SIMPLE Giving

Students lend a hand to help sort donated food items into backpacks, which will be sent home with needy students for weekend use. Pictured above helping with the SIMPLE Giving effort are, clockwise from front-left, AHS students Cadet Captain and senior Moises Carrillo, Cadet Private and sophomore Logan King, Cadet Corporal and sophomore Landon Simmons, Lieutenant Colonel and senior Army instructor Michael Shepherd, Goza Middle School counselor Vanilla Hannah, Cadet Private and freshman Jordan Martinez, Cadet Private and freshman Stephany Quintero, and Cadet Private and sophomore Nigel White.

SIMPLE Giving

Charitable giving made simple is the goal of the northwest Arkansas non-profit Champions For Kids, and their SIMPLE Giving program provides donations for children in our community. From late August to mid-September, patrons of the local Arkadelphia Walmart purchased 885 food items and placed them in the SIMPLE Giving donation bins. At the conclusion of the donation period, students in Arkadelphia High School’s JROTC program organized and packed the donated items into backpacks for needy students to take home for weekend use. Many students depend heavily upon school meals for nourishment and don’t eat regularly when out of school. Donations to individual students at each campus in the Arkadelphia Public Schools was determined by referral from each schools’ counselor.

The APS Wellness Committee, chaired by Dr. Virginia Anderson, officially accepted the donated items and said that the community will have another chance to participate in the SIMPLE Giving program.

 “Thank you, not only to the local Walmart and Champions For Kids, but also to our community for purchasing and donating the food,” Anderson said. “We really appreciate this generosity.”

According to Champions For Kids, the purple, SIMPLE Giving donation bins will be back at Walmart from October 28 through November 11 to collect personal care items such as soap, shampoo and deodorant.

For more information regarding SIMPLE Giving or Champions For Kids, visit championsforkids.org. Contact Anderson regarding the APS Wellness Committee and other ways of helping APS students in need by e-mail at virginia.anderson@arkadelphiaschools.org.

APS News Service 

sean.ruggles@arkadelphiaschools.org