In the spring of 2017 Jessie Imbriglio was a freshman at East Greenwich High School. That’s also when she started Student4StudentsRI, an initiative to collect and donate clothing to students in need. Now, as a senior, she is being recognized for the work she has done.

Imbriglio has been awarded an engraved bronze Distinguished Finalist medallion after being selected as one of the top runners-up in Rhode Island for the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Imbriglio is also the recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award based off of the number of volunteer hours that was indicated on her application this past fall.

The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards is the largest youth recognition program based exclusively on volunteer community service in the United States.

Applicants must submit their application to a school or the head of an official designated local organization. Imbriglio did just that and was surprised when she learned she was a finalist and the state runner-up.

“I found out last week and I was in awe,” Imbriglio said. “It’s very nice to know people have recognized what I have done.”

Imbriglio is the daughter of David and Christine Imbriglio. David is originally from Warwick and Christine is the probation and parole supervisor in Kent County.

Imbriglio is no stranger to community involvement.

As listed on her resume she coached young girls in the East Greenwich Field Hockey League and coached kids at the East Greenwich track camp. She has been active in the Rhode Island National Guard Military Family program, Youth to Youth, which is a summer program, Westbay Community Action, Our Lady of Mercy Junior Legion of Mary, Our Lady of Mercy Bread Lines Volunteer and as part of the Teen Volunteer Summer Program at Woman and Infants Hospital.

Since its inception, Studen4StudentsRI has collected and donated at least 3,000 pounds of clothing and 290 pairs of shoes to students. Imbriglio has even expanded her efforts beyond clothes and shoes to include books and backpacks to ensure that every student has what they need for school.

Student4StudentsRI holds two clothing drives each year, one in the fall for winter clothing and one in the spring for summer clothing. The most recent clothing drive, held on September 25, gathered 959 pounds of clothing, 121 pairs of shoes, 12 backpacks along with books and other school supplies. Even when the drives ended those seeking to donate could stop by the Imbriglio household and drop off what they have there.

The idea for Student4StudentsRI came to Imbriglio when she was browsing the website for Lyman B. Goff Middle School in Pawtucket. There was a flyer on the homepage asking for donations of gently worn footwear and this was all she needed to see.

Imbriglio’s mother remembers this moment.

“We were sitting on the couch in the living room and she was very upset when she came across the page,” Christine Imbriglio said. “I think the realization for her was the children at that school were so close to her in age. Given that she was only a grade above them, it had an impact on her.”

Wanting to help other

This also wasn’t the first time that Christine saw Jessie react so quickly to help those in need. She’s had that place in heart to help those in need from a young age.

“When the Boston Marathon bombing happened she was little, either in the fourth or fifth grade,” Christine Imbriglio said. “She was at Our Lady of Mercy and talked to one of the sisters to okay a dress down day to collect money to benefit the victims.”

So when she came across that flyer on Goff Middle School’s page she couldn’t just sit around and let those in need struggle. She decided to take action and Student4StudentsRI was born. Imbriglio began collecting and boxing clothing and footwear donations.

She also created a Facebook page for the collections and gave the initiative its name. When the Student4StudentsRI page first began it did not have much of a following so she started advertising the initiative through her mother’s Facebook page to spread the word.

Not long after she began, Imbriglio approached then superintendent of East Greenwich schools, Victor Mercurio. She was seeking permission to conduct the clothing drive and set up collection boxes in all East Greenwich schools, not just the high school. Mercurio didn’t hesitate and gave her the okay to set up the collection boxes throughout the school district.

Just because she got the okay from Superintendent Mercurio didn’t mean she was going to just place donation boxes in East Greenwich schools. Next on her list of potential locations to collect donations were local businesses in East Greenwich. She began contacting these local businesses to see if they would allow her to set up collection boxes at there locations.

“I reached out to some local businesses and people who I knew that owned businesses,” Imbriglio said. “They were very supportive and allowed me to leave collection boxes.”

