Patrick Robinson
Fred Rea and Kayti Berdan help Quavan Hughes, 7, a student at Roxhill Elementary pick out some clothing during the 36th Annual West Seattle Rotary Children’s Holiday Shopping Spree. Sears was the scene and was open early for the event plus they included a special 10% discount for the shoppers. Hughes said, "This is just a wonderful experience to meet some great kids and help them out in the winter." Rea added," I'm just having a good time."

36th annual Rotary Club Shopping Spree serves 100 local children

By Patrick Robinson
12/05/2009

The West Seattle Rotary club got a lot of people up early on Saturday to help 100 local economically disadvantaged children in the organization's 36th annual Children's Holiday Shopping Spree.

Sears department store in the Starbucks Corporate building was open two hours early for the event and West Seattle elementary students accompanied by adult and student volunteers first got some breakfast and determined the children's sizes for the shoes, coats and clothing they were to be given.

Six schools participated in the rotating program including Roxhill, Cooper, Concord, Alki, Gatewood and Pathfinder elementary schools.
The children were chosen by school counselors or family support workers who look for children who are in need. Each child was given a one-hundred dollar gift certificate and Sears added a 10% discount to make those dollars stretch further. Volunteers included people from JaK's Steakhouse, Seattle Lutheran High School students, Mercer Island High School students, Kappa Alpha Phi fraternity members, Foster High School students and many West Seattle Rotary Club members.

Once the shopping was done, the kids and volunteers headed back to the Mezza Cafe on the 3rd floor for pizza, goodie bags, and a visit with Santa. Later everyone was handed sheets of holiday songs to sing during lunch.

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