Early Risers Kiwanis Distribute “Coats For Kids”

The Liberal Early Risers Kiwanis Club has been busy over the past couple of weeks distributing winter coats to children in need via the “Coats for Kids” project. Early Risers Kiwanis members partnered with the Liberal Soroptimist Club again this year to distribute winter coats, stocking caps and gloves to children in the community. With the Kiwanis providing winter coats and the Soroptimist Club providing matching caps and gloves. At this time over 250 coats, caps and gloves have been given free of charge to children in need, just in time for cold winter temperatures.

The “Coats for Kids” project is a longtime annual project for the Early Risers Kiwanis and has provided literally thousands of coats locally to those in need over the years. The bulk of the funding comes from the annual “Peach Sale” held in late summer or early fall depending on the peach crop. This year due to a difficult growing season in Colorado, peach committee chairman Lynn Schmitt secured a load of fresh from the tree Georgia peaches. The peaches were delivered to Liberal by National Carriers and sold on the parking lot of Jerry Harding’s State Farm Insurance. The Early Risers Kiwanis would certainly like to thank National Carriers and Jerry Harding for their valuable contribution to a successful fund raising event. And also thank you for the generous community support of the peach sale enabling the sale of nearly 500 cases of peaches in a single day.

However, a project on the scale of the “Coats for Kids” program could not be sustained without generous individual contributions as well. This year several businesses and entities contributed to the “Coats for Kids” project. They are:

· Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company

· National Beef Packing Company

· First National Bank

· Sunflower Bank

· Community Bank

· Conestoga Energy

· Southwest Medical Center

· Hay-Rice & Associates

· Liberal Harley Davidson & Harley Owners Group (H.O.G. Chapter)

The Early Risers Kiwanis Club would like to publicly say “Thank You!” to these donors for their generous support.

The “Coats for Kids” committee was headed this year by club member Ed Poley. And a thank you goes out to USD 480 Director of Human Resources & Public Relations Jason McAfee for his assistance with the program in the school system. And finally it takes many people to purchase, sort and distribute the coats. Thank you to all involved in making the “Coats for Kids” project a success again this year.

The Early Risers Kiwanis Club is a service club oriented to serving the children of the community through various projects. If you are interested in becoming a member, meetings are held every Thursday morning at 6:30 am at the Pancake House Restaurant. We would like to invite prospective members to attend and see what Early Risers Kiwanis is all about.