Coats for Clinton will benefit children all winter

From left, Dee Ebbeka, School of Natural Resources Community Engagement member; Linda Kern, Clinton Elementary faculty care coordinator; and John Carroll, director of SNR at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, pose with this year's Coats for Clinton donat
From left, Dee Ebbeka, School of Natural Resources Community Engagement member; Linda Kern, Clinton Elementary faculty care coordinator; and John Carroll, director of SNR at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, pose with this year's Coats for Clinton donat

The annual Coats for Clinton drive by the School of Natural Resources branched out to include warm winter clothing this year, in addition to the traditional collection of coats, hats, scarves and gloves.

Donations didn’t dwindle.

Instead, winter gear burst from seven large bags, delivered Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, to Clinton Elementary, along with a check donation of $1,150.

“This is really wonderful,” said Linda Kern, family care coordinator for the elementary school, as Dee Ebbeka, SNR Community Engagement member, and John Carroll, director of SNR, hauled in the donations. “We gave out 12 winter coats just last week and pull from our storage as needed — which is daily.”

For the past decade, SNR has hosted an annual winter coat drive for the school situated just a few blocks west of Hardin Hall. The school at 1520 N. 29th St. has about 550 students, 92 percent whom are in the free- or reduced-price lunch program, and many of which participate with their families in the school’s Food Market, a partnership with The Food Bank of Lincoln, that helps ensure food is on the table each night and over the weekends; more than 200 families participated in November.

The struggle to makes end meet, to get food on the table and warm clothes on children’s backs, is something those in Lincoln often can forget is happening in nearby neighborhoods.

“When we see Lincoln, we don’t immediately see the underprivileged,” Kern told Inside SNR in 2016. “You have to make an effort to see it.” For Clinton Elementary, she said, Coats for Clinton makes a big difference in students’ and families' lives.

This year, Kern will make holiday gift bags including a hat, gloves, scarves, a coat and clothing for 50 of the school’s families. The remaining donations will be added to the school’s stockroom and given out on an as-needed basis.

Kern noted Clinton Elementary is a high-mobility school and has had 10 new students enroll in the past month alone. The donations will help as the student body continues to fluctuate, and it will help when those winter hats and gloves get lost.

“We are grateful to be surrounded by kind, compassionate people who recognize winter can be a trying time for many of our families,” she said. “Thank you all so much for thinking of Clinton Elementary School this season.”

The annual collection drive was organized for the first time in 2007 by former SNR recruiter Jennifer Aerni and the SNR Community Engagement Committee, and has continued annually since.

“Every year SNR employees and students continue to contribute generously to Coats for Clinton,” Ebbeka said. “I think that reflects their belief in the activity and the help it gives to our neighborhood families.”

—Shawna Richter-Ryerson, Natural Resources