The speaker at the 7:30 a.m. Thursday meeting of the Ossian Rotary Club is Rhonda O’Reilly. The meeting will be held at the Ossian First Baptist Church, 1001 Dehner Drive on the north side of Ossian.
After their daughter, Jennifer, was killed in a car accident in August 2004, O’Reilly and her husband Tim began helping families in Huntington and Wells Counties through Karing for Kids as part of a church project.
Karing for Kids consists of three programs.
The School Supply program provides a backpack filled with school supplies to children before the school year begins. School counselors assist in getting the information for families in need.
The Blessing Tree Project (formerly the Angel Tree Project) is a Christmas project where families must be referred to the program by a school counselor or social service agency that partners with Karing for Kids. Each child in the family (infant through 18, if still in school) then receives 10 items consisting of shirts, jeans, socks, underwear, tennis shoes, pajamas and two toys or fun things.
These items are listed on angels and provided to locations throughout the counties for the community to pick an angel, buy the gift and return for Karing for Kids to distribute to the families just before Christmas. Through this project each family also receives a meal box that Warren Church of Christ coordinates for them.
Jennifer’s Closet is an all-year project that is located behind the Markle Church of Christ in their ministry building. Individuals can visit there to receive free good used clothing and new socks/underwear when they find they are in need.
It is open two times a month on the first and third Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
