A trailer load of hoodies is heading to New Jersey to help those effected by Hurricane Sandy.
The hoodies are part of a statewide effort launched by the West Virginia American Federation of Teachers Union (AFT-WV) a few weeks back called the Hoodies for Hope campaign. For the past few weeks AFT-WV chapters in 17 West Virginia counties along with Fairmont State University have been collecting hoodies from residents in their area.
Public Relations Specialist with the AFT-WV Jennifer Wood said despite having only about three weeks to collect, the amount of support has been tremendous.
“We’ve collected around a thousand hoodies and any cash donations that we received we went here locally and bought children’s and infant’s clothing with it because that’s also a need there as well,” said Wood.
The trailer left Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. from Charleston, heading for Newark, NJ.
“These will go to the New Jersey State Federation Office and their plan is to distribute them in the Newark area because it was extremely hard hit and has been slow to get some relief,” said Wood.
Once the hoodies arrive, they will be distributed to not only union members and their families, but also to anyone those members know needs help.
“In the grand scheme of all the things to do in the world, maybe it’s not millions of dollars but it’s our way of participating and to show them that we are going to do what we can to make the holidays a little better for you and let you know that people are thinking of you and praying for a swift recovery from this horrible storm,” said Wood.
The following counties participated in the Hoodies for Hope campaign: Cabell, Wood, Berkeley, Jefferson, Hampshire, Marion, Kanawha, Harrison, Pocahontas, Lincoln, Nicholas, Putnam, Fayette, McDowell, Morgan, Ritchie and Mineral.
Leading the pack in the donations was AFT-Wood County, netting over 500 hoodies collected.
The hoodies are expected to be distributed sometime next week.
