One Juanita High School student is doing her best to make a difference among the Seattle area’s homeless population.

Kendall Stern, 17, is heading up a local drive for coats, winter clothes for adults and children and other winter essentials as part of the MORElove project.

Stern has a box set up at Kirkland CrossFit, with the drive running from Nov. 7 to Dec. 9. The materials collected are distributed directly to those in need in Seattle.

“I’ve always had a drive to help people,” Stern said. “My parents have done a good job since I was young of teaching me to help those around me.”

Stern said she heard about the project on Facebook, and thought it was too simple and too easy an idea to ignore.

She’s been involved in community service projects before, helping to set up food banks and working to clean up city parks, and has also made trips to work with international schools in Costa Rica, Peru and Tanzania.

Her international travel has helped her to realize the many issues people face right here at home, she said.

Donors have already left coats — Stern said clothes can be new or gently used — in the Kirkland CrossFit box, but she doesn’t plan on setting up a second location.

Anyone interested in opening a donation box can adopt a MORElove box at www.themoreloveproject.org.