Rum River Elementary School fourth-grader sparks school-wide coat drive
(11/14/19) While reading a book in her class at Rum River Elementary School in Andover, fourth-grader Rivers Thomsen was inspired to help others. Thomsen shared with her mother her idea to collect winter clothing to donate to children in need, and the school provided her with the platform to reach her goal.
Thomsen’s mother reached out to Jeff Clusiau, principal at Rum River, to set up a meeting, and Thomsen laid out her plan.
“Rivers did everything,” Clusiau said. “Her mother emailed me saying she wanted to talk to me — and at the time, I didn’t even know what it was about.”
Thomsen met with Clusiau, her teacher, Angela Landry, and school social worker Lisa DuBois, and she had everything ready to go, including a flier she created to drum up interest amongst her peers.
“I started by handing out fliers to kids in my class and we hung them up around the school,” Thomsen said. “I even had the chance to make an announcement on the morning announcements so everyone in the school could hear about it.”
As word spread, items started to pour in from students throughout the school. When it was all said and done, Thomsen had received 116 winter jackets, 36 pairs of snow pants, 146 hats, 153 pairs of gloves, 38 scarves and two pairs of boots.
“I didn’t know where we were going to put it all,” Clusiau said. “It’s a really great thing that she did, and the fact that she approached the adults with this idea is even more impressive.”
Thomsen said that she felt the need to do something for others, and she knew that her classmates would be willing to pitch in.
Thomsen chose Urban Ventures to donate the winter clothing to. Urban Ventures is an organization in Minneapolis that strives to create a city without urban poverty through educating children, strengthening their families, and building a healthy community.
“I was really happy that I was able to do this to help other people,” Thomsen said. “It was fun to see how everyone was smiling and happy when we dropped everything off.”
Thomsen added that she felt it is important to give back to others, because not everyone has what they need.