High school student organizes coat drive
December 3, 2008
By Laura Geggel
Mount Si senior Danielle Fulfs can’t help the sun break through the rain clouds, but she can collect coats to help the needy stay toasty during the winter months.
For the second year in a row, Fulfs is organizing a coat drive for people in need on the Eastside. She learned about the drive after meeting Rick Teegarden at Washington Business Week, a summer camp at Western Washington University. Teegarden, a senior at Sammamish High School, started his own coat drive in 2004 after learning about the need for warm clothing in the area.
Mount Si seniors Danielle Fulfs, left, and Kristina Johnson hold up coats from a drive that nine local schools are participating in.
“It does get cold around here,” Fulfs said. “I think anybody who is able to help should help in any way they can.”
Over the past four years, 11 schools have participated in the coat drive. This year, at least nine schools, including Mount Si High School, Twin Falls Middle School, and Fall City, North Bend, Opstad and Snoqualmie elementary schools, have placed collection boxes for winter coats of all sizes near their foyers. Cascade View Elementary has placed a donation box in the counseling center.
People can also donate coats at the Safeway in North Bend and The Ridge Supermarket in Snoqualmie.
Fulfs said she counted more than 100 coat donations in 2007. This year, she hopes to reach 350 new or gently used coats. As the co-president of DECA, she placed the collection bin near the DECA store in the commons.
Mount Si DECA advisor Elaine-Marie Berg said she was proud of Fulfs for organizing her classmates to get the word out about the coat drive.
“I’m trying to train advocates in the business world you have to give back to communities,” Berg said.
Although the donated coats will circulate all over the Eastside, a good portion of them will stay in the Valley to organizations like the Mt Si Helping Hand Food Bank and Encompass.
At a dinner last year, the coat drive organizers handed out coats to families at Crossroads Mall in Bellevue.
“They got to see the whole process by handing the donation to someone who needed it,” Berg said. “It’s very positive for the high school kids so people understand these are great people who care about the community.”
Both Fulfs and Teegarden encouraged people to donate coats for people big and tiny before the Dec. 19 deadline.
“Because the need is so big, even something as small as a coat goes such a long way,” Teegarden said.
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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