The sudden arrival of winter weather has highlighted the necessity of warm clothes. Weber State University’s Center for Community Engaged Learning is participating in a clothing drive to make sure individuals in need of help are prepared for the cold.
A “Share the Warmth” clothing drive collecting warm, winter clothes is underway now until Dec. 12. Requested items include gently used hats, scarves, gloves, blankets and coats. All sizes, including children’s sizes, are accepted.
The donations will go to Your Community Connection, a family crisis center in Ogden, and Youth Futures, a shelter for homeless and runaway youth, also in Ogden.
“We want our campus to be connected with the community, and this is a good way to do that,” said Jenny Frame, CCEL’s community partner coordinator. “Donating a coat or a hat or a scarf is very easy. And looking into these organizations a little bit more and seeing what issues they are addressing in our community is a way to get more involved.”
Frame partnered with Enable Utah, a non-profit organization that helps individuals with disabilities learn important life skills, to hold the clothing drive.
Enable Utah has put on the drive for three years now, and organizers hope to collect 600–1,000 items this season. According to Jared Hoellein, Enable Utah’s public relations manager, they’re about halfway to this goal.
“The reason that we do this is we want to give back to the community,” Hoellein said. “The community gives us so much and helps us and supports us in such great ways; this is our opportunity to give back. It means a lot to help somebody outside of Enable Utah.”
Donations can be brought to the big blue barrel outside of the CCEL office, Shepherd Union Room 327, or to the lobby of Enable Utah, 2640 Industrial Drive, Ogden, Utah.
The clothing drive is easy for almost anyone to participate in, Frame said, because it requires very little work or planning to donate. “If there is something extra that I have and can donate, that can just makes a world of difference for someone else,” she said.
Frame said the barrel at WSU is about a quarter of the way full, but she would love to see it overflowing with donations from students and community members.
“I just hiked up the hill today with an armful of coats that some of my friends had donated,” Frame said. “That was a great feeling to just put them in the barrel and know that they will be used and that someone will be grateful to have those.”
WSU student Ro Rague said the clothing drive is a good opportunity for her to look through her closet and see what she could donate.
“It seems like a more ideal thing to do rather than donating my clothes to Savers,” Rague said. “It’s also nice to know that my clothes won’t go to waste. People in need of clothing will actually be able to use what I donate.”
