Kids donate to aid Kyrene families

Kids from Kyrene de la Sierra collected and donated 983 cans of food, toiletries and other goods to a local family resource center.

Through the group known as Caring Kids Club, which involves kids and their parents, a food drive began last week after one parent saw that stock at the Kyrene Family Resource Center was greatly diminished.

The KFRC, a non-profit organization, accepts donations for Kyrene families in need. Once per month, a family can go in to the facility and take two bags of food and one bag of clothing, a spokeswoman for the center said.

Kanda Nielsen, administrative support assistant for KFRC, said the summer months are usually slow in terms of donations, and events like the one at Sierra are an invaluable resource to Kyrene families who have gone through financial trouble.

The Caring Kids Club, which one mother described as an alternative to Girl Scouts, tries to do at least one fundraiser or donation event per month. After organizer Teresa Lederer saw the lack of goods at the KRFC, she said action had to be taken to restock the shelves.

"They were not even half full," Lederer said. "I asked if there was anything we could do on such short notice."

Caring Kids Club collected everything in just a week and after school on Wednesday, Sept. 3, hauled all the goods to the KRFC, located by Kyrene de los Ninos at 1330 E. Dava Drive, Tempe.

Elizabeth Dudley, a parent involved with Caring Kids Club, said she thinks an aspect sometimes overlooked in the Kyrene community is that, due to foreclosures and other financial crisis, there are families everywhere that could use a leg up every now and then.

"(The KRFC) is literally just there as needed," Dudley said. "In addition to the relief it can provide, it also helps kids see what charity is."

The KRFC accepts canned food, cereal, bedding, pots and pans, and gently-used clothing among other things.

"It's the coolest thing because it is set up like a store and is open to any parent who has a child in the Kyrene School District," Dudley said.

To find out more about the Kyrene Family Resource Center or to donate, call (602) 408-7175.