This year, Nepean’s Key Club came up with an exciting new initiative, the clothing swap. The first clothing swap happened on April 28th and was a hit with students. This was Key Club’s first in person event of the year and the group was very happy with the turn out and the chance to host an event to bring students together. Key Club got a giant donation of clothing from a local second hand store, Plato’s Closet, and students could either swap their own clothing for another item or buy an item of clothing. All proceeds go to supporting the Caldwell Family Center. The Caldwell Family Center is a local organization that works to support Ottawa residents impacted by poverty. The organization strives to meet the needs of the people they’re helping through food security, social engagement and child and youth programs. It’s an important organization that’s doing great work in our community and so far the clothing drive has raised over $200 to donate.

The clothing drive isn’t only about raising money, it’s also for encouraging the reduction of fast fashion. The first clothing swap took place during Earth Month and the idea was inspired by the idea of trying to find a way to get students in Nepean High School contributing to greener practices in the school. The clothing swap encourages students to firstly, give their unwanted clothing another use by trading it for something new or secondly, to buy used clothing which is a great way to practice sustainability.

After the clothing swap, there was still a lot of leftover clothing so in the spirit of sustainability, Key Club decided to continue selling the clothes but now at only $1 a piece. This was done to avoid letting any of the clothes go to waste and to make sure that they got reused. Every week after the first clothing swap Key Club has been selling the leftover clothes on Thursdays. If you still haven’t had a chance to check it out, don't worry, the final event will be on Thursday June 23rd in the main hall! Additionally, Key Club hopes to bring back the clothing swap next year and to make it a Nepean tradition. They are hoping to have bigger events, including seasonal swaps so that students can get new clothing for the upcoming weather. If you want to check out Key Club you can go to their Instagram page @keyclub.nhs and consider joining next year if you want to be a part of more cool events like this!