The Newtown Fund is asking the community for donations to support its annual Holiday Basket Program, which provides baskets filled with gifts, food, and other necessities to make the holiday season special for residents in need.

The Holiday Basket Program has been running for over 50 years. It is an enduring community-wide effort of The Newtown Fund, an organization that provides emergency relief to Newtown residents. Linda Bates, president of The Newtown Fund, says the organization works closely with Newtown Social Services to find those truly in need, and help residents pay for their food, medical expenses, and more.

Bates said The Holiday Basket Program is the group’s “big push” during the holidays. People are asked to either donate gifts, make a financial donation, or adopt a family for the holidays for the basket program.

Adopters can be individuals, families, groups, or organizations who receive a list of the ages and gender of each family member along with a list of what each family member needs. The names of the family members are not shared with the adopters, however. Anonymity is very important for both sides of this goodwill equation. From there, it is up to the adopters to go out and try to fulfill the family’s wishes.

“And what we say is adopting a family, even a single person, can be hundreds of dollars because it not only entails the gifts that they request, but we also ask them to do a full shopping basket for a week’s worth of food,” Bates said.

The Newtown Fund asks people to purchase nonperishable food, Bates added, since the gifts get delivered by other people in town and they have no way of keeping them cold. Bates said that they ask adopters to supply gift certificates for any of the perishable items.

Adopters provide food and the gifts their adopted family requested in the application. If adopters cannot find the listed gifts and still have enough in their personal funds to buy things, The Newtown Fund asks them to get gift certificates for stores such as Walmart and Amazon.

“It’s like providing an entire holiday for a family,” Bates said.

Once all the families are adopted, Bates said The Newtown Fund holds Depot Day, which is when the collection of gifts and other items are delivered to the families. Adopters visit Social Services the morning of Depot Day to pick up gift certificates to supplement their “basket.” They are also then given the address and the contact information for the family they adopted to deliver their basket that same day.

The Newtown Fund holds Depot Day every year on a Saturday before Christmas. This year’s Depot Day is planned for December 14.

Even if people do not have the ability to adopt a family, there are still other ways they can support The Newtown Fund. Bates said readers can donate to The Newtown Fund, and that any donations received go towards buying gift certificates.

“We use the gift certificates to buy food and for gifts, so I’ll get gift certificates for Amazon, grocery stores, even gas certificates to support people,” Bates explained.

Bates emphasized The Newtown Fund needs money now for the Holiday Basket Program because, in order to buy the gift certificates, they need at least a two-week lead time. Depot Day also requires a lot of coordination, she said, and many groups who might adopt are winding activities down towards the tail end of the year.

“If we’re doing Depot Day on December 14, that means I need to know how much money we’ve got by then,” Bates explained. “I need all the donations as soon as possible so that I can go out and buy the gift certificates.”

The 2023 holiday season saw 94 households receiving aid through the “incredible efforts of The Newtown Fund and generosity of the community,” Human Services Director Natalie Griffith told The Newtown Bee last December. The previous year, the Fund and those who helped the Holiday Basket Program provided gifts and other items to 93 households.

To donate to The Newtown Fund, visit thenewtownfund.org/donate. To adopt a family for the Holiday Basket Program, visit thenewtownfund.org/adopt.

A Year-Round Endeavor

According to Bates, The Newtown Fund’s overarching goal is to make as much money as they can to support local individuals and families in need.

Established in 1959 as an emergency fund, The Newtown Fund helps residents who suddenly find themselves in dire situations stabilize themselves. While the Holiday Basket Program is a large endeavor of theirs, The Newtown Fund works to support Newtown residents all year long.

Griffith, who works closely with The Newtown Fund, said the organization helps residents throughout the year quietly behind the scenes.

“The Newtown Fund is able to do things for [Human Services] that other partners might not have the capacity to do,” Griffith explained. “For example, they helped a woman with emergency dental work this year. For another person they helped with emergency car repairs, purchasing a mattress, these very one-off situations where they can meet those needs.”

The feeling from supporting community members when they need it most, Bates said, is hard to put into words. Over the years of being involved with The Newtown Fund, Bates has watched as her daughter and grandchildren grew up to be invested in the organization and in supporting the community.

To her and everyone else involved in the basket program, Bates said, “it’s just a part of our Christmas.”

“You can’t even describe it,” Bates said on how it feels to give back to the community. “It’s just amazing.”

For the individuals and families who receive that support during the holidays, Griffith said, “it’s just magical.”

“These folks wouldn’t have a holiday anywhere near what The Newtown Fund brings to them,” she continued. “We get to see the gratitude from the residents, and it’s just so heartwarming.”

Bates also mentioned that The Newtown Fund used to have a wrapping table during Depot Day, when volunteers would prepare gifts for the basket program at one of the schools. Even then, Bates said, many of the people who helped wrap or donate things had once been on the receiving end of the Holiday Basket Program themselves.

“And they always said that, when they were able to, they wanted to give back. So they would come in and help wrap, even years later,” Bates continued. “It’s just amazing how much we made a difference in a lot of people’s lives.”

To learn more about The Newtown Fund, visit thenewtownfund.org or email newtownfund@gmail.com. Newtown residents who need immediate support are encouraged to reach out to Newtown Social Services by visiting the office at 28 Trades Lane, calling 203-270-4330, or emailing Human Services Director Natalie Griffith at natalie.griffith@newtown-ct.gov.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.