West Ranch High School sophomore Gina Intravartolo created her club, “Bracelets with Purpose,” out of love for bracelet making and wanting to make a change.
Intravartolo, who is the president of the club, began volunteering for the West Ranch High library last year and was making bracelets for her school’s prom and realized it would be cool if she could make bracelets with friends for the local charities in Santa Clarita.
Since the club is in its first year, she decided the first charity she wanted to donate to was The Gentle Barn. Since she loved animals and had been going to The Gentle Barn since she was a child, she felt it was perfect.
The Gentle Barn is a 6-acre property on Sierra Highway filled with rescued animals that anyone can come and see, pet or just enjoy on a Sunday (this is their only day open to the public, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.).
“It’s important to have these clubs because these charities are kind of what build our community, whether we think about it or not. Like, they do so much for us without us knowing, and I think we should give back to just these great givers who are nonprofit, and they need support,” Intravartolo said.
Intravartolo added that she and the 40 members of the club made 100 bracelets over the course of eight months to donate to The Gentle Barn, hoping to raise $2,000 for the care of the animals, with each bracelet costing $20 each.
Since she is president, Intravartolo gets the supplies, makes handmade kits for her members, a time-consuming task in her words, and they meet once a month to make the bracelets.
Katie Cochran, vice president of the club, and Intravartolo said it takes about five to six minutes each bracelet depending on whether it breaks, making that a total of 20 bracelets per meeting.
Thania I. Alvarez, a member of Bracelets with Purpose, loves the club because it caters to every group of kids in high school.
“And you get the really artsy ones (the students), ‘Hey, I want to make a bracelet, yeah?’ So, they get to do that. And the ones that don’t like to talk so much, they get to sit down and unwind. And then you have the really funny ones who want to go talk, to hang out and you’re like, ‘Oh hey, let’s hang out and talk and then let’s do something that contributes as well,’” Alvarez said.
Kailey Spiteri, merchandiser associate and store lead at The Gentle Barn, felt grateful that someone felt so strongly about giving back to the organization.
“Having someone bring in and just appreciate that and give something to 100% go back to (the organization) is just amazing,” Spiteri said.
Spiteri added that they always need the funding for vet bills, taking care of the animals and feeding them.
When asked what she wanted for the club in the future, Intravartolo said she hopes the club can extend to other schools next year, eventually making chapters.
