University’s Clothing Drive Helps International Students Survive Canadian Winters

FREDERICTON – When international students choose to come to Canada for university, they don’t always think about the cold winters that Canada is used to. Or maybe they’re excited to experience the snow. But one thing is for sure; buying winter clothing can be an expensive fee to their already expensive years here abroad.

In the fall of 2018, a member of the St. Thomas University International Student’s Association, Wasiimah Joomun, had an idea about starting a clothing drive at STU.

“Because in my role as vice-president I was trying to build partnership with people and I was like ‘this would be a cool idea to have,'” said Joomun.

She had a conversation with the ex-STUISA president, Manuel García and they agreed it would be beneficial to do something for their international student’s community. The two went to Carrie Monteith-Levesque, who is STU’s international student’s advisor and she told them it was a go-ahead.

This year, the event was only one day, as opposed to last year’s, which lasted two days. On Oct, 31, there were clothing racks and tables set up in Sir James Dunn Hall from 10 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Anyone within the STU community was able to come down and donate what they wanted and to take whatever they needed.

Other than jackets, people donated a variety of hats, scarves, mitts and boots.

A gratitude board was there were students could come and write thank you notes to the committee. “Because some people feel bad for not being able to give back so, they just like leave a note,” said Joomun.

Many international students, including Diana Chavez, benefited from this event. She picked up a trench coat, which she has been wanting for a few years now. Chavez says she’s “really thankful that the international office puts this event on every year because there are many international students, just like me that are not very familiar with winter here.”