River View grad organizes clothing giveaway
Clothing drive: Jodi Shrimplin, a graduate of River View High School and a substitute teacher, collected clothing for children and then handed it plus coats, winter accessories, shoes, socks and underwear out on Feb. 18 at Union Elementary School. Beacon photo by Josie Sellers
COSHOCTON – Jodi Shrimplin was overwhelmed with the amount of gently-used clothing she was able to collect in just two weeks.
She and several volunteers unpacked bag after bag of clothing that was being distributed on Feb. 18 to families at Union Elementary School.
“I didn’t know how much we’d get so I thought I would start here and then expand to the other schools if I could,” Shrimplin said. “I’m really excited with the turnout especially since we did it in such a short amount of time so we could get winter stuff to the kids. It’s nice that everyone was so willing to help.”
As a substitute teacher, Shrimplin knows that clothing can be a big distraction to your education.
“If you don’t have proper fitting clothes or shoes you could get sick,” she said.
Shrimplin encouraged people to drop of gently-used clothing sizes 4 to juniors XL and winter accessories at United Way of Coshocton County, the Pomerene Center for the Arts, Shoe Sensation and Walhonding Valley Fire Department. Coats, socks, underwear and shoes also were available at the giveaway.
The Warsaw Lion’s Club and a few others contributed to the project so Shrimplin was able to buy all new socks and underwear to hand out and Shoe Sensation gave her a discount on gift cards that Union staff will distribute to families most in need of them.
“We were able to get 12 $30 gift cards (to Shoe Sensation) and there was probably $400 worth of socks and underwear here,” she said.
Shrimplin started with Union Elementary School since it is so far away from town, but hopes to be able to make the giveaway more district wide if she does it again.
She and her husband Trey are both graduates of River View.
“It’s rewarding to be able to give back,” Trey said.
Sherri Lawrence, principal at Union and Warsaw elementary schools, also said it was nice to see the students get involved in the clothing drive.
“We had families call in and say their kids cleaned out their closets and dressers,” she said. “This was a valuable lesson for them on helping each other and the community. It’s been neat to hear them talk about it.”
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
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