By Daniel Scullard
On Friday, Nov. 7, tables and racks in Jones AB were layered with winter clothing.
The Diversity Equity and Inclusion Commission (DEIC) held a winter clothing drive to give students an opportunity to prepare for the winter ahead.
The event encouraged sustainability by allowing students to get rid of clothes they don’t wear without throwing them away.
“It’s just really rewarding to see students pop out with a new jacket or shoes,” said Denise Marsh, who oversaw organizing the event.
DEIC has been hosting the event since 2022, it has become tradition for them to hold the drive yearly. The event aims to allow students who don’t have access to clothing or don’t prepare for the winter to get new clothes for themselves.
“With the arctic wind coming down, best to prepare myself for ahead,” said Khoi Pham, a biochemistry major, who was looking for some new winter clothes.
The drive was originally held in the Parke Student Leadership Center DEIC area located in the Parke Student Leadership Center. After that they moved to the centrum, but they found it too big and people wanted a more intimate space.
So this year they decided on Jones A/B for its privacy.
“Nobody knows whether you’re going into OSE (office of student engagement), the bathroom or you go to a different class,” said Marsh.
Clothes acquired from the drive were set aside for students who filled out a form in advance. The clothes matched what was needed in the form.
The drive was held Friday, Nov. 7, in both Jones A and B conference rooms from 12-4 p.m. with the Center of Holistic Health, Office of Student Engagement, Residence Life and the Athletics Department all helping with the drive.
The drive was originally a poverty simulation which costed DEIC a lot of money to educate students about what poverty was. It then was changed to help fight poverty with the clothing drive.
“We want to make sure that all of our students can be warm. If they need help getting warm, we want to make sure they get help getting warm,” said Elijah Amelse, the advisor for DEIC.
Once the drive is over, the rest of the clothing goes to the Fargo-Moorhead Mutual Aid & Direct Action Network where they hold their own winter drive to fight back poverty in the Fargo-Moorhead (F-M) area.
Before the drive, DEIC had bins in multiple places around campus to allow students to drop off clothing they didn’t want.
Students can participate next year by donating winter clothes or, if they need winter clothes, the drive is open to everyone. They are welcome to take what they need for the upcoming winter.
