By Sean Copeland
BLOOMINGTON – Boy meets girl. Girl meets fence. Boy and girl keep fence warm with hats, coats, and gloves. To the untrained eye, this might be how Tahnee Lathrop’s first ‘Giving Fence’ donation drive started.
Tahnee and her husband Matt run the Retrofit Culture store in Bloomington and share the property with a metal chain link fence near the corner of west Washington street and Morris avenue. Though they were unsure at first, Tahnee said the idea to give back came from having too much to start.
“We were going through our hats and gloves and mittens and coats and for two people we had way too many,” Tahnee Lathrop said. “I thought I am just going to make them on the fence and mark ‘free’ and my husband thought maybe that was a little silly. But then I thought if I get lots of people to put things on the fence, then it’s not silly it’s a thing.”
They ran the first drive in January and though they didn’t keep track of all the winter coats and accessories, the Lathrops said conservatively they were able to give away 200 coats and nearly 500 accessories namely hats and gloves and potentially more.
For the Lathrops starting donations today, they’re already flooded with all kinds of winter wear and both expressed extreme gratitude and pride in the Bloomington-Normal community.
“I was not initially a big supporter of this idea I didn’t see anything wrong with it, I just didn’t imagine it would catch on as well as it has,” Matt Lathrop said. “I think it really says some great things about the community and this area.”
Donations will be received throughout the entire winter season but the fence officially opens on Saturday. The donations themselves can just be hung on the fence, for those in need.
Sean Copeland can be reached at sean.copeland@cumulus.com.
