With the weather cooling off, two IU seniors are hoping people to take the opportunity to look into their closets and find winter clothing they can donate.
Allie Wineland and Jenna Solomon started a clothing drive weeks ago to help students who don’t have proper winter wardrobes.
The mold problems in the residence hall have continued from the last semester to now, and many students suffer from serious illnesses. But since January, some people say the mold in the rooms has damaged winter clothes, and Jenna has students in class who had to wear shorts to go to school for this reason. After learning about the situation, Allie spontaneously started the warm clothes drive to help her peers out of this freezing condition, Jenna supported the decision and help organizing the activity together.
(1/2) **Emergency Winter Clothes Drive!!** If you or someone you know is in desperate need of clothing to keep you warm for the extreme cold tomorrow OR you have clothes you are willing and able to give to someone who might be in need please reach out to Allie 317-650-3151 or
— al pal (@alscat) January 29, 2019
(2/2) Jenna 224-567-9163! If you are unable to donate clothes but still want to help out, we have set up a Vemno (@IUWinter-ClothingDrive) for you to send a few dollars to for us to go out and buy some warm clothes at Goodwill. You can also help by forwarding this message!!!
— al pal (@alscat) January 29, 2019
“Honestly, it only took about five minutes for us to decide that we want to collect clothes and distribute to anyone who contact us that might need them,” Jenna said.
They began to post warm clothes drive on each social networking account, and first received donations by sending a notification to friends and asking them to forward the messages.
In the past three weeks, Allie has received plenty bags of clothes and warm accessories from the donors. She carefully sorted the clothing based on size and thickness. Not only that, she set up a public Venmo account (IUWinter-ClothingDrive) to raise funds, and she is planning to use the money to buy extra winter clothes for those in need.
“I really enjoy being able to give back,” Allie said, “In a situation where people want to celebrate you, they can celebrate you in a way that benefits other people.”
In order to make it easier for students to get these clothes, Allie placed several boxes filled with clothes, gloves and scarves in the lobby of residence halls and off-campus coffee stores. She left her own contact information for those who did not find the right size, to connect with her. Allie is now negotiating with the heads of Wells Library and SPEA to launch a small funded drive in the public areas there.
“I’ve always valued highly giving back to my community in anyway I can.” Allie said.
The warm clothes drive will run until the end of February to March, Allie said she can’t estimate a specific date but says when the weather gets warmer, she then will donate the remaining supplies to the local shelters for more Bloomington residents who are in need.
