FRANKLIN — It might take a community to make a difference, but it all starts with one person. For one Franklin teen, she is doing everything she can to make the difference she wants to see.
“Even if you pitch in a little bit it's going to make a big difference," Lexi Ninu said.
So that's exactly what the 19-year-old Marquette sophomore does. Ninu does what she can. What she can do is host donation drives.
Watch Lexi's story and hear why she is motivated to organize these donations on her own...
Over the past few years, she has organized multiple donation drives across the southern Milwaukee County area. She gives all the items to Milwaukee Street Angels. It's an organization that helps the homeless community.
“It really breaks my heart and I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity for you know clean clothes," Ninu said.
This is how her donation drives work. She reaches out to various community Facebook pages asking for clothes, food, and financial contributions. She instructs everyone to leave those items on their porch on a specific day. Then she goes around picking them up with her mom.
I found out about Ninu's donation drive after I reached out to Milwaukee-area Facebook pages asking for positive story ideas. She was one of the people who responded. It just so happened that I came to film the story right after her biggest donation drive yet which was on Aug. 3rd.
“We did porch pick-ups to 23 different houses in Franklin, Cudahy, and Oak Creek areas," Ninu said. "We had I’d say five carloads of donations and then we have for sure 360 water bottles.”
She received new sleeping bags, blankets, winter clothes, shirts, shoes, toiletries, feminine care products, sleeping pads, food, and cash. She used the money to buy new socks and underwear.
This is her fourth donation drive and third for the Street Angels. Ninu is so committed that back in 2023 she had surgery in February, another surgery in March, and still hosted her donation drive in April.
“Yeah, it was kidney stones. And then just my right kidney wasn’t draining well, so it saved my kidney," she said.
Despite multiple surgeries, she had one thought in her mind.
“They’re people who were suffering more than I was," Ninu said.
That is what motivates her to keep on going. Every little bit counts when it is going to some of the most vulnerable populations.
You can contribute to her mission by reaching out to her on Facebook, sending her an email to alexandra.ninu@outlook.com, or donating directly to Milwaukee Street Angels.
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