Local Business Helps Elementary Students Stay Warm

It can get cold in north Texas. People from up North or out West laugh when I say that, but it’s true. When the wind comes racing from Canada down the Great Plains and smacks into Fort Worth, it can get cold. We bundle ourselves up and bundle our children up. But what if we couldn’t bundle our children up?

photo courtesy of Link/Gunn’s Dry Cleaning

Manuel Jara Elementary School in Fort Worth’s Northside neighborhood. According to greatschools, org, 89% of the students are living at or below the Federal Poverty Level. This means many things other children take for granted, such as warm coats, are hard to come by. So the principal of Manuel Jara, Marta Plata, stepped in.

Marta Plata has been profiled by Tanglewood Moms and by Madeworthy in our Education Issue as the founder of Parents University, a program that empowers parents by teaching them the skills they need to become partners in the success of their children, both socially and academically. When Principal Plata realized that the lack of warm jackets that conformed to the dress code was a problem, she found someone to donate warm fleeces to the fifth grade.

However… kids are dirty little creatures. You know this. No matter how clean they might be when they leave the house, they will be dirty seven minutes later. By the time February rolled around, those donated fleeces were dirty. That is when Links | Gunn’s Dry Cleaning and Laundry stepped in. The local cleaners came to the school, picked up the fifth-grade fleeces, laundered them for free, and then delivered them to Manuel Jara and the waiting fifth graders.

photo courtesy of Link/Gunn’s Dry Cleaning

Poverty is a thief. It steals dignity and humanity. A simple act of kindness, such as laundering a jacket, can change a child’s outlook. By cleaning the jackets of Manuel Jara’s fifth grade students, the folks of Links | Gunn’s Dry Cleaning and Laundry gave those children a gift.

Each fleece costs $20, but most students’ families cannot afford to buy one. If you would like to purchase a fleece for a student at Manuel Jara, you can contact the school at 817-814-4500.