Imbriglio also got some extra help in spreading the word about the donation drives from at least one of those local businesses where she left a donation box. This came from the Wild Harvest café, which has two locations in East Greenwich, one Post Road and the other on South County Trail. Owner Erica Maddalena advertised the collection drive on Facebook as well to help spread the word and increase the volume of donations. She even took things a step further by giving a free cup of coffee to anyone who came in and donated.

More schools helped

The donations and drives aren’t the only parts of Student4StudentsRI that have grown since its humble 2017 beginnings. The list of schools receiving donations has also grown considerably.

The first expansion of the list of schools came during the second round of donations. This time she began bringing clothing and shoes to Central Falls High School after connecting with Denise Debarros, director of family engagement and community empowerment for the school.

After the second round of donations the list of schools once again grew, and this time by a much bigger margin. Nine more schools began receiving donations bringing the total number of schools to 11.

The nine other schools that Imbriglio has helped provide clothing too are Central High School, Times2 Academy, Esek Hopkins Middle School, E-Cubed Academy, Dr. Martin Luther King Elementary School, John F. Horgan Elementary School, Sheila C. “Skip” Nowell Leadership Academy-Providence Campus, Globe Park Elementary School, Sheila “Skip” Nowell Leadership Academy-Central Falls Campus. Student4StudentsRI has also provided donations to the Boy Scouts of America Narragansett Council #546.

This list of locations that now receives donations from Student4StudentsRI is an amazing accomplishment that Imbriglio is proud of. However, her efforts have also made an impact in places beyond those listed locations.

After donations were brought to Goff Middle School, April Marquis, a teacher there, brought the extra clothing and supplies to Dorcas International Institute in Providence. Dorcas provides services and programs to immigrants, refugees and those in need in the community.

Jeff Goss, who was an assistant principal at Central High School, also informed Imbriglio of remaining donations being passed onto more people in need. At Central, the extra donations were brought to Crossroads Rhode Island to help the families and children there.

Even the Boy Scouts of America, Narragansett Council #546 had residual donations that they passed on to a housing authority to help families in need.

Imbriglio’s impact even stretched beyond Rhode Island. In fact, her efforts reached beyond the United States.

After delivering donations to Times2 Academy in Providence, the clothing and supplies was distributed to all who were in need of it. There ended up being residual donations. These donations were shipped to the village in Nicaragua that the schools custodian was from. This was a moment that Imbriglio holds close to her heart.

“I cherish the day Miss Janie shared that the remaining donations from Times2 Academy were shipped to help children in a village in Nicaragua. Knowing this fact almost brought tears to my eyes,” Imbriglio said. “Out of that, I came to understand that when you take action and expect nothing in return, the level of satisfaction is better than anything you can imagine.”

The Student4StudentsRI initiative has also provided opportunities for Imbriglio to speak to younger children in her community. She was invited on May 1, 2019 to be a “Guest Reader” at Eldredge Elementary School in East Greenwich.

This event is posted on the Student4StudentsRI Facebook page. That same post also included a quote from Imbriglio about the importance of helping one another.

“If just one child in the class heard my message that we (as students) can do something to help each other, good acts will continue to go on.”

Although Imbriglio’s time at East Greenwich High School may be coming to a close that doesn’t mean Student4StudentsRI also has to end. She has set up a plan for the initiative to continue with one of her field hockey teammates at East Greenwich High School taking over for her while she attends college.

Although she won’t be running Student4StudentsRI while away at college her mother thinks she won’t be able to not be involved.

“I honestly don’t think that she’ll be able to totally walk away from something like this,” Christine Imbriglio said. “ Jessie was always that kid.”

Beginning in the fall, Imbriglio will be enrolled at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York where she will be majoring in nursing. She’ll also be continuing her athletics career there as apart of the women’s field hockey team that competes in the Northeast-10 Athletic Conference in NCAA Division II.