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Groups bundle up to make winter warmer for residents in need

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

A basket at the Rock County Historical Society's Helen Jeffris Wood Museum Center serves as a collection site for the state wide Big Bundle Up campaign to get winter clothing into needed hands.

JANESVILLE — Do winter gloves, mittens, hats and scarves tumble from your entry closet when you open the door?

People with extra items of winter clothing are invited to donate them at the Rock County Historical Society's Helen Jeffris Wood Museum Center, 426 N. Jackson St. It's the Janesville collection site for the Big Bundle Up Campaign.

Last week, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch helped kick off the local campaign of the second annual statewide charity drive. Warm clothing can be dropped off at the historical society through Friday, Jan. 4.

Items will be collected at nearly 80 tourism organizations statewide and donated to charities throughout Wisconsin, said Christine Rebout, executive director of the Janesville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

What's collected in Janesville will be donated to Everyone Cooperating to Help Others, a nonprofit, faith-community sponsored charity that serves low-income people in the Janesville area, she said.

The convention and visitors bureau is partnering with the historical society, ECHO and the Wisconsin Department of Tourism to make this winter a little warmer for Rock County residents in need, Rebout said.

"We're making a connection for people, and it's such an easy, simple way to make a huge difference to somebody in need and to make people feel good this time of year," she said.

"The Janesville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is excited to participate in the program," she said.

So is the historical society.

"A portion of the Rock County Historical Society's mission focuses on community enhancement," Mike Reuter, executive director, said in a news release.

"Working with other nonprofits demonstrates to the community that the historical society is as concerned about current needs of the community as we are about preserving the past," he said.