Season of giving: Harley-Davidson, volunteers team up to help Milwaukee students



MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A hefty, Harley-Davidson donation, a group of volunteers and some students in need of cold-weather clothing. They've all come together this holiday season.

For Teri Whitelaw, this is an emotional effort.

"There are so many children that are suffering. There are so many families that are suffering. Families are going through hard times, especially during this time of the year," said Whitelaw.

In response, volunteers at Wauwatosa's New Threads of Hope are sifting through clothing items donated by Harley-Davidson for students in Milwaukee Public Schools.

Megan Sandberg is Director of Development for New Threads of Hope, a non-profit organization which works with retailers to help keep kids clothed.

"They give us all of their overstocks, past season lines, all sorts of merchandise they're not going to sell, anymore. It's all brand new product that gets donated to us, in various different quantities," said Sandberg.

This quantity involves more than 3,000 cold-weather clothing articles. The volunteer coordinator for Milwaukee Public Schools, Heather Aschoff, explains students at six MPS schools will received the new clothes within the next few weeks.

"We started with high schools, because these are adult-sized donations, and then we picked our six largest schools that have high rates of students with an economic disadvantage," said Aschoff.

This marks the beginning of a formal arrangement between New Threads of Hope and Milwaukee Public Schools. Those involved anticipate the collaborative effort will expand to include students at other MPS schools.