Sharing The Warmth
This young upstart is giving Detroit's homeless population a chance to stay warm and help one another out of poverty, one creative coat at a time.
It's been said that college is where you find yourself. In the case of Veronika Scott, it's 100 percent true. While still a junior studying industrial design at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, she came up with the prototype for a coat that could double as a sleeping bag, keeping the elements out and body warmth in, and which could also roll up into a backpack of sorts for easy portability when not in use.
Two years later, her non-profit organization, The Empowerment Plan, is thriving. After working with a professional seamstress to train seven local women from Detroit's homeless community, Scott has brought her MPWR (as in "empower") coat to full production, made with home insulation materials on the exterior to keep out the cold. Her goal is to give Detroit's homeless population employable skills while instilling a sense of pride in her own employees for the work they're doing for their own community, all while helping impoverished Detroit citizens stay warm in the winter.
This holiday season, we can think of plenty of ways our support can ably be used to help those less fortunate, but in particular, the act of bringing together science, ingenuity, kindness and empowerment all into one big, warm bundle feels like something that should be lifted up and shared this weekend. To give any amount to The Empowerment Plan (and, in doing so, help foster the creation of other programs just like it), donate here.
