Souper Bowl Sunday

Rockford Sweetheart Splash

January – Participate in a Souper Bowl Sunday – Collect $1 and/or cans of soup from each member of your congregation for North Kent Community Services on Super Bowl Sunday

February – Sweetheart Splash – This is a Rockford Rotary-sponsored event where we encourage individuals and groups from your congregation, family, neighborhood, sports team, youth group or business to gather pledges sponsoring them to take the plunge into the warm waters of the Rogue River down at the Rockford Dam. This is a fun-filled event in which the community rallies around to watch on the 2nd Saturday of February every year. Thousands of dollars are raised to assist North Kent Community Services “Help our Neighbors in Need.”

March – “Undie Sunday”. New, unused underwear is often not available for those who need them. Hold a drive to collect under- garments for adults and children and donate to North Kent Community Services

April – Organize an Easter Basket Drive. We provide 500 Easter baskets for area children. Items needed are baskets, grass, candy, books, beanie babies, crayons, coloring books, bubbles, balls, sidewalk chalk and hot wheels/matchbox-type cars for the basket.

May – Participate in the Access/Hunger Walk! On the first Saturday of May, thousands of walkers are needed to raise funds for pantry assistance, emergency meals and development of programs for both the Kent County area and international communities.

Summer Lunch Bag program for families. During the summer months, many families struggle to put food on the table with the kids home for three meals per day. These children receive free or reduced price breakfasts and lunches during the school year. Won’t you please assist us with our summer lunch bag program for area families?

June – Food for Families– WZZM TV 13's annual food drive for area food pantries. Start of Summer “Prime Rib” Steak Sandwich Sale in downtown Rockford on June 8 & 9. These are the best sandwiches in town.

July - Back-to-School Backpacks– in July each year we collect backpacks and school supplies to fill 500 backpacks for areas students. Please organize a project to help low-income families get ready to start the new school year.  Click this link for a list of items that are most needed.

August – Back to school backpack distribution. Volunteers are needed to pack the backpack supplies and distribute to area students.

September – Health Care Collection Month – we collect home health care items; toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, body wash, hand soap, dish soap, laundry detergent, razors, shaving cream, feminine products, etc. These items are always in great demand in our food pantry, since you cannot purchase them with food stamps.  Please assist North Kent with collecting these products.  Ed Koehn Chevy $10 Oil Change Benefit - takes place on Saturday, September 22.  This will be the second year Ed Koehn has generously donated oil, filters and labor for this fundraiser.

October – County Wide Food Drive – the second week in October, volunteers are needed for collecting food for area families. We start our collection of food for the 2,000 holiday food baskets that will be distributed in November and December to area families. A Place at the Table – participating restaurants donate 5% of their proceeds one evening to North Kent Community Services to help feed their "neighbors in need".

November /December – We plan to distribute approximately 2,000 holiday food baskets to our "our neighbors in need" and rely on donations to fill these baskets.  We also ask people from the community to take one of our 2,000 stars that are available at area churches and businesses and purchase gifts appropriate for the child whose name is listed on that star.   Click this link for a list of our holiday food and gift needs.  We need the help of 50 volunteers each day during our Christmas Store, Toys for Tots, and Christmas Food Basket Distribution on December 10th, 11th & 12th.