As is the case in most schools, students in the Kewanee School District sometimes come to school without the proper attire or supplies.
When that happens, teachers and other staff members chip in to pay for the shoes, coat or whatever else the student needs. Now, the Kewanee district’s Care Closet program should relieve the teachers and staff from those expenditures.
The Care Closet will pay for things some students need, but don’t have, when they come to school. It’s a project of the Kewanee Schools Foundation.
Foundation Director Jeff Johnson said the idea came up when a “significant donor” who was a member of Kewanee High’s Class of 1981, was asking about the retirement event for Supt. Dr. Chris Sullens. Johnson said the foundation was sponsoring the event, but that it didn’t “tie into our mission” of providing financial support for the schools and their students.
The donor made a donation to cover the cost of the farewell party, and to get a start on the Care Closet program.
Johnson estimated that it would cost around $2,000 a year to stockpile all the supplies and apparel the district’s students might need. Already, several times that amount has been raised, he said.
Since the mission of the school foundation includes removing “anything that’s a barrier to effective learning,” Johnson said Care Closet funds could pay for other things — food, for example, or even haircuts — for students who need them.
Johnson said all the schools keep some basic items of need on hand. But the Care Closet will enable every school building to have a good supply of things for when a student needs something.
The Care Closet is mentioned in the foundation’s summer newsletter, which will be mailed soon to Kewanee alumni. A donation envelope that will go out with the newsletter will include a box where donors can earmark their funds for the Care Closet.
Johnson said he’s optimistic about the future for the Care Closet program.
“It’s a fund that we anticipate will remain active,” he said.
