By Camas Frank ~
In what one Rotary de Tolosa Club member calls their “single greatest event of the year,” club members took 110 under-privileged children on a shopping spree at Kohl’s Department store on Dec. 5.
It was the 24th Annual Holiday Spree for Kids event, organized by the Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa with Kohl’s on board for the past five years.
The club’s chairperson for organizing the event, Ranelle Franklin, explained that more than 150 volunteers took on the job of ushering the kids through the store and helping them shop for winter, school and holiday items, while others spiffed up the ballroom at Embassy Suites for a breakfast reception and meeting with Santa for a personalized photo op.
“Holiday Spree is one of my favorite Rotary events during the year,” club President Melinda Thomas said ahead of the event. ”We really get to spend time with the children and we share in their excitement, as we scour the store and find the perfect winter clothes or pair or tennis shoes.”
As a nice enhancement of the buying power Kohl’s gives the shoppers a 15 percent discount along with a waiver on sales tax. The already accomplished Rotarians no doubt had their work cut out doing percentages with excited children tugging at coat sleeves.
All the kids who (or whose parents) wanted their visit with Santa recorded for posterity received a professional portrait in a hand-decorated frame courtesy of Frame Works. Other family members who attended the breakfast with the kids after their trip received some garments from San Luis Obispo Rotaract’s Coats for Kids Drive.
