Winona students will be warm this winter  thanks to the Forney Express.

Most people have witnessed a concerned mother bundling her child in layers of warm clothing.  Fans of A Christmas Story might imagine Randy waddling down the street, unable to put his arms down.  While that image  may smack of overkill, warm coats are a necessity during harsh Midwest winters, especially for children.

Unfortunately, many children go without warm winter clothing.  The Forney Express, a Cotter Junior High School connect and serve group advised by Mary Forney, decided to do something to help.  Thus, Project Zip It Up was born.

Seventh graders in Mrs.Forney’s connect and serve were looking for a meaningful service project that could make a big impact in the community.  Peer helper Jennifer Jewison, sister of math teacher and boys basketball and track coach David Jewison, already had connections in the Winona community and suggested a collection to meet the winter clothing needs of children in local schools.

The students chose this for their service project and started working on Project Zip It Up.  They created cards with each child’s first name, size, item needed, and preferred color. The seventh graders also got to work advertising for the project and reached out to the Cotter community for help. The Forney Express set a goal of collecting 250 new or slightly used items including jackets, snow pants, and boots for students in Winona schools.

Though the exact number of items that have been collected is unknown, most of the donation cards have been taken from their hangers on collection racks around both Cotter buildings.  In addition, numerous people donated items that were not requested.  The Forney Express is grateful for these donations as well.

All of the winter clothing will be distributed to students by the teachers that made the requests.  As needs will continue through the winter, so will the collection.  The seventh grade students in Mrs.Forney’s connect and serve hope to clothe as many Winona students as possible.  Project Zip It Up is a great example of the reason Cotter administrators created connect and serve.