LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — More than 100 students at Frederick Douglass High School thrift shopped during their lunch hour on Wednesday.
“Each student gets four tickets to shop, so that’s four items,” explained Ariadna Marquez, a member of the school’s chapter of Amnesty International.
Amnesty International is a human rights organization with chapters at nearly 600 colleges and high schools across the country. The organization encourages students to take action on social issues at the local level.
For months, the school’s Amnesty International club has collected gently-used donations of clothing and shoes, culminating in a free thrift shop.
After selecting their items, students “checked out” before heading back to class.
“This is a way to help out lower income students that might not have the quality clothing,” said Marquez.
The thrift shop offered no judgment or shame, just a helping hand.
“I would say this year we've gotten a lot more school-wide attention and a lot more participants,” said student Alessandra Dambacher.
The club’s effort to make change didn’t stop at the checkout line.
“In Amnesty, we don't just host events, we also attempt to educate ourselves,” Dambacher explained.
The students recently studied the impact of international clothing pollution and fabric waste.
“The discussion we had a few days ago was about the landfills in Ghana showing huge mounds of clothing just rotting there,” said Dambacher.
The discussion was eye-opening for the students, who have since launched themselves into the pop-up thrift shop event.
“By doing this, we're hoping to reduce waste in any way we can and spread the word about it too, so that people will stop buying fast-fashion just so they can follow the trends. There are just as cute of clothes here,” said student Rachel Franklin.
In the spring, Frederick Douglass’ Amnesty International hopes to expand its inventory and host another thrift shop pop-up.
