Two Westlake High School students finished a school effort Jan. 12 that brought in more than 1,200 T-shirts that will help refugee women living in Austin.

The T-shirt drive, spearheaded by WHS students and sisters Catherine Anne and Rebecca Prideaux, benefited Open Arms, an Austin social enterprise that provides refugee women with a livable wage to produce clothing made with recyclable materials. The T-shirts collected at WHS will be used as raw material for clothing made by the refugees.

"What's cool about this project is that it's a community school helping a community business employ people right here in Austin," Open Arms Founder Leslie Beasley said.

The Prideaux sisters learned about Open Arms after their brother worked with Beasley's husband in Africa providing microfinance loans. Catherine Anne, a senior, said she was impressed with how the Open Arms refugees worked together and were proud of what they did. She said a T-shirt drive at WHS seemed like a good way to help the business.

"We're a very generous community, and our demographic definitely wears T-shirts a lot," she said of fellow students.

Technology with heart

The Prideaux sisters were able to monitor how many T-shirts each class donated with their school-issued iPads. The class that donated the most T-shirts—the seniors—was given free donuts.

WHS Principal Linda Rawlings said she was impressed that the sisters decided on their own to use the iPads to track how many T-shirts were donated. This year, WHS is instituting a pilot program in which all juniors and seniors are given an iPad to use for school-related activities.

"It's a perfect blend of technology and human spirit and compassion and wanting to help other people," Rawlings said. "I love it when that happens."

Beasley and Open Arms spokeswoman Trina Barlow said they believe the younger generation currently in school is an activist-minded group that is going to do big things.

"We have seen that this younger generation wants to be a part of positive change," Beasley said. "It's pretty exciting to see."

Beasley started Open Arms in October 2010 after working with refugees in Africa and India. After returning to Austin, she realized there was a large local refugee population. She began Open Arms as a way to help refugees break out of the cycle of poverty by providing a livable wage while also creating earth-friendly clothing, Beasley said.

"The uniqueness of Open Arms is that it is a sustainable business, not a charity," Beasley said.

Scarves, skirts and T-shirts from Open Arms, which is a wholesaler, are sold in 31 stores in eight states, including the University of Texas Co-op and Whole Earth Provisions. Open Arms has multiple locations throughout the Austin area where people can drop off old T-shirts that will be broken down and used to make new clothes.