Local student helps gather winter clothing for homeless

Ogden — An online high school student’s senior project is helping warm the lives of the homeless. Brandon Snow-Kanniainen, a student at the online-only Insight School of Washington, collected cold weather essentials with the help of other volunteers during the Blankets for Hope donation drive Dec. 1-2 at Living Hope Church in Vancouver. Enough blankets, coats, hats and other items to fill the back of a pickup. “My efforts may not change the world, but it may change the life of one person, and that is all I can ask for,” Snow-Kanniainen said in an email. He said he was inspired by his brother Hunter Kanniainen, who also created a community service campaign in school. In September, Living Hope Church opened a homeless outreach center called Live Love. Clark County’s Council for the Homeless reports there are about 830 people without homes in the county, while nearly the same number are living temporarily with family or friends. The Quillayute Valley School District in Forks oversees the public Insight School of Washington, part of the national K-12 Insight Schools network.