The spirit of giving has been in full gear at River Forest School District 90, as their two elementary schools have been working to provide warm winter gear to different organizations and causes in the community.
Lincoln Elementary’s Heartworks Committee, which is dedicated to charitable efforts on the part of the elementary to support the broader community, will dedicate this week to their winter drive in hopes of donating new winter gear to local children in need.
The elementary school will be accepting new winter accessories: gloves, scarfs, winter hats, and mittens, all to be donated to Hephzibah Children’s Association, a social service agency in Oak Park.
“Hephzibah is a long standing, important community organization that helps kids who are victims of abuse, neglect, and trauma and it provides a safe haven for children,” said Kathryn Schmahl, co-chair of Heartworks. “Oftentimes those basic needs are not met.”
The drive began on Monday Dec. 4 and will run until Friday Dec. 8 and donations can be dropped off at either entrance of Lincoln, on Park Avenue, in River Forest.
After learning about the upcoming donation, Hephzibah communications manager Ellen Riggsbee said it was extremely generous of the school to think of them.
“We welcome all donations and anytime anyone in the community thinks of Hephzibah, it is an honor,” Riggsbee said. “We love to be in the community, both Oak Park and River Forest.”
While in the past the committee has also collected gently used winter jackets, this year they are solely focusing on new winter accessories.
“To have them be new is an important part of that [meeting the needs of kids] so kids can feel like they have something of their own and feel special during the holiday time,” Schmahl said.
Juliet Yera, development director at Hephzibah, said it was special for children whom Hephzibah serves to receive new items, instead of more traditionally donated hand-me -downs, and it gives each child that receives a brand-new gift a sense of pride and dignity.
“It retains the fact that they are worth it and they deserve their first item, it could be their first hat or their first backpack, something that is really special and brings a whole lot of meaning to a child to maybe in foster care or maybe in one of our family-based services and have never received anything new before,” Yera said. “We really like to honor that for them.”
The committee said it knows the importance of giving back to the community as it holds two food drives a year, with donations going to Beyond Hunger, a food pantry located in the lower level of First United Church of Oak Park, on Lake Street. This past October, the committee held a donation to provide food to support the Thanksgiving holiday, providing over 469 pounds of food for the organization. A second food drive to benefit Beyond Hunger is already on the calendar, said Schmahl, and will be hosted in April.
At Willard Elementary School, on Ashland Avenue, Ashley Graves, chairperson of the Family Care Committee, said the school decided to expand their usual winter gear drive for the holiday season to St. Catherine of Siena- St. Lucy Catholic Church on North Austin Boulevard and their efforts to provide aid to migrant families.
In past years, the winter gear drive has been a method to continue to restock the coat closet at the elementary school, which helps provide winter gear to students and families in a way that respects their privacy.
“People don’t want to come and ask for things, some people feel very vulnerable asking for certain items,” Graves said. “We wanted to make it easy for people to access without having to raise their hand and identify themselves necessarily. The short answer is to make things more accessible.” Ashely
Donating to causes such as this one is also beneficial for local families as it gives their outgrown gear, which would otherwise be sitting in a closet, another chance to provide warmth for someone this winter season.
“It really aligns with our vision at the school, our goal is to also include the kids,” Graves said. “I think it is great for adults and parents to understand being charitable and giving to their community but it is also important for our kids to understand the need, that is our goal for the committee moving forward.”
