Forsythe volunteers Christina Slade, Rylan Kahle and Maddie Slade organize athletic footwear and box up donations at the Michigan Foster Care Closet Thursday.
An early winter snow was no damper for Anna’s Kindness volunteers who traveled to the Michigan Foster Care Closet to help sort shoe and clothing donations and organize gifts for the upcoming Christmas party for foster children. The Closet supplies clothing, shoes, linens, toys, baby gear and other items free of charge to foster families. Nearly 130 children are served each month.
Heather Hale makes sure the shoes are arranged neatly on the shelves.
The Anna’s Kindness volunteers from Forsythe Middle School matched footwear – from tiny Detroit Lions slippers for newborns to light-up unicorn tennis shoes for preteens to snow boots for all ages – and then displayed them neatly on floor-to-ceiling shelving units. Others sifted through toy donations, boxing items to be wrapped as Christmas presents and setting aside for immediate display “everyday” toys.
While the volunteers were busy working, several families came to shop with their foster children.
The event was the first Anna’s Kindness service project for Maddie Slade, a Forsythe 8th grader.
“I’d been hearing about this at school and wanted to be a part so I signed up. There are so many people in the world who need help and I’m so fortunate. I just wanted to come out and give back. I want to do more!” Maddie, her mother Christina Slade, and 7th grader Rylan Kahle tackled the Christmas toy project.
Fellow 7th grader Heather Hale and her mother, Christine, spent much of the night matching shoes for the smallest children going into foster care.
Behind them, sisters Olivia and Estelle Haft, Forsythe 6th graders, and their mother, Jennifer, organized another wall of shoe donations. The Haft twins were 5th graders last year when they volunteered with their big sister Natalie at an Anna’s Kindness event to help feed the homeless. That first-hand experience of serving others face-to-face sparked their desire to continue helping the less fortunate in the community.
Forsythe teacher Leanne Hinz volunteered during Anna’s Kindness last visit to the Closet in April, and she returned to help again on Thursday night.
Thank you to all who braved the snowy evening to help brighten the lives of foster children in the community.
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Anna’s Kindness volunteers from Forsythe Middle School included: Leanne Hinz, Christina Slade, Maddie Slade, Heather Hale, Estelle Haft, Jen Haft, Olivia Haft, Rylan Kahle, Christine Hale and Fran LeFort.
Anna’s Kindness volunteers Olivia and Estelle Haft work with their mother, Jennifer, to sort shoes for older children.
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