Thanks to Assistance League of the Chesapeake, 650 students will receive a hat and gloves this winter! An additional 125 pairs of gloves were also collected and will be distributed to in-need local children. As part of its Kids In Need (KIN) program, our members set up collection boxes at members’ homes and at John M. Taylor Funeral Home in Annapolis. Members, their neighbors, and the community donated the hats and gloves, including hand-knitted ones, to the cause. “All the school counselors were excited to be receiving the hats and gloves,” said Marie Bossie, KIN chair. “Our members worked over several days to sort, match sets and bag them for distribution,” she added.

The hats and gloves are part of the uniform package that students get in the KIN program. Through KIN, students at seven local elementary and middle schools receive a uniform package two times a year. The schools are designed Title I by the U.S. Department of Education. Each school’s counselor determines who will receive the clothing, including the hats and gloves. Schools set to receive the items are Germantown, Georgetown, Tyler Heights, Meade Heights, Mills-Parole and Van Bokkelen elementary schools, and MacArthur Middle School.

Due to Covid, the distribution of the uniforms is delayed until in-person school begins again in the spring. But the schools’ counselors did receive the hats and gloves from us and will distribute them at special events over the next few weeks.

Counselors at Van Bokkelen Elementary School in Severn, Maryland, also requested socks to go with shoes they received via a grant. Our KIN committee procured 750 pairs of socks for the students at the school, which were delivered with the hats and gloves.