The Cupertino Courier

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Lauren Swanson, 15, helped her little sister, Marina, 7, pick out school clothes at Mervyn's California's annual ChildSpree.

Child Spree helps kids get back to school

By Steve Enders

It's that time of year again, and stores are already starting their fall sales in hopes of getting kids into the latest back-to-school gear.

But not all parents can afford to shop.

Because of this, Mervyn's California teamed up early Saturday morning with Garden Gate Elementary School for its sixth annual Child Spree, which took place at the Cupertino Mervyn's store on Stevens Creek Boulevard.

Cupertino Community Services brought a few children to the event as well.

This year's Child Spree gave away nearly $800,000 in merchandise to needy kids at Mervyn's stores in 14 states. More than 15,000 kids received free clothes and school supplies from Mervyn's and various other local stores.

At the Cupertino store on Stevens Creek Boulevard, Mervyn's donated more than $3,000 in clothing to 50 children. Each child roamed the store with a parent volunteer and selected about $120 worth of new clothing and shoes.

Besides the clothes, Mervyn's and other donors, like McWhorters, gave students new backpacks, pencils and folders. The backpacks contained free tickets to a San Jose Giants game, and a couple of lucky students even got new bikes. Target sold organizers the bicycles at cost.

Garden Gate principal Russ Ottey and intervention specialist Sylvia Machamer, among others, selected the children based on need.

Machamer, a 28-year employee of Garden Gate, said that she's been in touch with Cupertino's at-risk children and families for a long time.

"It's not just those that are poor in the money sense, but those who aren't provided the opportunity to do something like this," she said.

Mervyn's employees worked on the event on their own time. The Monta Vista High School cheerleading squads also helped out. Machamer said she hoped the young beneficiaries would be inspired in later years to volunteer.

"It's a start for them to be volunteers when they're older. Hopefully it'll stick with them," she said.

The seed was planted in other students a few months ago, when the school held its annual book fair. For the first time, Rhonda Bahrami, Mervyn's community outreach coordinator, secured donations of books for the students and helped organize a lunchtime reading session in Memorial Park.

The event was a success and solidified the partnership between the school and the store. Since then, the Cupertino Mervyn's store has "adopted" Garden Gate.

But Bahrami and her manager, Rhonda Gibson are fairly soft-spoken about their role with the school.

In addition to organizing the children and staff, they hit the streets and got donations including morning coffee from Starbucks and breakfast from Noah's Bagels and McDonalds.

"My heart goes out to the children," Bahrami said, modestly. "I think it's important. They need it. My little girl is only 7, and I've got her volunteering at Sacred Heart [in San Jose]."

"It's good to see a store in the community pay back the community," Machamer said. "And they know those kids are going to go back to Mervyn's sometime, too."

Ottey said despite the fact that the event was tough to organize because of the summer break, it was well worth it.

"Even though we're in Cupertino, there's still some needs out there," he said.

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