A Win WIN Situation At Eastertime

By Nancy K. Crevier

Three hours, 20 women, $500 worth of candy, and a couple of hundred stuffed animals later, Women Involved in Newtown (WIN) finished up the annual task of assembling Easter baskets, Thursday morning, March 29. The 150 baskets were delivered by WIN members to Newtown Social Services, Healing Hearts and Harmony House in Danbury, and the AIDS Interfaith Ministry in Danbury, where they were to be distributed to children in the area who might otherwise not have the joy of discovering a delivery from the Easter Bunny on Easter Sunday morning.

WIN has assembled Easter baskets for needy children for 14 years, one of several projects the group of women undertakes each year. Thanksgiving baskets, Adopt-A-Family during the holidays, Independent Living Day, and the Light the Night Walk are other annual events that are underwritten by the 45-year-old Newtown organization that began as Jaycee Wives.

The Easter basket project is WIN member Mandy Monaco’s baby. “I started when my family had all of these stuffed animals around, in really good condition. I called social services and they suggested that I do Easter baskets with them. That was the start,” she said.

The first year, the group put together 80 baskets for Newtown Social Services. Over the years, they have added other organizations that assist children and families in difficult situations. How many baskets are needed each year varies, but WIN gathered donations to assemble 250 baskets one year.

“The project falls together thanks to everyone in the community that helps,” said Ms Monaco.

WIN uses its own funds to purchase the candy for the Easter baskets, and counts on the generosity of residents and schoolchildren for the gently used and new stuffed animals and toys that round out the gift baskets. This year, WIN was pleased to accept a generous donation of several oversized stuffed rabbits from Monsignor Robert Weiss of St Rose of Lima Catholic Church. The Knights of Columbus provided the group with new Webkin stuffed animals. Community members, schools, and scout troops donated the baskets.

“One woman even made hand-knit stuffed animals for us. Isn’t that something?” Ms Monaco said.

Additional stuffed animals or toys that do not fit the Easter theme do not find themselves homeless. Several of those toys are donated to the Newtown Ambulance Corps to give out to children in stressful situations. The remaining stuffed animals are shipped to orphanages in war-torn parts of the world.

“Not one thing gets thrown out, that’s the neat part,” she said.

Ms Monaco sees the project reaching out beyond the children who receive the baskets, though. This year, she said, some of the volunteers who worked on the baskets were former WIN Easter basket recipients themselves, during hard times. “It was sort of a pay back time, now that things are better for them. That was pretty cool,” she said.

WIN members had barely put the last basket in a van when they began looking forward to next spring, and the fifteenth year of the Easter basket program. “As a matter of fact,” said Ms Monaco, “we have Easter-themed toys already in baskets, waiting for next year.”