The Rotary Club of Anthem and the Walmart Anthem Supercenter donated over $35,000 worth of new clothing to underprivileged students in local school districts.
In early January, Walmart Anthem had hundreds of additional new clothing items in its inventory. The store owner wanted to donate it to the National Anthem area charity. Through its strong relationship with the Anthem Rotary Club, and knowing that the club could execute such a large-scale project quickly and efficiently, Walmart turned to Anthem Rotary for assistance.
Volunteers at Anthem Rotary have collected bins full of new Walmart clothes. Rain Main Roofing & Waterproofing Services donated a large portion of Anthem warehouse space to storage, sorting and packaging projects.
Anthem Rotary members called the Deer Valley Unified School District and Mayer School District contacts to ask if there were any underprivileged students who could benefit from the new clothing items. The answers from both school districts were “Yes, please” and “Thank you.”
Members of Anthem Rotary took immediate action. Over 20 club members volunteered and spent a total of over 60 hours managing the project. Members unboxed the unsorted garments, sorted, labeled, and re-boxed them, preparing the garments for two days. The members then delivered the sorted clothing boxes to local schools. From that point forward, designated staff members at each school were responsible for determining how the underprivileged student selected and received the item.
“This kind of philanthropy is what Anthem Rotary is good at,” said Anthem Rotary Club President Steve DeMar. “When our communities need it, our members are there to provide generous assistance. ”
For more information on club clothing projects, visit the Anthem Rotary Facebook page.