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Shoes and Clothes for Kids Increases "Back to School" Donations This Year

Cleveland Metropolitan School District to Honor SC4K as a "Five Star General"

(CLEVELAND), July 28, 2016 – More than 2,000 local kids in need will head back to school with brand new school uniforms next month thanks to a new partnership between Shoes and Clothes for Kids (SC4K) & Uniforms for Kids. This critical back to school program supports the clothing needs of local children, eliminating a cause of chronic absenteeism and making sure that every child gets to school every day.

"Nearly 60% of children under 18 in Cleveland are living in poverty, and this doesn’t change unless we eliminate the barriers to educating every child in our community´ according to Tracy Jemison, SC4K Board Chair. “SC4K is committed to being part of the solution."

As an additional benefit during this back to school season, the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank and Cleveland Kids in Need Resource Center are partnering with SC4K to provide school supplies and books for the 1,000 special book bags that local kids will receive through SC4K’s network of 30 neighborhood partners.

SC4K is also hosting a special shoe shopping event for kids the afternoon of August 3 at the Steelyard Commons Payless shoe store, for families receiving services through our partner agencies (pre-registration required.) Several hundred kids are expected to receive their brand new footwear for back to school at this event, which helps to alleviate the financial stress felt by 2 | P a g e families as their kids get ready to go back to school. According to the National Retail Federation, the cost to buy all the items required to send a child back to school has increased more than 42% over the last 10 years.

"The families who come to La Sagrada Familia for help during back to school are truly people who need it. Many of our parents are working more than one job in order to provide for their families and to get kids new shoes and clothes for back to school is out of their reach. They feel blessed that SC4K can help them at this time of year," said Carmen Mathis-Rodriguez, La Sagrada Familia program leader at one of the SC4K partner agencies that will participate in the Payless shopping event.

Also, the Cleveland Municipal School District will honor SC4K as a Five-Star General tomorrow at its Army of Believers luncheon in recognition of everything the organization has done as a partner to keep kids in school and encourage them to be engaged and active learners.

Terry Uhl, SC4K executive director said, "The entire SC4K family is proud to do its part to help send CMSD kids back to school with what they need to succeed. School uniforms, clothing, shoes and school supplies may be a just a piece of what they need to get an education, but it is important to us and our funders that we do everything we can to help them succeed."

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