Rosewood Miracle Workers Aktion Club’s “Coloring Book and Crayon Drive” is entering its ninth year in operation, and club members are just as excited today to conduct the community drive, as they were when it first began. That’s because the annual drive has typically achieved record amounts of giving each year to children across Barton County and beyond. 

Rosewood Aktion Club is conducting its drive from now through Nov. 30, with the hope of matching last year’s success when the club gathered 1,719 coloring books and 1,719 crayons. 

Upon completion of the drive, club members will distribute the donated items to Saint Francis Community Services, Great Bend, and Clara Barton Hospital, Hoisington. The goal is to deliver the items to the local organizations during the Christmas season.

“With so much community and organizational involvement last year, it’s going to be difficult to top last year’s drive, but we’re hoping that we can come close to those numbers again,” said Rosewood Aktion Club sponsor Frankie Pelster. “Our Aktion Club members know that these area agencies are counting on us again to bring smiles to children’s faces, so they are eager to get this drive started again.”  

People can drop off coloring book and crayon donations, along with monetary donations for the purchase of coloring books and crayons, to two locations in downtown Great Bend. Those locations are Rosewood Furniture Gallery, 1607 Main St., and Rosewood Bargain Barn, 1215 Main St.

For the fifth consecutive year, Rosewood Aktion Club is in a friendly competition with Rosewood Services employees to see which group can raise the most items. Last year, Rosewood Aktion Club, with the help of community donated items counting toward its numbers, unseated Day Services as champion. Rosewood Aktion Club accounted for 1,019 coloring books and 1,224 boxes of crayons for last year’s drive.

“Our Aktion Club members are always enthusiastic about this fun drive, because they get to deliver and see the impact they are making on children in our community,” explained Pelster. “They loved finally winning last year, don’t get me wrong, but they love getting to put smiles on children’s faces even more. That’s the achievement that motivates them every year about this drive, and why it’s just as important to them today, as it was when we started in nine years ago.”

Rosewood Aktion Club is an affiliate of the national Kiwanis organization.

For questions about Rosewood Aktion Club’s Coloring Book and Crayon Drive, contact Pelster at 620-603-6502; employmentspecialist@RosewoodServices.com.