It was a shocking statistic, startling enough to grab the attention of a 15-year-old. Luke Donovan, a student at Blessed Trinity High School in Roswell, was captivated by a news item that pointed out the poverty of schools in his area.
“There were schools within a mile of two of where I go to school where kids were on the paid lunch program,” said Donovan, who lives in Crabapple. “At some of the schools, the number was up to 99 percent. So I got hold of the principals and asked what I could do to help.”
The answer wasn’t one Donovan expected to hear. Instead of food and supplies, the children where in dire need of winter clothing.
“They told me kids were coming to school wearing only T-shirts when it was really cold outside,” he said. “So I started asking around to see if anyone I knew had gently-used coats.”
As it turned out, Donovan’s family members, friends, neighbors and fellow students had plenty of warm clothes to spare. His initial collection in the winter of 2012 netted 250 items of winter wear: coats, pants, sweaters, jeans, sweatshirts and long-sleeved shirts for the kids and parents at Roswell’s Mimosa Elementary. He also rounded up 500 pieces of summer clothes.
“My mom drove me from place to place so I could pick up bags full of clothes, then I put them in our garage,” said Donovan. “The hardest part was sorting through them and making sure they were washed. That was time consuming. At one point, I had tons and tons of bags that had to be sorted through. The living room was pretty unusable for a while. Then I took them to the school, and they set things up like a little, free store.”
A few months ago, Donovan decided to repeat the project with the goal of collecting even more clothes - enough to take to Mimosa and Roswell North Elementary, too. The final tally was close to 850 items.
“The reaction from the schools is the best part,” said Donovan, , now 16 and a high school sophomore. “They really appreciated it. Sometimes when you give something to a charity, you trust that they’ll use it appropriately. I could see they needed these things, and the clothes went right to the ones who needed it.”
Donovan’s project - that he just calls “my coat drive” - recently caught the attention of Points of Light, founded by President George Bush in 1990 as a way to honor individuals who are making a difference. Each day, a different person is singled out and profiled on the organization’s website, and on Monday, Donovan and his coat drive were the day’s Point of Light - an honor that caught him by surprise.
“I didn’t expect this to turn into something very big; I just thought it would be nice to drop off some coats to a school that needed them,” said Donovan. “But now I’m hoping to get more and more people involved. I’d like to break the 1,000 mark - that would be a great milestone.”
Every other Wednesday, H.M. Cauley brings you positive stories from our community. To suggest a story idea, call 770-744-3042 or e-mail hm_cauley@yahoo.com.
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