Thousands of items of clothing, school supplies, children’s books, and personal hygiene items were collected recently for the Kids Kloset, a non-profit organization in Arlington that provides clothing, school supplies and other necessities to school children in the Arlington, Darrington, and Lakewood school districts. This event was sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and they were joined by the Arlington Seventh Day Adventist Church for the National Day of Service and Remembrance.

The volunteers set out boxes in these communities two weeks in advance to collect donated items which were then picked up on Saturday. Over one hundred volunteers, including teenagers and children with their families also went door-to-door with bags and flyers collecting items from their neighbors which they then delivered to the Smokey Point church building where other volunteers took over. Hundreds of hours were spent on this project. Each item of clothing was gathered, sorted, laundered, if needed, and delivered to the Kids Kloset. ?We still have 23 large full bags of clothes that will be handed out at two of the church congregations Sunday for families to take home, launder and return directly to the Kids Kloset during the week,? said Dawn Dickson of Arlington who coordinated the project. ?Probably half of the goods collected still need to be turned in, and we had 5 full carloads of things already clean and delivered.?

In addition to the clothing drive a community park improvement project was carried out. This group cleaned up the section of the Centennial Trail that runs through the city of Arlington, and planted trees along the path.

Of both projects, Dawn said ?These were highly successful activities, and many people worked hard to accomplish this goal. It was all done very cheerfully, under the best of humor and conditions. My thanks to everyone?s hard work.?

Lisa Eckersell-Williams

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Marysville Public Affairs Director for Media Relations