Novato Teen Collecting Halloween Costumes for Needy Children

Every eighth grader at Novato Charter School spends their final year learning a skill or doing something they've never tried before.

Some kids learn how to make a robot. Others how to do aerial dancing. Another has set a goal of running a marathon.

Fourteen-year-old Novato resident Shanga Jukas is learning how to sketch and sew her own designs. But since every project requires a volunteer component, Jukas has also been collecting new or gently used Halloween costumes, which she plans to donate to needy children.

Jukas has placed bins outside Pini Hardware and Body Kinetics, which are already filling up.

She plans to donate the costumes to the Canal Alliance, a San Rafael nonprofit that offers housing, food and legal assistance to Hispanic and Asian families in the Canal neighborhood.

“I was thinking about it and thought that no one has really done a Halloween collection and I wanted to do something original,” Jukas said. “Many people can’t afford to buy a Halloween costume.”

Deadline to drop off donations is October 25.

Jukas also plans to collect holiday dresses in mid-November for low-income girls.