| |
     Rotary outfitted 185 pre-k through grade 5 local youth with winter boots, snow pants, coats, hats and gloves! We partnered with Jefferson Elementary, Lincoln Elementary, Roosevelt Elementary and Stem school. The past 4 years we held a one day event where the community would come in and select from gently used and new outerwear. This worked out really well and the demand was always more than supply but the individuals at the front of the line were able to be fully outfitted while those coming in later only received a few items. This year parents were able to fill out a digital form selecting needed items and many children were outfitted from head to toe! Our hope is to continue to grow this program and expand into early childhood as well as local private schools. Rotary is very fortunate to have wonderful community partners that have allowed us to grow our program each year. It truly takes a community team to pull off a large scale outerwear drive and Reliance Bank allowed us to deliver, sort and pack all items in their basement. Kristen Thiele from Treadway Graphics ordered many of our items, Casie Steeves from the Chamber of commerce designed our flyer linking to our order form and generous financial sponsors like Rotary Charitable Gambling, Allina Health, Hometown CU, Rice County Sheriff’s Association and River Valley Church all gave over $500 to make this event possible. Rotary’s motto is ‘service above self’ and it is awesome to be able to serve our community knowing that each one of us has been given so much. |
