Pairing up for the right pair

As a child growing up in the Great Depression in the South, Arthur Dendy didn’t have much. Though he never felt deprived, he said, “I remember the paucity of presents, and I didn’t want that to happen to anyone else.”

On Wednesday, he and his wife, Gwendolyn, volunteered to be part of an extraordinary expression of kindness: the 10th annual Salvation Army Clothe-A-Child shopping spree at J.C. Penney Co. in NorthTown Mall.

Over three days this week, 150 children will be treated to $100 in clothing that they pick out, each with the help of an adult volunteer. The children are selected from elementary schools with the highest rate of government subsidized free and reduced-price lunches.

Salvation Army Capt. Lisa Smith said counselors at the schools help identify children needing help. Letters are sent home to their parents asking for permission to take their children on the shopping trip.

Volunteers undergo background checks. Some have participated for many years.

For the child, the holiday event means a winter coat or a new pair of shoes to replace the raggedy ones on their feet. For the volunteers, it means seeing first-hand the results of their charity – a young face brightened by a pair of Spider-Man shoes or a Hannah Montana hoodie.

In addition to the $100 worth of clothes provided through donations to the Salvation Army, J.C. Penney employees took up a collection to provide each child with a $15 gift certificate good for anything in the store, including a toy. The store clerks revel in the annual event, preparing goody bags containing crayons, Play-Doh, pencils and candy. One clerk baked 150 gingerbread men, one for each bag.

“The associates get so much out of it, because the kids are just so happy when they leave the store,” said Chris Martin, a J.C. Penney associate who has participated in the event each year since it moved from the now-closed Montgomery Ward store several years ago.

Wednesday’s children were bused to the mall from Holmes and Stevens elementary schools in Spokane. Today’s bunch will come from Regal and Lidgerwood schools. On Saturday, another group will come from Chewelah, Wash., where the Salvation Army has a branch office.

They poured into a conference room in the back of the store, where volunteers sat waiting for them.

“We’re going to pair you up with your volunteer shopper,” a Salvation Army official told the children.

“Can we pick the shopper?” one child asked.

They could not, but there didn’t seem to be any complaints. As adult and child were matched, they left the room hand in hand. The experienced volunteers took their children straight to the shoe department, where competition is most fierce.

Darlene Packard, who has volunteered all 10 years of the event, said her protégé, a young man named King, had an advantage over the other children. His mother had brought him to the store the day before to pick out a pair of boots and a pair of shoes, which she had a clerk put aside for King.

Another volunteer, Sandy Peterson, was paired with Stevens Elementary second-grader Nicole Merwin, who changed into her new sneakers as soon as she chose them.

Peterson, a three-year veteran of the Clothe-A-Child spree, is a member of the Women of Rotary, which donated $1,000 to the shopping event. Nicole, she said, was relatively easy to shop for since her mom had written in advance on the child’s name tag items that were most needed. Topping the list were boots and shoes.

Though he has donated for years to the Salvation Army, this was Dendy’s first year as a volunteer shopper. The 80-year-old retired U.S. Army warrant officer set a brisk pace for Stevens third-grader Tyler Merwin. The two were among the first to return to the conference room, mission accomplished.

There was a new coat, hat and gloves, shirt and pants, and a suspiciously expensive-looking toy.

How could they possibly get so much for $115?

Dendy sheepishly admitted he had chipped in a little out of his own pocket, to cover the cost of a remote-controlled car that could not be denied.