Cold-weather clothing drive nets 1,000 articles of clothing

Staff Report

Next Rockford members recently collected new and gently-used cold-weather clothing, including jackets, hats, gloves, boots and socks, for students in the Rockford Public School District. More than 1,000 new and gently-used articles of clothing were donated to the school district.

Doug Burton, marketing manager at KMK Media Group and co-chairman of the Next Rockford Education Committee, explained: “Children are not allowed to play outside at recess if they do not have proper cold-weather clothing. Our goal was to simply fill school yard playgrounds with laughter.

“Once again, Next Rockford and our partners, Keith Country Day School and Holy Family Church, stepped up and many students in our school district will benefit from this great effort by being able to play outside at recess and do what they do best: be kids,” Burton added.

Items were distributed Wednesday, Jan. 9, at the grade school principals meeting held at the Rockford Public School District offices.

Founded in 2003, Next Rockford is a group of 75 Gen X and Gen Y professionals whose purpose is to shape the future of the community through bold projects and initiatives. Visit www.NextRockford.org.

From the Jan. 23-29, 2013, issue