The Manchester Township School District’s Kevin’s Kids initiative is in its 41st year of helping every family in need have their holiday gift list fulfilled. This weekend was shopping, wrapping and distribution day for the charity! This gift drive does NOT collect generic gifts for giving but brings the community together to fundraise and shop confidentially from specific gift wish lists submitted by Manchester families who ask Kevin’s Kids for support during the holiday season. This month kicked off the 41st season of the Manchester School’s Kevin’s Kids initiative and Manchester was busy this weekend mobilizing to finalize and distribute another record number of gift wish list requests.
“This is one of Manchester School’s biggest fundraising efforts and it truly shows what a great community and place Manchester is to live and raise a family”, says Alex George, Director of Student Personnel Services. “Kevin’s Kids is another reason that I am so proud to be a part of this school district and town. We are truly a family who works together to take care of those in our community.”
Everyone in the school district and surrounding community plays a role in Kevin’s Kids. Through donations and fundraisers staff, families and community organizations show their support. School Bus Drivers volunteer to pick up and transport gifts (as seen in the attached images!) while Building and Grounds employees spend hours of their own time putting together toys and bikes. Senior communities are a huge part of the donation and wrapping supporting efforts and the Township entities and businesses support through donations, drives and even provide space where the school district can hold gifts ahead of distribution. Staff members come on their own time with their families this weekend before the final gift distribution to shop for any outstanding gifts, sort those gifts per family, wrap them with love and prepare them for the anonymous distribution that occurs at a district school on a weekend afternoon.
Kevin’s Kids started 41 years ago when a first grade teacher at Whiting Elementary School shared with Kevin Burger, the school’s principal at the time, about a student who informed him that Santa did not come to his house that year. Kevin and the teacher learned of the child’s holiday wish list and, together with their colleagues, made Christmas happen for that student. From there Kevin’s Kids was formed and has expanded tremendously. Last year, under the leadership of Director of Student Personnel Services Alex George, and alongside Kevin Burger, the school district helped approximately 400 children to have a holiday last year and over 460 this year.