More than 110 new clothing items were donated August 6 by Marshfield Clinic Research Institute to the Best First Day project, which aims to support local families in dressing their children as they begin a new school year. Research Institute staff collected the clothing from July 24 to August 3.

The vision of Best First Day is to enrich the lives of our future by having every kid dressed with confidence. This was a project selected by one of the 2017/18 Leadership Marshfield teams.

All of the clothes were handed out Wednesday at Soup or Socks where the families were able to “shop” for the clothes.

“The program organizes the clothing items and gives the families shopping carts to use so it feels like they are shopping for clothes in a store,” said Annie Steinmetz, project manager for the Center for Oral and Systemic Health at the Research Institute.

Best First Day works with the Soup or Socks program in Marshfield, and runs in the same timeframe as United Way Supplies for Success. Both the supplies and clothes were given to families on Aug. 8.

“We have had tremendous response from all staff, either donating money or new clothing items. I have been very impressed by the response we received,” said Steinmetz.