If you look past the racks of khakis, T-shirts and other gently used clothes lining the walls, 136 Allen Hall looks like any of the other hundreds of faculty offices across campus.
But this one belongs to Craig Winchell, assistant director of Student Support Services. The clothes are part of a personal project Winchell started last spring to provide low-income students with clothes for the semester.
“After I noticed a few of our students could use a little extra clothing, I emailed out some of the parents that I knew,” Winchell said. “If they were going through their closets after their kids left, instead of taking it to the Goodwill — if they would bring it to me — I would hang it up here and let students just come through and take whatever they want.”
And many students do.
After putting the racks out Wednesday, Winchell said more than 15 clothing items were gone by Thursday morning.
The racks will be out all semester, and students can bring donations by Winchell’s Allen Hall office anytime.
SSS works with students from a variety of economic backgrounds, including those who receive the maximum Pell Grant award and low-income and first-generation students.
Winchell said the clothing drive is separate from SSS initiatives, which focus on providing academic services and helping students adjust to college life.
“This is just something I do,” Winchell said. “It’s a need that I have seen.”
Through the combined power of social media and concerned parents, Winchell said his drive reached a broader audience.
A post on the LSU Parents Facebook page applauding Winchell inspired parents to collect clothing, which will be dropped off this weekend while they are on campus for the season’s first football game.
Winchell, who will be out of town this weekend, also is the faculty adviser for the Delta Chi fraternity and asked parents to take their donations by the fraternity house. He said the members were happy to help and have already set up collection boxes.
Winchell has worked at LSU for 22 years and is known for going above and beyond in his role at SSS. He often encourages students to hang out in his office.
Hot coffee sits out on the conference table every morning, alongside a chocolate cake to celebrate all the September birthdays of his students.
“I like to have them come hang out here instead of going back to their dorm and falling asleep and missing a class,” Winchell said.
The shared space also offers a place for students to make friends and get to know one another.
“Sometimes there will be an incoming first-year biology student, and they find they’re sitting across from a third-year biology student, so they start networking,” Winchell said.
His students also love to give back. This month, Winchell will be flipping pancakes and hosting lunch in exchange for donations to the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank.
September is Hunger Action Month, and donations will go to Trevor’s Wish, a GBRFB initiative started two years ago. Winchell said the same project raised money in 2014 to fund a year’s worth of meals for three kids.
“The students that don’t really have the money and come in and do a quarter or a dollar, they like that they can donate and give back to other people,” Winchell said. “They just like doing that stuff as well. They aren’t taking all the time. They are giving as well.”

Gallery • 7 Photos

Zoe Geauthreaux

Several racks of clothes hang in an Allen Hall office on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015, as these items are to be provided for first generation and low income students.