She smiles as she pulls on a new pair of warm gloves. Sometimes it is the little things that mean something much greater to these people in Detroit. “There are plenty of people across the nation who can’t afford a five dollar pair of gloves, let alone a meal at times, and it breaks my heart,” said Nicole Connaire, an employee at SmithGroupJJR. This is just one of the reasons why she became involved with Mittens for Detroit.
Mittens for Detroit is a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes new, unused mittens to those in need, living in Detroit. It was founded on Nov. 1, 2010, by actress Erin Cummings. “She was living in Detroit filming ‘Detroit 1-8-7’, when she had the idea to collect and distribute mittens and gloves,” said Wendy Shepherd, Executive Director of Mittens for Detroit. Shepherd, who has been involved with the program for almost two years now, is currently in the middle of collecting and sorting mittens and gloves donated by individuals and companies, such as Starbucks and Chrysler Group LLC.