A high school student in Ohio organized a clothing donation drive for ReThreads, a charity that opens its doors to the public once every season.
Becoming a Catholic Order of Foresters (COF) member means you receive more than just quality life insurance and the ability to protect yourself and your family with our products. It means you’re a part of an organization with a rich history of bringing Catholic values to life.
As a COF member, you have access to many of our fraternal benefits. Although we can write a whole magazine on the great benefits that Catholic Order of Foresters provides its membership, I want to focus on one in particular: the Fraternal Scholarship. This is a great benefit for any of our student members seeking assistance with their higher education goals.
One of the new requirements to apply for the Fraternal Scholarship is to do one of following things: teach a Catholic catechism course, host a Feeding God’s Children event, or attend a COF mission trip. Recently, a member named Zach Wagner from St. Aloysius 2172 in Shandon, Ohio, hosted a Feeding God’s Children event in Ohio to apply for a Fraternal Scholarship.
Zach, along with two other students at Stephen T. Badin High School in Hamilton, Ohio, partnered with an organization called ReThreads for Zach’s 10-day Feeding God’s Children clothing donation drive.
ReThreads is an organization based out of a church in Fairfield, Ohio, that collects clothing donations and opens its doors to the public four times a year, usually once per season. During these public “open houses,” community members are allowed to come in and pick out the clothes they want to take home, all at no cost.
When ReThreads is not open to the public — and it’s usually not — every Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to noon, volunteers arrive at Fairfield Church of the Nazarene to sort through clothing donations — anything from shirts, coats, shoes, hats, and jewelry.
In December, Zach and his two classmates, Max and Mike, enlisted the help of a nearby grade school to bolster their efforts. The more people donate, the more clothes ReThreads will end up collecting.
“I emailed the school and made flyers. I then went to the school and talked to [the students] about [ReThreads] and told them what kind of clothes we were looking for,” said Zach.
They received permission to set up a clothing drive at the school after Zach and his classmates presented to the grade school students and asked them to donate gently used winter clothes.
“I really enjoyed being able to go and talk to the kids the most,” said Zach. “I enjoyed opening them up to something completely new. It felt like a great accomplishment.”
Click here to learn more about ReThreads!
Article by Connor McEleney