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The Corporate Volunteer Council of Valley United Way, has run another successful Back to School Clothes for Kids project. This year, 156 students from Mead and Prendergast Schools in Ansonia received their very own box of new clothing to begin their school year. Children were greeted by members of the Council along with cookies and lemonade donated by Dave M. Grant Caterer’s.

The goal of the project is to provide new clothing to children in need at the start of the school year. Nationally, statistics show that many underprivileged children miss the first few days of school simply because they do not have new clothes to wear. The hope of the Council is that by providing the children with clothes and school supplies that they will be encouraged to do their best while receiving a boost to their self-esteem. CVC Companies strongly feel that the attendance of the children on the first day of school, attests to the fact that the program is a success. Higher percentages of attendance have been recorded. The 156 students received two new outfits, a coat or jacket, shoes and a backpack full of school supplies such as pens, pencils, paper and colorful markers.

Pat Tarasovic, Larry DiPalma, Terri Goldson, Carol Merlone, Rose Gurn Lynn Kieley, and Jack Walsh had a reason to be happy after the clothes were distributed.

The Corporate Volunteer Council is a coalition of local businesses and corporations that have an active employee volunteer involvement program. The Corporations that participated in this year’s Back to School Clothes for Kids were:

Altair Global Relocation, Ansonia Rotary Club, Basement Systems, BIC Corporation, Cablevision Systems Corporation, California Closets, CDW-G, CG Automation Systems USA, Inc., Computershare, Emhart Teknologies, F.W. Serra, Inc., Fletcher Thompson, GE Corporate, GE International; Hamworthy Peabody Combustion, Health Net, Homewood Suites by Hilton, HSBC Bank, Iroquois Gas Transmission System, ITT Water & Wastewater, Market Data Retrieval, Minuteman Press, Ned Miller Associates, Newtown Savings Bank, People’s United Bank, PerkinElmer, Pitney Bowes, Professional Travel Planners, Prudential, SSC/Freedom Disability, Seeds to Leads/Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, Sikorsky Finance, TD Bank, Webster Bank, William Raveis Real Estate and Women in Networking Group/Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce.

In the past fifteen years, the Corporate Volunteer Council has clothed approximately 2,154 children in the Valley community through the Back-To-School program and spent close to $500,000. The Council is proud to play a vital role in boosting self-esteem and confidence by helping children to look and feel their best when they attend school, which has a proven positive effect on educational performance.

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