Summit Academy provides warm winter gear for those in need

Plastic bags filled with hats, gloves and scarves line the chain link fence of E. Street sidewalk near Summit Academy School in Lorain as part of the Keep Cozy Lorain project.

The program is an outreach effort to provide warm clothing to local residents in need.

Angela Davis, community outreach coordinator, said the school has been trying to find ways to become active in the community.

“We know it’s been a tough winter and tough times for some, and we just want to support them,” Davis said.

A total of 150 bags are hanging for anyone who needs to take them.

Davis said it’s a simple gesture of goodwill to neighbors without basic winter gear.

Once community members

got wind of the donations, those who knit and crochet, have been dropping off items to help supplement the program.

Davis said the plans are

to keep refilling the slots until there are no longer any pieces left to post.

“We want to put a smile on the faces of community members,” she said. “With the (novel coronavirus) pandemic, it can be hard to get to stores, so we wanted a quick and easy way to get warm materials.”

Davis has been working on the event with school faculty and Youngstown State University senior Jennifer Firment, who is completing an internship at the school.

Firment, a public health major, said the project is an eye-opening and thoughtful experience that challenges citizens to look at their neighbors from an empathetic perspective.

“This is important for our community,” she said. “It’s extremely cold and so many people here don’t have the resources to buy hats and gloves.

“It’s nice to give them a chance to stay warm.”

Bags first were put out Jan. 21 on E. Street near the corner of Idaho Avenue in Lorain.

SUBMITTED Lines of homemade and store purchased gloves, hats and scarves which are free to those in need line the wall of a chain link fence near Summit Academy in Lorain.