Rotary Club donates clothes to students

VERNON — Over the course of two years, the Vernon Rotary Club has worked with middle and high school students to provide age and seasonally appropriate clothing to middle school students. With money garnered from a Rotary International grant, students were first paired together and then shopped at a local Wal-Mart, using budgetary concepts learned in Financial Literacy classes.

Kathie Belli, Vernon Township High School teacher and VTHS Student Council advisor, acted as liaison between the two middle school nurses, middle and high school students, and Susan George, the Vernon Rotary grant recipient who coordinated the program. Reggie Phillips, current Vernon Rotary president; Ed Rolando, incoming Vernon Rotary president and Peter Warren, past treasurer contributed greatly to make this project a success.

The undertaking initially began with a discussion of budgetary considerations and constraints related to the project. Students were allotted a dollar amount to work with and were given a specific list of items to purchase. As a condition of the grant, recipients of the clothing were required to be anonymous. Clothing was then sorted, tags removed, and delivered to the middle schools for distribution.

Student Council President Ben Anderson has had a major role in helping to organize participation and logistics throughout his two-year tenure with the program. As part of her senior service, Jess Rueger also played a crucial role in tying up loose ends and finalizing the project. Other particpants included Paige McNulty, Matt Losco, Keirra Doyle, Alicia Carosella, Ari Cairns, Connor O Keefe, and Brooke Harrsch.