Years ago, Waring Junior Ali Estey and her mother Sue ran a “Mitten Tree” asking folks to donate mittens and hats and would pin them to a "tree" in the lobby of their previous school. The mittens and hats would then be donated to children of local low-income families. “I remember we did this in the weeks before Christmas and it was such a fun part of the holiday season for me to see the ‘tree’, which was really just a bunch of branches, filling up with mittens”, said Ali.
Drawing from this experience, Ali has brought the “Mitten Tree” to Waring in the form of a Mitten Drive. After a little research, Ali connected with the Pathways for Children program out of Gloucester and Beverly who gladly welcomed her idea. Ali said, “These women who work everyday with these children were so kind and excited about this simple idea of a Mitten Drive that I knew anything I could bring to them would make a huge difference, so the rest was easy.” For the two weeks leading up to Winter Break, Ali campaigned in the front circle, asking for donations of scarves, hats, and of course, mittens!
Ali and Waring collected over 80 items to be donated to kids in need. Ilia Stacy, Development Officer at Pathways for Children said, "most of our concentration goes towards making sure the kids get coats. Hats and mittens are simply luxuries. But now so many children will have the good fortune of having hats and mittens thanks to Waring."
Our hats (and mittens!) are off to Ali and her spirit of giving these holidays
A coeducational, independent day school for grades 6-12 in Beverly, Massachusetts
