Warm clothes, warm hearts

A group of Aggies are exchanging warmth, confidence and a sense of community by hosting a winter clothing drive on campus in February.

Christian Record, sophomore studying human resource management, got the idea in a leadership class he is taking and put together a team to make the project happen.

“We just sparked it up out of initiative,” Record said. “They told us to do a project that will benefit the community, to achieve some sort of extraordinary goal, and I think this would be a good way to do it.”

The swap will be held on campus on Feb. 13. While the location is not yet determined as of publication, it will likely be in the Sunburst and International Lounge in the TSC from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Participants are expected to bring at least one item of winter clothing to exchange for another. However, the goal is to meet the needs of the students, and Record said they will work with those who are unable to bring anything.

“They can reach out to us, and we will provide them with clothes,” Record said. “This is all about providing warmth and confidence.”

Students who would rather only donate their items can do that as well.

“Maybe someone doesn’t want to exchange — maybe they just have a bunch of excess clothes they want to bring,” Record said. “We will gladly take them. It’s more than just the exchange, it’s a drive.”

Having noticed students walking around cold on campus, Record said they hope to brighten up a lot of people’s days with the drive.

“I’m really hoping that we can just provide at least 50 students with some new clothes and some happiness,” Record said.

Carson Christensen is another member of the team working on the drive. Being friends with Record, he was happy to get on board and also has a personal tie to the cause.

“There’s been times in my life where I was cold, and I couldn’t get warm,” Christensen said. “That’s something that I’d like to see others have the opportunity of — to be warm.”

All of the excess items from the swap will be donated to local shelters.

“We are planning to donate everything to nonprofits, so it’s entirely community-based,” Record said. “Nothing that’s going to get flipped at, say, the DI [Deseret Industries] or whatever other thrift stores there are.”

All excess items will be donated to the Warming Center in Logan, the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake and the Lantern House in Ogden.

As busy students, coordinating a big project has had its struggles.

“We all just have such different lives and schedules,” Christensen said. “It’s really complicated. And that’s another thing that drives people away — they don’t want to take time out of their own busy lives and schedules.”

The team has also had challenges in getting support for the event but is now working with directors at Aggie First Scholars, a program that focuses on first-generation college students, to get resources to conduct the drive. 

Record said if the project goes well, he’d like to make it an annual event earlier in the season. 

“We’d love to put this drive on way before the winter starts in the first place, just so people can get prepared,” Record said. “I think it’d be a great tradition.”

Students can look out for flyers advertising the drive posted around campus.