COMMUNITY SERVICE

2022 Kids-4-Kids Program

The Food Drive operates Monday, October 17th through Thursday, November 3rd. Each classroom and advisory will have a box to collect the donations in their room.

The Clothing Drive collection begins October 31st and runs through Tuesday, November 8th. The carts will be in the Lower School and the MS/US carpool circle.

“Fill-A-Wish” is a special part of our donations to the 30 families we sponsor.  We have listed one new gift “wished” for by each family member.  Please consider signing up to donate one of these “wishes.”  Taking your kids to select the gift can be fun for them to participate in this service project.

We need volunteers to help sort donations and work with different grades to “shop” for adopted families.

  • Volunteer Opportunities: The 6th, 7th, and 8th Grades also need a little help with the food drive, and this year we would love to have a few parents help us guide the kids.  You do not need a child in these grades to help the teachers lead these activities.
  • 6th & 7th Grade Volunteers
  • 8th Grade Volunteers 

Thank you, in advance, for your help in making the Kids-4-Kids Program a success and one of CA’s most beloved traditions!

If you have any questions, contact PACA Service Chair Kimberly Allison at kimberlyga@mac.com.

Food Donations:

All nonperishable food items will be accepted.

Please make sure containers and cans are not dented or past the expiration date.  We kindly request no glass jars when possible. 

Clothing Donations:
YES to all fall and winter clothing, adult sizes as well
YES to coats ALL sizes
YES to toys, books, bikes, games, puzzles, etc.
YES to blankets and bedding, all sizes
YES to bikes and riding toys
YES to snow boots, but no to other shoes
NO spring/summer clothing
NO housewares 
Read more about the Kids-4-Kids service project, one of Columbus Academy’s many traditions!

Kids-4-Kids is a school-wide, annual community service project to support 30 families in need from two local schools. Food, clothing, and toy donations are accepted for two weeks beginning at the end of October and ending in early November.

Food donations can be dropped off by students in the boxes located in their classrooms/advisory rooms.  Clothing drive donations can be dropped off in the shopping carts located at the LS and MS/US carpool circles during the drive.  Clothing drive donations are sorted by volunteers and set up in a “store” in the athletic lobby. Each sponsoring class/advisory will come “shop” in the store for their family.  If your child is in a sponsoring classroom (not all classrooms choose to sponsor a family), they are in charge of collecting all the needed items from the athletic lobby “store.”  The sponsoring classroom teacher may ask for additional items such as diapers, socks, underwear, and/or pajamas that we may not have received during the drive.  Aside from those extra requests from the classrooms, please make all donations through the clothing drive so we can provide as many items as we can for the kids to “shop.”  We want to be sure that all the families receive items, and that all the wonderful items we receive are shared among all our families.

In addition to the donations shopped for by the LS classrooms and the MS/US advisories, we also have some grades taking on specific tasks. The 4th graders will shop for perishable foods to add to the non-perishable donations. The 5th graders will shop for toiletries. The 6th graders are responsible for gathering all food-donation boxes, and the 7th graders create boxes of meals to last one week from those donations.

We try to provide each family member of the 30 sponsored families with one new item, or “wish,” ranging from toys, bedding, toiletries, or other specific wishes.  We call this the “Fill-A-Wish” list.  For anyone interested in helping grant these “wishes,” we set up a SignUp Genius.  Fill-A-Wish donations are anonymous, and you may sign up for as many as you would like.  This is a great way to have your children participate by choosing the gift, especially if they are in a classroom that has not sponsored a family.
 

After all the “shopping” is done, the 8th grade boxes up all of our donations and recreates our “store” during their service day at The Childhood League. More families get to come select items the next day. After this event, all the remaining items are taken to Head Start and Joseph’s Coat to help even more families in our community.

Volunteers, who sort and organize donations, are vital to the success of this two-week drive, so please click on the links above for more information on volunteering.

Thank you in advance for your help in making this service learning project a success!