Parent leads initiative to supply gloves, hat to every child at Milan Elementary

Hopes to continue the donation drive next year

(MILAN, Ind.) – Candice Feller can’t stand the thought of a child not having gloves or a winter hat during the cold weather. 

Prior to the recent snow storm, she made a post on Facebook asking for donations to supply gloves and hats to students at Milan Elementary. 

“Last year I had an idea of doing a winter hat and glove drive for the school. Time got away from me and I didn’t get it done. This year I wish I would’ve done it before Christmas but we haven’t had terrible weather yet so now is as good a time as any,” she said at the time. 

Community members responded in a big way and the donations of gloves and hats began pouring in. 

Feller says the majority of people made monetary donations which allowed her to make bulk purchases of gloves and hats. 

The bulk deliveries included different colors and styles of gloves and hats, so Feller spent time organizing it to ensure all students ended up with a similar set.

"Some of the gloves were colorful and others weren't, so I tried to mix-and-match so one kid wasn't getting all colorful items and another student was only getting dull colors," she said.

On Tuesday, Feller went to the elementary school with 500 hats and 500 gloves and every single student received a set. 

There were so many donations that she was also able to donate 267 gloves, 127 hats and 72 pairs of insulated socks to the Milan Intermediate/Middle School as well. 

“We live in such an amazing community and it’s incredible how so many people donated to this cause. It wasn’t just local people who donated either as we had some from other areas,” she said. 

Feller added that this donation drive goes to show you how special of a community Milan is and also how you can use social media for good purposes. 

“I don’t even have a large Facebook following and we were able to do this pretty quick,” she said. 

The total amount of donations was 627 hats, 796 gloves and 72 insulated socks.

Feller wants to do this again next year and is considering the possibility of including additional schools.