For these students, glove donation comes just at the right time

Dickinson East Elementary School students received brand new gloves courtesy of Mittens for Detroit.

By Charles Sercombe
For far too long Hamtramck teachers have noticed that many of their students come to school in cold weather without gloves, hats or warm enough coats.
“We ask them where are your gloves, your hat? And they say ‘I don’t have any,’” said Dickinson East Elementary School teacher Christopher Wilinski.
Just a few weeks ago Wilinski stumbled on a partial solution.
At the local Weight Watchers club he attends, Wilinski noticed a box asking for donations of new mittens.
A light bulb went off in his head, so to speak, and he contacted the sponsor of that drive, Mittens for Detroit.
Wilinski said he received immediate support for his request for enough mittens and gloves for kids in kindergarten through 3rd grade, keeping his initial request modest.

The Executive Director of Mittens, Wendy Shepherd, didn’t hesitate to up that request.
“She asked how many more would you like?” Wilinski said.
How about for the entire school, he ventured?
In a matter of a few e-mails, it was a done deal.
“The turnaround was so fast,” Wilinski said.
And then it got even better.
Shepherd offered to supply gloves to every student in every grade.
“She kept saying you want more? and we said yes,” Wilinski said.
On Wednesday morning, Dickinson East students filed into a basement classroom and got to pick their own gloves, from over a couple dozen different ones, and once that was done pose for a class photo with their gloves on.
The kids beamed as they looked over the gloves, trying different-colored ones on before finding that just right pair.
The Mittens program was started five years ago when actress Erin Cummings was working in Detroit as part of the short-lived television crime drama show, “Detroit 187.”
Cummings saw a need, and “really fell in love with Detroit and how plucky we are,” said Shepherd.
According to the charity’s website its mission is simple: “The sole purpose is to collect, purchase, and distribute new mittens and gloves to children and adults in the city of Detroit.”

But just not for Detroit, Shepherd said.
“Since Hamtramck and Highland Park are inside the City of Detroit, it made sense to include them,” she said.
Shepherd had nothing but praise for Wilinski, saying this will now be an ongoing partnership with Hamtramck Public Schools. Every year, Shepherd said, students here will receive a new pair of gloves.
“The need is tremendous,” Shepherd said.
Want to help out with providing gloves to kids? If so, go online to www.mittensfordetroit.org to find out how to donate.