NJ high school teens bring community together through fashion and crafts

🎨 Four high school girls started a business to give back to the community

🎨 The goal is to create unique pieces through fashion and crafts

🎨 The girls enjoy bringing this joy to residents of a local retirement home

WARREN — With a strong desire to help others, a 17-year-old junior from Watchung Hills Regional High School and three of her friends decided to create an organization that brings the community together through fashion designs and various different types of crafts.

In November 2022, Simran Shah founded Designs for Smiles, along with her three friends, 16-year-old Keya Patel, 17-year-old Jacqueline Sellinger, and 17-year-old Sara Dos Santos, also high school juniors.

The goal of the program is to give back to the community through handmade fashion designs and crafts, said Shah.

In December 2022, the girls went to Laurel Circle Retirement Home in Bridgewater and made ornaments and stockings with about 20 seniors.

They returned on February 12, 2023 and did a program with the seniors there for Valentine’s Day. They made frames and put inspirational and motivational quotes inside them, while using red and white paint to decorate the frames.

“The senior citizens were so excited and happy to make these frames,” Shah said.

Shah recalled that during the project, one 97-year-old resident told the girls a sweet story about how it was her anniversary on Valentine’s Day. She expressed how happy she was that the teens came, did crafts, and made it fun and memorable for her.

Another resident, who was in the military, would share stories about that life, which Shah said she found to be fascinating.

Designs for Smiles recently returned to Laurel Circle to paint birdhouses with the seniors because there is an outdoor area that’s perfect to hang birdhouses.

Shah said wanted to start a give-back-to-the-community type of club at her high school but she had a tough time getting it off the ground.

So, she decided to create the passion project outside of school. Shah said she loves fashion and loves to make crafts so she recruited her three gal pals, Keya, Jacqui, and Sara to get on board.

“We wanted to give back to our community in a way where we do something fun and interactive with other people, so we decided to go to retirement homes and give back, and make crafts with them,” Shah said.

The seniors truly enjoy painting, telling stories, and chatting about their day, which makes Shah and her friends so happy.

“I love hearing inspirational stories about their lives,” she said.

Right now, the girls only bring Designs for Smiles to Laurel Circle Retirement Home but the hope is to expand to others.

Shah said she loves crafting with the seniors so much, that she plans to continue doing this throughout her college years.

Since the organization just got off the ground a few months ago, the girls have yet to put together some fundraising ideas.

For now, they pay for their crafting and fashion materials out-of-pocket, splitting the costs four ways.

But Shah said they have not had to spend too much, which is good. They normally have enough materials that last several projects. For example, if they already have paintbrushes and paint, they just save them for the next project.

The project is also geared toward using recyclables such as cardboard and fabrics and teaching people creative ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle their clothing into something fun and new.

Shah said so far this experience of visiting Laurel Circle and working with seniors has been so positive and uplifting.

She said she’s learned so much about her community and getting to know people again, after more than two years of being shut out from the outside world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s great to be back in their company.

“It means a lot because I get to hear about their lives and their stories,” Shah said.

It’s all about teaching others and bringing people together through fashion and crafts.

You can check out Designs for Smiles online and on Instagram.

Jen Ursillo is a reporter and anchor for New Jersey 101.5. You can reach her at jennifer.ursillo@townsquaremedia.com

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