Vermont professor Jen Ellis, 42, received thousands of emails about the day’s inauguration gloves from Senator Bernie Sanders.
During President Joe Biden’s inauguration, photographer Brendan Smialowski captured a now viral image of the Vermont lawmaker wrapped in his coat, the gloves Ellis made for him and a slightly crooked medical mask. The image became a meme sensation, with people taking pictures of Sanders in funny settings and historical photos.
Sanders told CNN that he was happy that the photo went viral, because “makes people aware that we make good gloves in Vermont … we have some good coats too. “
Ellis made Sanders’ gloves in 2016, after losing the Democratic presidential nomination to Hillary Clinton. She asked Sanders’ daughter-in-law, owner of the preschool that Ellis’s daughter attended at the time, to hand them over to the senator.
“I was making gloves for all of the preschool teachers as Christmas presents and I made an extra pair for Bernie,” said Ellis, who teaches second grade, to NBC News. “I put a little note on it just said something like, ‘I really support you, and I like you, and I hope you run again.'”
Gloves started making headlines early last year, when Sanders used them in the presidential election campaignSaid Ellis. She shared on Twitter at the time she did the gloves of reused wool sweaters and recycled plastic bottles. So, in February, she tweeted that she had a few extra pairs for sale and shared her email address.
“I lead a very peaceful life here in Vermont, and only a few people contacted me, and I was able to coordinate with them to get the gloves they wanted,” said Ellis. “My email sort of disappeared from the annals of Twitter – until it was found again.”
Since the opening, Ellis – who lives in Essex Junction with his wife, Liz, and their 5-year-old daughter – said she was “cast into the international spotlight” in a way she was not yet ready for. She said she received at least 16,000 emails from people who want to buy gloves.
“The media was calling me in my classroom,” she said. “We had to hang up the phone in my classroom and everyone wanted to talk to me at the same time. I am a sociable person; I want to please people and also talk to them and make gloves for everyone, but I knew I couldn’t ”.
Sharing the heat of the gloves
Ellis used to sell his gloves at craft fairs. Crafting has healing properties for her, she said.
“There were times when I was really depressed and I go to my craft room and I’m going to sew or watch some junk TV,” she said. “It helps me clear my head.”
But she no longer makes gloves to sell, so when thousands of people contacted her after the inauguration, she said she “had a lot of trouble” because she wanted to make gloves for everyone. She tweeted on the opening day that she was “so flattered that Bernie used them for the opening,” but she no longer had gloves on sale.
After a few days, she decided to make three more pairs, two of which she donated to charities. She donated a pair to Outright Vermont, an LGBTQ youth organization, and another to Passion 4 Paws, a dog rescue in Vermont. Ellis is auctioning the third pair on eBay, and the proceeds will go to her daughter’s college fund.
She said that a neighbor suggested Passion 4 Paws, and she chose Outright Vermont because she wanted to support LGBTQ youth. Although she didn’t come out until she was 19, she said she knew Portland Outright, a nonprofit organization close to where she grew up in Maine that has a similar mission.
“I had seen Outright and the people at Outright talking on several occasions and I felt an affinity with them,” she said. “I don’t know if I identified exactly what that affinity was, but knowing that they were there and weren’t … it was a huge support for me as a high school student who wasn’t on the outside.”
Ellis said he also wanted to show LGBTQ youth that he “sees” them during the pandemic.
“I recognize that this is difficult for them,” she said. “I just wanted to shout at them, you know, like, ‘Hang on. It won’t last forever, and when it’s over, you can go out and hug all your friends and be awesome yourself in public. ‘
Although she does not intend to sell more gloves to herself, Ellis is partnership with Darn Tough Vermont to make socks inspired by Sanders gloves. She said that 100 percent of the profits will go to Vermont Foodbank.
She is also partnering with Vermont Teddy Bear for “some incredible things” in the future, and is currently raising money to start a “generosity movement” to benefit Vermont charities.
‘Generosity brings joy’
After opening day, Sanders took advantage of his fame and sold merchandise with the image to benefit Vermont charities, such as Meals on Wheels. Ellis said Sanders called her on Sunday to say that the merchandise had raised nearly $ 2 million.
“It was really cool to talk to him, because he is like one of my heroes,” she said.
What she took from the experience is that a simple act of generosity can have incredible ripple effects, she said.
“We don’t all have material things to give, but we all have many other gifts,” said Ellis. “When we distribute them in as much capacity as we can, what we get back is surprising. You know, I didn’t get rich quickly from this, but what I received was much more lasting and contributed more deeply to who I am, and I feel that Vermont will benefit from it. “
She said she hopes others will take it off and remember more than just the meme and the gloves.
“Because of a random gift and act of kindness that I did years ago and forgot, something totally random happens,” said Ellis. “That guy, you know, captured that photo of Bernie looking like he was, and then he was captured by the world, and in the middle of the pandemic everyone had a chance to laugh at something together – not at each other and not at the expense of nobody, because Bernie thinks it’s funny, too. ”
“I’m starting to talk a lot about how generosity brings joy – not just generosity with your material things, but generosity with your time, with your spirit, with your good will,” he concluded.
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