Photos courtesy of Anthem Rotary Club
Anthem Rotary Club collaborated with Walmart Anthem Supercenter to donate new clothing valued at more than $35,000 to economically disadvantaged students in local area school districts.
In January, Walmart Anthem had hundreds of extra, new clothing items in its inventory. The store management wanted to donate it to Anthem-area charitable causes. Through its strong relationship with Anthem Rotary Club and knowing the club could quickly and efficiently execute such a large project, Walmart asked Anthem Rotary for assistance.
Anthem Rotary volunteers collected many bins, filled with new clothes from Walmart. Rain Man Roofing and Waterproofing Services donated a large portion of its Anthem warehouse space for the storage, sorting, and packing project.
Through Anthem Rotary’s Ray Norris Youth Program, club members called their contacts at Deer Valley Unified School District and Mayer School District. Anthem Rotary asked if there were economically disadvantaged students who could benefit from new clothing items. The answer from both school districts was a resounding “yes, please” and “thank you.”
Quickly, Anthem Rotary members sprung to action. More than 20 club members volunteered their time, a total of more than 60 hours, to manage the project.
Members unboxed the unsorted clothing items and then sorted, labeled, reboxed, and prepared the clothing over two days. The members then delivered the sorted boxes of clothes to the area schools. From that point, the designated staff members at each school were responsible for determining how the disadvantaged students would select and receive the items of their choice.
“This kind of charitable project is what Anthem Rotary does so well,” says Steve DeMar, president of Anthem Rotary Club. “When there is a need in our local community, our members are there to offer their generous support. We were thrilled to collaborate with Walmart to help needy children in our area.”
