The amount of clothes donated during the recent Warm the Hearts Clothing Collection at Indian Lake Schools is enough to show that students, staff and the community truly care.
2015 Indian Lake graduate Sarah Mackesy and current Indian Lake sophomore Tatum Reprogle teamed up to organize the drive that will help local children in need and adults who are homeless.
Mackesy is studying social work at the Ohio State University Lima. She recently joined an Atlanta-based group called YouthMPowers, which encourages young people to engage in local service projects. Mackesy partnered with Reprogle to place collection boxes at all three Indian Lake school buildings after learning in classes how difficult it is to be homeless.
“It’s really complex. Obviously their main goal is to have somewhere to eat and sleep, they don’t have time to focus on finding clothes. It’s nice to have people being able to donate clothes so they can focus on other needs, ” Mackesy explained.
Reprogle was pleased with the response to the two-week clothing drive, “I am very happy. We knew there would be a lot, but it exceeded our expectations.”
The pair spent the weekend laundering the 108 hats, 78 pairs of gloves, 16 scarves, 86 pairs of socks, 177 pairs of pants, 83 coats, 35 sweatshirts and 90 shirts that were collected. The Indian Lake Key Club helped cover the cost of the cleaning the items.
Mackesy says most of the kids clothing will go to the Indian Lake Elementary School Clothes Closet, while adult items will be delivered to the Lighthouse Emergency Shelter of Logan County this week.
Mackesy and Reprogle plan to continue with similar YouthMPowers service projects in the coming months.