Children donate clothes, shoes to help other kids

David Adame/Caller-Times

Veronica Zepeda, Camp Casa Linda coordinator (left), and Cory Garza, a representative with Kids Cafè, handle some of the clothing for Kids Cafè.

   Ten-year-old Jake Treviño doesn't know quite how many shoes he has in his closet or under his bed.
   Jake said he never thought to ponder his good fortune until his summer camp read a June 14 column on children who show up barefoot at Kids Cafe because they must share their shoes with siblings.
   Jake wanted to do more than count his blessings. He wanted to help the children of Kids Cafe, a free summer breakfast program at 2121 Mary St.
   And he wasn't the only one at his summer camp to arrive at the same conclusion.
   Inspired by the initial reaction of Jake and his peers, Camp Casa Linda coaches brought up the matter for discussion at a meeting, three days after having read about Kids Café organizers' efforts to address these needs.
   After a bit of brainstorming, a goodwill effort snowballed at Jake's summer camp.
   "We called it Children Helping Children," said Veronica Zepeda, coordinator of Camp Casa Linda, who spearheaded a three-week drive to collect clothing and shoes for Kids Café.
   The effort involved Camp Casa Linda coaches, the summer camp children and their parents. Camp Casa Linda on Friday donated to Kids Café all that it collected - eight large boxes filled with clothing and school uniforms, one large box brimming with shoes, 60 children's books and $60.
   The cash included part of Jake's allowance.
   "I have so much stuff at home," said Jake, who will enter Martin Middle School in the fall. "It feels good to be giving to them. It's so hot, and they must be getting their feet burned. Now they can get shoes and go anywhere they want."
   Jake's mother, Paula Treviño, and a co-worker collected aluminum cans at work, traded them in for cash, and contributed it to the Camp Casa Linda drive.
   "It's such a good thing to see these young ones learning to be generous," said Treviño, an office manager for a local engineering company.
   When Emma Muñiz heard of the drive, she went straight to her 6-year-old daughter's room and pulled out perfectly good clothing her child no longer wears.
   Muñiz, an administrative assistant at KORO-TV, grew up in a family of 10, and while her parents worked hard to provide their children with what they needed, she often got hand-me-downs from her older sisters. But she learned to appreciate what she did have.
   That's why Muñiz has never been able to bear throwing away the clothing her daughter, Melanie, a Casa Linda camper, outgrows too quickly. Instead, she has kept them in trash bags stored in closets.
   "I hate to have garage sales, but I don't want to trash them either," said Muñiz, who donated five trash bags full of hardly used clothing.
   "I had never heard of this place called Kids Café, but when I read about it I knew that giving these clothes there was going to help somebody."