥檚 Sporting Goods family, founded Locker Room 345 鈥 a charitable organization focused on clothing donations 鈥 as a way of helping children in the region.
Understanding how clothing can affect educational performance and attendance, Myers was determined to help motivate children in low-income families to feel excited about going to school.
鈥淚t saddened me to see children struggling with their basic needs while trying to pursue an education. That鈥檚 when I knew I had to start LR345,鈥 she said. 鈥淣o child should feel humiliated in the classroom.鈥
She also wanted to share her family鈥檚 good fortune with the community that helped build it: 鈥淢y dad founded Dick鈥檚 Sporting Goods in Binghamton, and it鈥檚 only right that our family business shares its resources with the people who believed in us.鈥
Over the past five years, Locker Room 345 has grown exponentially, now providing clothing for children in Broome County and neighboring counties. However, Myers and her team are adamant that children鈥檚 requests are fulfilled on a one-to-one basis, so it鈥檚 become harder to fill orders efficiently.
鈥淭he only way you can ensure a child is getting what they ask for is if you fill an order with them in mind. Because we鈥檙e expanding, we鈥檙e getting so many orders, and it鈥檚 become incredibly difficult to fill all of them by hand,鈥 Myers said. 鈥淭he faster we can fill and process orders, the more children we can help.鈥
All about teamwork
Applying their industrial and systems engineering knowledge, members of one of 黑料视频鈥檚 senior project groups in the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science were also determined to provide relief.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working on optimizing their warehouse processes in hopes that it will help further the reach of Locker Room 345,鈥 said team leader Nicole Dates 鈥23. 鈥淭he work Kim Myers and her team are doing is incredible, and we were happy to help in any way that we can.鈥
鈥淭hirty-three percent of Binghamton residents live below the poverty line,鈥 said Izabella Bostina 鈥23. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge wealth disparity there, and it鈥檚 crucial that people in our position do what we can to make sure those students feel good about going to school.鈥
Prior to the ISE team鈥檚 involvement, Myers and her team had to rely on Excel spreadsheets and emails to coordinate with educators requesting apparel for their students.
鈥淭he timeliness of different orders and accurate inventory-pulling was difficult because of the sheer volume of requests, so we wanted to create an interface that would make the warehouse more efficient,鈥 said team member Connor Lounsbery 鈥23. 鈥淭his would make it easier for LR345 to aid as many children as possible.鈥
School to warehouse, warehouse to student
Since the warehouse is only half of the operation, Myers, her team and the Binghamton students were intent on creating a more efficient way for educators to submit requests.
鈥淲hen teachers have to fill out orders by hand, it takes longer to address the needs of each student,鈥 Myers said. 鈥淪ometimes, they鈥檒l even request items that we don鈥檛 have anymore. It鈥檚 heartbreaking to not be able to give a child what they need.鈥
As the web development team, Mohammed-Khalil Ghali, MS 鈥24, and Srimadhaven Thirumurthy 鈥23, used their knowledge of computer science to help the team design an e-commerce website that allows educators to see the warehouse inventory when placing an order for a student.
鈥淣ow there will be no confusion regarding what the warehouse has, and each child can be guaranteed what was requested for them,鈥 Ghali said.
Locker Room 345 is open to any child from any school or educational institution. However, Myers said, 鈥渋t must be one on one. Schools can鈥檛 come to us and say they need 50 pairs of shoes. We serve the individual. Different children need different things.
With Professor Sangwon Yoon from Watson College鈥檚 Systems Science and Industrial Engineering Department as their advisor, members of the ISE senior project group designed a mobile app that would offer more accessibility for volunteers and educators working on relief programs.
鈥淭eachers can place orders through their phone, and orders can now be processed at any time of day,鈥 Yoon said. 鈥淐hildren won鈥檛 have to suffer the same way.鈥
Efficient community service
Receiving regular shipments from Dick鈥檚 Sporting Goods鈥 warehouses, LR345 volunteers sometimes will spend an entire day processing hundreds of articles of clothing that will be distributed to students when orders are filled in the following weeks.
鈥淚鈥檓 inspired every day by all of the people who come out to help,鈥 Myers said. 鈥淚 know it鈥檚 oftentimes exhausting, and it鈥檚 amazing that so many people are so determined to offer their support.鈥
As Locker Room 345 continues to grow, it was important to the team that the new software could accommodate a high frequency of requests.
鈥淐urrently, this software can accommodate a process with 60 schools,鈥 Aigin Hertel-Bernstein 鈥23 said. 鈥淚f it ends up raising to 120 or even 150 schools next year, it will be able to scale up accordingly.鈥
What started as a senior project has become so much more for everyone involved, and the ISE students would like to see other Watson College senior project groups do similar work in the future.
鈥淚t might take years and years for every child in need to be offered the support that we鈥檇 like to see provided,鈥 Tyler Lounsbery 鈥23 said. 鈥淜nowing that it all started here with devoted community leaders and a handful of University students will hopefully remind people that there鈥檚 always an opportunity to give back.鈥
Because the students were able to design a successful software interface, they are hopeful that other engineers will use this technology to aid other community service groups.
鈥淲e developed this interface in a way that can be applied to a number of organizational efforts,鈥 Thirumurthy said. 鈥淲e hope that other organizations also use it to uplift their communities.鈥
Yoon added: 鈥淭his is why we do research. There is no point of conducting academic research if it doesn鈥檛 help other human beings and society as a whole.鈥
Reflecting on Locker Room 345鈥檚 collaboration with 黑料视频, Myers is grateful to the students for their help.
鈥淚 just can鈥檛 believe the University has been this good to us,鈥 she said. 鈥淲e would not have been able to make such positive change without them.鈥