Warming up students at Brogden Primary
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on December 24, 2017 3:05 AM
Full Size
Submitted photo
Members of the First Congregational United Church of Christ stand with Brogden Primary School Principal Youlanda Wynn, third from right, with the 57 coats the church donated to the school Tuesday. Wayne County Board of Education member H. Len Henderson, far right, said he hopes the donation will help both students and their parents during the holidays.
As winter comes to Wayne County, children often find themselves in the cold while waiting for the bus or playing outside, making a winter coat all the more important.
On Tuesday, the First Congregational United Church of Christ visited Brogden Primary School to help address that problem. Members of the church brought 57 winter coats with them, which they then gave out to students whose teachers had identified them as in need.
Robert Cox, pastor at First Congregational UCC, said that the idea for the drive was first born in August.
"It started in August, when we brought backpacks and a meal to the school," he said. "I stood up one Sunday, and I said 'Before long students will be standing out in the cold in the morning. I'm always going to be in your pockets, and now that we don't have that big heating bill let's try to get some money together to help them.'"
For six weeks, members of the church pooled money and collected coats. On Tuesday, the results of their hard work sat displayed on a table in the Brogden Primary gym, ready to be distributed to students.
Youlanda Wynn, principal at Brogden Primary, said that the donation would go a long way in helping the school's staff achieve their goals.
"This has a significant impact on our students, because the first thing we need to do is make sure that their basic needs are being met," she said. "Once we do that, then we can begin to teach them."
While the coats went to students in grades K-4, students across the entire school have benefited from recent charitable donations. On Monday, Jackson & Sons Heating and Air Conditioning donated socks, gloves, scarves and tee shirts to the school, enough for all 800 students. Prior to that, law firm Walker, Allen, Grice, Ammons & Foy put the entire school in new shoes, Wynn said.
Wayne County Board of Education member H. Len Henderson is also a member of the First Congregational UCC, and was at Brogden Primary Tuesday. He said he hoped that, by helping the children at Brogden Primary, the church could also reach out to their parents.
"This was an outreach we wanted to make in regards to our school improvement efforts, to take it off the parent's plate," he said. "Hopefully, by our parents seeing our support for their children, they will in turn want to support the schools."