F.K. White Middle School has started a new initiative — Cover our Kids — to help provide students who walk to school some supplies such as umbrellas and coats.

Michelle Vipond, a teacher at the school that started the program, said about 75 percent of F.K. White students don’t qualify for bus service because they live less than a mile from campus.

Furthermore, she said, many of those students are from low-income families that don’t have transportation and struggle to afford basic school supplies, she said.

“Last year I realized we had a great number of students who walk and would come to school soaking wet and cold because a lot of them don’t have umbrellas or jackets,” Vipond said. “One of our cafeteria workers would have to take their clothes and dry them. If we can provide them with some better jackets and some umbrellas, we can help these kids and still get them learning.”

Vipond said the school is collecting new and used umbrellas, coats/raincoats, socks, belts and backpacks. She said that because of uniform guidelines, the school would prefer blue or black jackets, brown or black belts, and black or white socks. But, she said, all items — regardless of color — will be accepted and appreciated. Students are all shapes and sizes, and any clothing size from a youth large to adult large could be used, she said.

“It’s harder for students to learn if they come to school wet or cold,” Vipond said. “We have really good kids at our school, and they do the best with what they have. This is the least we can do.”

Vipond said donations can be dropped off at the school and will be kept in a locked cabinet and dispersed as needed.F-K–White

CHRISTOPHER PFUHL/American Press Archives