Low-income children in Moorestown will have their holiday wish list fulfilled because of efforts from MooreKids and the community.
For the first time as an official organization, MooreKids is hosting a holiday drive. Moorestown public school staff members collect wish lists from Moorestown children in need. MooreKids members take each list and match them up with families wishing to donate, MooreKids vice president Jennifer Brinkman said.
The amount each family is looking to spend determines which list the donating family receives, MooreKids president Maura Rafferty said.
Rafferty said she hosted the holiday drive alone the first year. The second year, she had a few people working with her. But this is the first year hosting the drive as an official organization.
Besides receiving lists from the school district, some low-income families sent emails to the organization for help. Families indicated which clothing items are needed, along with three wishes and the child’s reading level, she said.
In response to Moorestown’s families in need, MooreKids, a 501© 3 certified organization dedicated to providing financial assistance and community support to low-income children, was created.
“The holiday effort is the most notoriety at this point. It is just once piece of what we do. It’s not the main attention-getter,” Rafferty said.
Living in an affluent town like Moorestown, most don’t realize how many children are in need, Rafferty and Brinkman said.
“People in need are in a minority in Moorestown, and they are often not seen. Ten percent of our student body qualify for free or reduced lunch,” Rafferty said.
According to MooreKids’ webpage, more than 20 percent of students attending Mary E. Roberts Elementary qualify for free or reduced lunch, and approximately 20 students in the school district are homeless.
“We want to prevent these kids from slipping through the cracks,” Rafferty said.
According to Rafferty, the partnership formed with the school district allows the organization to find families and children in need, while maintaining confidentiality.
Before the organization, Moorestown teachers could not ask for someone to help children in need, and are bound by privacy and confidentiality laws, Rafferty said.
Teachers had no resources to help low-income children, she said.
“We are really a bridge between children that can use some help in Moorestown and all the resources Moorestown has to offer,” she said.
With all of the activities and resources in Moorestown, members of the organization want all children to experience what the town has to offer. Rafferty said each child should be able to “move forward in the world as a product of the community.”
Families given the wish list are in the process of shopping for the items. The organization is no longer collecting toys for the holiday drive, Brinkman said.
Since the holiday drive is a small part of what the organization does in the community, money donations are always accepted. If not used for the holiday drive, the extra money will be used to purchase coats and used for the organization’s general scholarship fund. For more information about the organization or to make a donation, visit www.moorekids.org.
