Child needs met with ‘Closet’ effort at Tate’s School
To help celebrate Tate’s School’s 50th anniversary, a 12-month initiative called “50 Acts of Service” was introduced last fall, which focuses on helping foster students and families in the surrounding area.
Most recently, “Children’s Closet is one program within the 50 Acts of Service initiative created to generate donations of new clothes designated for these students,” Kaye Simmons, Tate’s principal, said about the closet effort, which took place at The Barn at Tate’s School, 9215 Bob Gray Road, Building H, Saturday afternoon, Jan. 11.
“We are pleased to donate over 700 new clothing items for children from ages 3 through the eighth-grade,” said Tracey Van Hook, Tate’s director of Communications & Resource Development. “Donated goods included all types of clothing, including hats, gloves, scarves and winter jackets.
“We were also able to assist nearby social workers serving at-risk youth and homeless students attending Cedar Bluff Elementary School, Cedar Bluff Middle School and Ballcamp Elementary School,” she added.
Tate’s has partnered with Department of Children’s Services to support children in foster care for the past four years, but wanted to expand its support and impact more foster students in need, Van Hook said.
Carren Broadnax, Resource Linkage Coordinator in the Child protective Services Division at DCS, “shared with LouL Tate, founder of Tate’s School, that many times the children come to her with only the clothes they are wearing and nothing else,” Van Hook said.
“It is important for our students to realize how blessed they are and that it is important to give back all year, not just during the holidays,” Tate said.
