Twinfield students spearhead ‘essential items’ drive

PLAINFIELD, Vt. (WCAX) - A little kindness can go a long way, and two Twinfield high school students are seeing that firsthand after spearheading a collection drive to provide toiletries and other essential items to local families.

Boxes on boxes full of essential items like toothpaste to hand soap are on their way to families who need them. Twinfield Union School juniors Holly and Annie Dunlop have been working to collect the items since January. “We thought of a bunch of ideas but something that would be easy to have the middle school incorporated and the high school,” Holly said.

With the help of the school’s peer leadership advisors, the twin sisters rallied students of all ages to give what they could in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “Along with this, we also made MLK presentations to go present to the elementary school to get them more informed on the holiday. And we made it more like an MLK month rather than just a day,” Holly said.

It’s part of the Twinfield Together Mentoring Program, a schoolwide effort to connect older students with younger ones and the whole school with the community. “For such a small school and not everybody having the means to have the money to buy a bunch of stuff, I think we had a really good outcome,” Holly said.

“I actually think that we did better than I expected us to do,” added Annie.

Now, the boxes of necessities are on their way to the Head Start Learning Together Center in Barre. “You can see we got a lot of donations and we absolutely appreciate them,” said the center’s Deb Chase. She says they’ll go to the Essentials Closet, which helps low-income families and kids up to five years old get their hands on products they may not otherwise have. “You know, for parents to be able to access those essential items that can’t be bought with EBT cards or food stamps.”

And while it could make a huge difference to those who need it, the Dunlops say they’re just happy to help. “Just like a way to give back. I feel like it’s important with all we have -- and we’re really privileged -- so I feel like it’s right to give back to the community that needs it,” Annie said.

The sisters say they hope to make it a recurring event to honor other holidays with similar community service projects.

Copyright 2022 WCAX. All rights reserved.