Sunrise Rotary donates children’s coats

A local Rotary club has donated 30 new children’s coats and more than 64 hats, gloves and scarves to CEDA Northwest, a local social service agency.

The Rotary Club of Mount Prospect-Arlington Heights Sunrise held the clothing drive as part of Operation Warm, a national Rotary program that has provided more than 25,000 new coats to children across the country since 1998.

This year, the local club donated the clothing in memory of the daughter of former Rotary member Cliff Kirksey and his wife, Tracy. Their daughter, Naomi, died of cancer at age 8 on Oct. 17, 2010.

Kirksey was present at the Nov. 4 club meeting when the clothing was handed over to CEDA. CEDA distributed the donations to local families the week of Nov. 7.

The Rotary club is part of a global network of volunteers who comprise about 32,000 clubs in more than 200 countries.

Its mission is to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace worldwide.