Clothing giveaway at Anchorage's Clark Middle School drew large crowd, school board told

Anchorage students carried home bags of free clothing from Clark Middle School on Saturday, Aug. 1. A member of the Anchorage School Board said the giveaway drew a large crowd.

"The crowd was large. The need is great," the board member said Tuesday, describing the event. Families also found a DJ, free food and games.

Anchorage Cops for Community hosts the event, called the Clothesline Project, for Anchorage students in grades K-12. The organization says on its website that the project has provided clothing and back-to-school essentials at no cost to more than 10,000 students over the past 10 years. Each child picks clothing in their own size and style before visiting partner booths, according to the group. Anchorage says its public health clinic provides routine childhood vaccinations at the event. Nuvision, a credit union and past supporter of the project, has described it as serving underprivileged youth and letting Anchorage families obtain clothing at no cost.

The board member thanked "COPS for Community and all of the partners that helped with that event as well."

The board member also reminded families that "our back-to-school checklist mailer is out with everything the families need to know about what they need to gear up for a successful school year, and more information on that is on the back-to-school webpage."