Tessa Shane

Tessa Shane, founder of The Donation Closet, learned the importance of giving back at a young age.

“I have an older sister and she was involved in a lot of community service work,” she said. “I started seeing her getting involved in things, like the Friendship Circle, and other community service. She kind of guided some of my decisions and opened my eyes up to what you can do for others.”

Shane also became involved in the Friendship Circle, a non-profit that offers programming for special needs children, teens and adults.

“I was a counselor there,” she said. “I’d be paired up with a child with special needs. We’d do arts and crafts projects and play games.”

Shane, a senior at Seaholm High School, had been involved in sports but was injured. She began looking for other ways to remain involved in her community.

“I was looking to do something that was outside my school,” she said. “I wanted to create something on my own. I came across a nonprofit called Hoodies for the Homeless. I noticed they had chapters across the country, but they didn’t have a chapter in Michigan.”

In the fall of her junior year at Seaholm, Shane began working with Hoodies for the Homeless. “I started coordinating local donation drives,” she said. “People started dropping off their donations to me and they were dropping off more than hoodies.”

The 17-year-old philanthropist asked her parents if she could take over their basement to organize her donations and, thus, The Donation Closet was born in 2024.

With clothing donations pouring in, Shane decided to partner with other non-profits in the area with the intention of providing resources all over southeast Michigan.

“I partner up with someone different each month and figure out what their needs are,” she said. “That’s the model I created and it made a lot of sense. We repurpose clothing to give to a nonprofit. We're able to help a ton of families.”

Shane continually reaches out to the community to ensure The Donation Closet stays fully stocked.

“I started a social media page on Instagram,” she said. “I post who our upcoming partners are and if we are looking for something specific.”

Once Shane receives the donations, she organizes them.

“If someone drops off a bag of clothes, I bring it down to my basement. I sort through them and decide which nonprofit they will work for. Birmingham Schools also contacts me with specific needs. I’ll go into the closet and pull what is appropriate for a specific family.”

Despite all her dedication to help those in need, Shane is rarely able to witness the impact she has on the community.

“I’ve had a couple scenarios when I’ve met the people I was able to help,” she said. “They were all so nice. I walked out and I actually started crying. To see that my work was helping people was very meaningful to me. It makes me feel like I’ve been able to have an impact on a lot of people.”

The altruistic, budding entrepreneur is also a 4.0 student who is looking forward to going to the University of Southern California to study communications and fashion.

Wherever she goes, she intends to stay connected to The Donation Closet.

“I’ve been talking to people about taking over my inventory here,” she said. “But I hope I can start another chapter where I’ll be. I’ll always be involved with The Donation Closet in some way.”

Story: Katey Meisner

Photo: Laurie Tennent