Megan Prather
Staff Writer
For the 28th year in a row, Tinker Air Force Base has held its Clothe-the-Children event as a perfect start to the Christmas season.
On Friday, Dec. 6, Tinker volunteers from the Commercial Derivative Aircraft Division under Air Force Materiel Command were paired with children from kindergarten through 8th grade in the Mid-Del area to go shopping for new winter clothes at the JCPenney department store in Midwest City.
“This is my second time doing this event and it’s one of the best events in my Air Force career I’ve ever been a part of,” said Laine Rupper, CDAD deputy division chief. “One of the things I’ve realized over the last year is how much time and effort is put into this one event. There are meetings every month, there are six major fundraisers, but there are also small fundraisers all year long for this one event.”
Thanks to all of the fundraisers and donations received from members of the Tinker community in 2019, each child received a gift card with $175 to spend on new shoes, coats and anything else they may need.
Michelle Wiggs with the Legacy Tanker Division dashed through the store with holiday music blasting from her phone and the child she was shopping with smiling by her side. She has been volunteering with Clothe-the-Children for the past four years and said it’s definitely her favorite part of the holidays.
“This is the best part of the year. I enjoy giving back to the community and the children bless me more than I could ever bless them,” she said. “I’m a former teacher and social worker, so I recognize the importance of this and how many kids benefit from these kinds of activities.”
Tinker volunteers aren’t the only ones who look forward to the event each year. Sales associates with JCPenney volunteer for a shift two hours before the store generally opens so that the children and volunteers can have the whole store to themselves to shop. Janie Black has been participating in the event since she started working at this particular JCPenney.
“It’s been about 15 years that I’ve done this program and I love it every single year. It just warms me up,” Black said.
Megan Tenbrink, program manager with Air Force Life Cycle Materiel Command and this year’s event organizer, said that more than $6,500 was spent on the 34 children during this year’s event.
“We have a Comradery, Leadership and Service Committee within the division and we’re the ones who plan the events,” Tenbrink said. “This is my first Clothe-the-Children and I was just so excited to see how happy the kids were going to be. I had meetings with the school district and they said they look forward to it all year, so I was just excited to see the smiles on the children’s faces.”