Jessika Whiteside’s forum held a pop-up thrift shop and game fair on Sunday, Nov.3, to kick off the annual CHS Food Gatherers fundraiser. Miguel Larios, a senior in the forum, led the thrift pop-up.
When Miguel Larios was asked about his lead in the pop-up, he expressed his gratitude for the experience.
“For my forumettes, and myself included, it was a great opportunity to get quick leadership experience,” Larios said.
The outreach that the pop-up had on the community was immense, with shoppers from Kerrytown, The University of Michigan, and plenty of other audiences enjoying the warm, fall day.
“People found some super cute stuff, it was nice because I saw a lot of my clothes in the collection that we were selling, and I saw people pick it up and love it and take it home,” Larios said. “It was such a good experience in and of itself, seeing our contributions and everything makes people genuinely happy, and then also knowing it was going to the Food Gatherers.”
The forum raised approximately $1550 for the fundraiser, with Jessika Whiteside crediting Tom Gottsman, a former tutor at one of the nearby schools, who created the fun lawn games the forum used. Whiteside hopes that her forum’s headstart on fundraising will give CHS good momentum to move forward and push towards the school-wide goal.
Zane Swerdlow, a CHS senior who attended the pop-up, described his pop-up as a positive environment that brought the community together.
“I saw Michigan students coming in, which was really interesting,” Swerdlow said. “You could watch people walk out of the farmers market when the pop-up would catch their eyes, and they would walk over and start looking around and buying stuff. It was super cool.”