DETROIT – What better way to make new friends as your start your college career than to meet people by volunteering?
That is what University of Detroit Mercy students are doing a week before classes start at Auntie Na’s Village.
Auntie Na’s Village includes a community project and a program under one roof. It is located near Livernois Avenue.
The founder of Auntie Na’s Village, Sonia Brown, said that the house (and village) provides community meals, after-school tutoring and hosts a clothing drive (accepting and distributing clothes) for those in need.
“We’re trying to find a home for everything that has made its way here,” said Brown.
The clothing house was shut down during the pandemic, but now after two years of accumulating donations, these Detroit Mercy incoming freshmen are making their way through the piles and piles of clothing.
“We’re taking the clothes from inside the house and bringing them out and the bags. This isn’t even half of it, and we’re putting in organizing into like kids section,” said volunteer Johnea Johnson.
To keep this village up and running it takes a village, which is why Auntie Na said she is so thankful for the time these students are contributing.
“Again, I couldn’t have done any of this, and I say it all the time. It’s not Antie Na’s,” said Brown. “It’s everyone over the years that have found their way here to make auntie Nays a part of what they’ve applied their hands to the land to create.”