Warming hearts: bracelets used to warm the homeless

Windsor, Ont. -

Eight-year-old Autumn Edwards has built herself quite the small business, but the profits aren’t for her.

“I started making bracelets and people just kept donating stuff,” says Edwards, who’s using the profits from her “warming hearts” bracelets to help others who need to stay warm over the holidays.

“A scarf, a hat, gloves, socks, beef jerky and pepperoni.”

This holiday season, Edwards stuffed over 150 bags with items which are being donated to the Downtown Mission.

“In our community, it’s so nice to see when young people do something for someone else and think beyond their own reality and their own world to see how they can help,” says interim executive director Rukshini Pooniah-Goulin.

The holidays are busier than usual around the Mission, as people try to stay warm during the winter months.

“We see about anywhere between 100 and 200 people I would every day in our dining hall,” Pooniah-Goulin says.

Contributions like Edwards help, as many groups haven’t been able to donate as much as years past due to COVID-19, according to Pooniah-Goulin.

“We’re looking for volunteers as well and we need help to provide the food and do the different programs that we provide at the mission.”