| 11/24/2009 7:56:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| R.J. Avram, 8, does his best to drum up canned goods for the Stuff the Bus campaign. |
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| Keeping Track. Left to right, Madye Johnson, Mavis Johnson and Audrey Rey creatively organize the donations in front of D&W Fresh Market. |
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Community gives to help make the season special for others
Jeannie Gregory
Editor
It never takes the Rockford High School students very long to turn kind thoughts into actions. And it never takes long for Rockford businesses and the community to answer. The proof was on Saturday.
The RHS Student Council and the Youth Initiative joined forces to collect canned goods, money and clothing for the clients of North Kent Service Center (NKSC) during their Stuff the Bus campaign. The event began during the week and culminated in the D&W parking lot from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m on Saturday.
According to RHS Student Council Advisor, Lisa Avram, the council had an OK Red Student Council meeting on Monday and liked an idea that the students of West Ottawa had great success with. It was filling a school bus with donated goods.
The team called Jacquie Fase, director of Transportation for Rockford Public Schools, and she was thrilled to offer the use of a bus. They called D&W Fresh Market to find out if they could use the parking lot, and Store Director Char Bouwkamp was more than happy to allow them the use of the store's parking lot.
Bouwkamp, who also serves as president of the NKSC Board of Directors, said it was a natural.
"I said we would be thrilled to help," Bouwkamp said. "It is a great opportunity to help others during this time of year. I knew with the holiday coming up we would have a lot of shoppers at our store. I also knew that the people of Rockford are very generous."
Bouwkamp was right. Saturday at noon the students had ticked off 4,577 donated canned goods, eight bags of clothes and more than $1,200 in cash donations.
"We have had a wonderful response," said Avram as she oversaw the donations on Saturday. "The weather has been great today and people have been wonderful."
Student Council Junior Class President Shelby Blackmore was thrilled with the response. Blackmore counted 43 fellow students as helpers.
"This is the first year we have tried this with the bus and it has been awesome so far," Blackmore said. "It was a spur of the moment thing and all we had time to do was put up some posters at businesses and collect at school and here. We are really excited for next year when we will have more time to plan."
Council Mayor Cailie Johnson, along with some young helpers, were at the doors of D&W gratefully accepting donations from customers as they left the store.
"Our high school has some of the most giving people," Johnson said. "The Council and Youth Initiative joined forces on this project and it has turned out great. We decided to try something new and reach out to our community. The outpouring of giving from the community is amazing. We know times are tough, but that hasn't stopped people from giving."
"This is a wonderful and giving community," Bouwkamp said. "The people are always so generous and caring. They really are wonderful about helping others."
At the drop of a hat - or the opening of a bus.
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