Everything Under The Sun: Just One Act Leads To Much More

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Just One Act Leads To Much More

Erin Cummings, who started a nonprofit from a simple act of kindness.

Her day job may be as an actress, leading to a successful career, with a role in the Mad Men series, but her role in the series Detroit 1-8-7, brought Erin Cummings into contact with a city that has both high points and low points.

We all know about the Detroit Tigers, the baseball team that is the home team of this complicated city. Ms. Cummings got a personalized view of the mixture that characterizes this city when she met some distant cousins and stayed with them. It was on Halloween that the family was handing out treats, when one of the costumed little girls began crying. She had lost her glove on a cold and windy day. Her cousin Kathi came to the rescue with a new pair of gloves that fit perfectly.

That was when an idea was born. Erin continued, "I was so touched by this simple act and how it acknowledged a basic human need. I couldn't stop thinking about how easy it could be to remedy discomfort, even if in a relatively small way." Although she was involved in local fundraising, she felt that it was capitalizing on her fame, so it felt empty..

But it was a whole different story with forming this nonprofit, MITTENS FOR DETROIT, that became involved in filling a basic need. This organization was built from the ground up, including recruiting volunteers, building a website, and acquiring the necessary supplies. Ms. Cummings said, "Over the first four months, we collected almost 10,000 pairs of new gloves. And it was all done with in-kind donations, not monetary ones."

Beginning in October and running through January, Mittens For Detroit distributes collection boxes to retail stores throughout the area, including about 100 Starbucks locations. The group asks that donations of gloves be brand new in order, as Ms. Cummings said, to provide these items to people who "may not have owned brand new mittens or other articles of clothing, and the newness is a respectful and dignified way in which to give these pairs."

This has been the sixth year that Mittens For Detroit has run it collection drive. In total, more than 165,000 mittens have been collected. While the gloves are being collected, the group holds a Big Sort, in which volunteers sort out the gloves by age group, gender, and distribution site. They are then sent on to schools, homeless shelters, and other nonprofit organizations.

A driver from Greening Of Detroit is all set to deliver some needed gloves.

By the way, for those who are handy at crafting, the website has patterns for mittens and a video for converting that new sweater, which is one too many for you, into mittens, with decorative enhancements. There are also other ways to be involved, even if you don't live in Detroit, including sponsoring an event and purchasing jewelry specially designed for Mittens For Detroit.