Winter Warmth Drive: Michigan Teen Collects Over 100 Items for Foster Children

The Climate Leaders Fellowship guides high school students in researching climate change effects within their own communities and finding solutions they can implement locally. Students partner with local organizations to launch their projects and collaborate with other students around the world to achieve their goals.

The fellowship is offered as a collaboration between the Stanford University Deliberative Democracy Lab and the Rustic Pathways Foundation.

Read Ellie’s experience below!

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Ellie Jamieson
Age 15
South Lyon, Michigan
Mercy High School

Hello! My name is Ellie Jamieson. I live in South Lyon, Michigan. I am 15 years old and a freshman at Mercy High School. I love to travel, dance, and learn new things.

Since I live in Michigan I often have to get new winter clothing because you grow out of it so quickly. Most of the time the old clothing is still in good condition and can be reused, but gets thrown out. I noticed many people’s old clothing ends up in landfills contributing to pollution.

For my project I collected old winter clothing that was still usable. All of the clothing was for kids because often the children’s clothing is not damaged because it is only used for one season.

I collected hats, coats, gloves, snow pants, and I promoted my project using social media. I posted a poster I made on a Facebook page with parents in our neighborhood and area.

After posting about my project I left bins outside my house to collect the items and would drive to others houses to get their items. My project mostly took place in my neighborhood but I also got lots of donations from people in my community. I targeted adults in my area because they could get the old items they had and they were the main members of the Facebook page.

I chose this project because I got to prevent reusable items from going to landfills. I also got to help foster children who don’t have many things of their own get nice clothing that they can use all winter.

I collected over 100 items total. I mainly collected coats and snow boats which was great because these items often are in good condition. I chose to donate the items to the Oakland County Foster Closet because my Mom used to work with foster children and knew they often don’t have much, and their foster parents can’t always afford to purchase new items for them.

I did not know much about the foster system and got to learn more about it. It felt really good to help a community of people that you don’t hear much about. People loved having a place where they could donate old clothing that was close and for a good cause.

I loved getting to participate in the Climate Leaders Fellowship because I gained so much knowledge about how the climate crisis is impacting people all over the world. I am very proud of the results of my project and plan on continuing to collect items and volunteer at the foster closet.