Julie Kleshinski, director of The New Store, is joined by the Malabar K-Kids after the club donated $200 to the nonprofit store Friday morning.
The Malabar Intermediate School K-Kids continued their mission of school and community support Friday with a $200 donation to The New Store.
K-Kids, sponsored by the Mansfield Kiwanis Club, is a service club of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders. Its motto is “We Build.”
The New Store, a nonprofit project of the Richland County Children’s Auxiliary, provides free clothing, accessories and personal hygiene items to children who need them in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is located at the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center on West Fourth Street.
Julie Kleshinski, director of The New Store, accepted the donation during the K-Kids brief meeting before the start of school.
“Thank you very much,” she told the club members. “We offer new clothing to students who have a need. When kids come to The New Store they get to select their own clothing while their parents wait in the lobby.”
Counselor Vicki Dye, the K-Kids adviser, said the club raised the funds by collecting and redeeming Labels for Education found on several consumer products and by having bake sales.
The club also has donated $75 to the Humane Society and raised $100 for books and aquarium fish for the Malabar library. Another $100 raised by the club was used to purchase book bags and alarm clocks for students who need them.
Dye said the K-Kids generated $50 for soil and seedlings for the recently reopened Malabar greenhouse. She said the club plans to sell marigold plants in May.