They collected over 1100 jackets – a record amount for the charity. Because of their desire to give back a lot of kids in the North Metro are going to benefit.
“It shows that they are thinking about the bigger picture and not just about themselves,” said Holly Boisjolie a Blaine teacher who orchestrates the coat collection. “They truly want to do what’s best for the community and the smiles on their faces when they came back with all those coats are just the pride that they have with it. Makes me proud as an advisor too.”
“It was really special for us seniors this year because the previous record was held in 2007 and that’s the year many of us seniors were born,” said Sarah Huynh, a Blaine student. “It was really a full circle moment.”
Win-win
The kids who need coats are clearly the winners this winter – but so are the 20 plus Bengal students who made this possible with their heart, hustle and motivation.
“It was really just simple to go out and knock on a few doors, send a quick text,” Huynh said. “It just kept us going and going to see how easy it was and the amount of coats we received really just drove us over and made us and keep collecting – even after we broke the record.”
Blaine HS has been part of coat collections for over three decades. The Bengal students truly believe that no one should go through a frigid Minnesota winter without a jacket.
“We know how cold Minnesota can really get so for us we couldn’t imagine how it would be like in the winter without a coat,” Huynh said. “That really was the one thing that motivated us.”
The old record for most coats donated was just over 1,000 in 2007.
