(Contributed by John Jacobson, KCOE President)
We had our first club meeting (Tuesday Oct 10th) of the 2023-2024 year at Fairwinds-Brighton Court. It was exciting to have a large group of folks present to energize the kick off of this brand new year. We had a number of guests and new members that joined us for our program which included a speaker from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
Angela Garrido from Cedar Valley Elementary helped to articulate needs in the coming year. One of the challenges that they are dealing with are the growing numbers of students that are joining Cedar Valley throughout the year. They have created a program of welcome parties to help with the transition that these students are going through. Angela also highlighted needs of access to fresh foods/produce. More to come on this front.
Brooke Fisher-Clark of the Imagination Library of Washington presented on the recent implementation and goals of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library which seeks to provide books to newborns thru 5 year old children throughout the country. We’ll be following up with Brooke and the United Way of Snohomish County to see how we can support and integrate this effort into our work.
Link to Brooke’s slide show for the Imagination Library
Club members brought toiletries to be given to the Washington Kids in Transition (WKIT) program. WKIT has the goal of collecting enough hygiene and toiletry items to pack 400 bags. On Dec. 1st, 40 Scriber High School students will be helping to pack bags of toiletries to be distributed during the holidays.
Picture of toiletries delivered to WKIT from collection at the meeting.
If you are looking for an organization to serve the children of our community with, we look forward to seeing you at a meeting or feel free to reach out to me directly at johnj@edmondskiwanis.org.