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Clothing Our Kids announces two new board members

August 11, 2022

To further the mission of Clothing Our Kids, the board of directors has unanimously voted to add Diane Poletti and Debbie Polise as two new members. The board is grateful to the service of outgoing board members Cheryl Parker, vice president for people at ALOFT AeroArchitects, and Kimberly Wright, Delaware Adolescent Program Inc. Georgetown Center director. Their time and talents have been valuable to many Sussex County schoolchildren in need over the past two years.

Diane Poletti has been an extremely vital and creative COK volunteer, co-chairing the special events committee. During that tenure, she’s been a tireless contributor overseeing numerous clothing drives and events sponsored by the organization. She’s reached out to local media, obtaining wonderful coverage for COK and has been a great source of innovative ideas. As a registered and certified school nurse, Poletti brings to the board her incredible knowledge about issues area kids are dealing with and provides that unique experience and background to COK.

Debbie Polise jumped in with both feet when the pandemic forced COK to cancel its 2020 auction fundraiser. Taking the items collected for that auction, Polise developed what was to have been a live auction into an online one to raise funds. She comes to COK with vast experience in bulk purchasing, having worked as the merchandise manager for all Delaware State Parks stores, negotiating with vendors to obtain the best prices for those establishments. Her experience will now become a great asset to the COK organization.

Clothing Our Kids was born in 2012, and through generous donations and 150 volunteers has provided 170,601 items of school clothing to nearly 29,000 kids in need. COK believes in offering an opportunity for every child to achieve excellence. As founder Mary Rio said, “It’s not just new clothes, it’s a new life.”

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