Intern Raises Money with FunDrive at Her Local Thrift Store

Ani Talanian is a senior at The Catholic University of America, and she is studying Psychology with a minor in social work. With a passion for helping others, Talanian wanted to leave her mark on the autism community and decided to raise money and awareness through a FunDrive during the summer of 2021. She decided to put together a FunDrive in collaboration with her local thrift store, Savers.

Friends, family and members of her local community could donate bags of clothing and boxes of household items to help Talanian with this initiative. She spent her summer getting the word out to her community about her fundraiser by sharing a flyer with her friends, family, and social media platforms.

Ani Talanian explained that it was “a very rewarding fundraiser because everyone that cleaned out their closets and donated knew that their donations were making a difference for both the American Autism Association and their community.”

Ani Talanian said that her favorite part about the whole experience “was being able to reach out to all of the people in her community and seeing the amount of people who were willing to donate bags of clothes.” She never expected the fundraiser to be as successful as it turned out to be, and she was thrilled with the turn out. The pile of bags in her garage continued to grow in the weeks leading up to her fundraiser and it was inspiring for her to see an outcome of 85 bags weighing over 1,350 pounds.

Ani Talanian that it was an inspiring and heart-warming experience, and the support that she received from the FunDrive director, Marybeth Came, and everyone at Savers made her experience something she will always cherish.

We are so proud of Ani Talanian for helping to make a difference for the people the American Autism Association supports, while also supporting her local community.