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Community

Optimist Club Provides "Shoes and Coats that Fit"

Photo provided by Moline Breakfast Optimist Club

For the 22nd year, a local service group will provide warm winter clothing for some low-income children.

Tomorrow, the Moline Breakfast Optimist Club will bring 70 coats and 65 pairs of shoes, along with hats and gloves, to the Jefferson Early Childhood Center in Moline.

Pat Wendt, chairman of the club's program called "Shoes and Coats that Fit" says it was started after a member, who was also a volunteer at Jefferson, noticed some of the kids did not have shoes. Ever since then, the Optimist Club has held yearly fundraisers.

"Some of these kids have to wait for the bus to pick them up, in the winter of course, and it warms our hearts to know that they're going be wearing one of our coats waiting for their bus."

Wendt says the program makes a real difference in the lives of kids at Jefferson Early Childhood Center.

"The little girl, who was probably, she was probably seven at the time said 'Are you Santa Clause?' Which of course, all that did was reinforce the fact that I love this program."

The Moline Breakfast Optimist Club will deliver the shoes, coats, hats, and mittens tomorrow at the Jefferson Early Childhood Center. In total, over 2,000 pairs of shoes and 250 coats have been donated to students since the program began.

Community