Grass Roots Giving Initiative Gains Momentum

By Jan Howard

David Quinn’s dream of an ongoing spirit of giving appears to be catching on.

 In October he began a grass-roots effort with the hope that the charitable feeling that exists during the holiday season would continue throughout the year.

He used USA Weekend’s ninth annual Make a Difference Day on October 23 to launch a charitable organization, Twelve Months of Christmas, which he hopes will take the charitable sentiment of this time of year and carry it out year round.

In October, Mr Quinn said, “If we can tap energy for charitable projects in November and December, why can’t we do that all year?” He said he was concerned about what happened to families after the holiday season is over. Their problems don’t go away, he noted.

The inaugural project of Twelve Months of Christmas was designated to help families with infant supplies.

As a result of the October 23 effort, Mr Quinn said this week that he recently delivered three large shopping bags of baby supplies to Danbury Hospital to benefit a local family with a newborn infant.

“I was very pleased with it,” he said. “I was proud to be going in anonymously to give in a quiet way.”

“It was a great thing to do,” he said. “The people are happy.”

The connection with the baby’s family was made through a Danbury Hospital caseworker, Mr Quinn said. “Danbury Hospital was very helpful.”

He said local residents donated baby blankets, clothing, baby diapers from newborn to larger sizes, wipes, bibs, formula, baby bottles, and baby ointment.

“One woman donated a blanket she had crocheted,” he said. 

Mr Quinn started small in October, but the charitable organization appears to be on the verge of a growth spurt.

Mr Quinn said he has received a telephone call almost every day since October 23 from someone interested in helping him keep the holiday spirit going. “People have called who I’ve never heard from before,” he said.

“I had good participation in October. We exceeded the ten people I expected,” he said. “I have a core group of six people who have offered ongoing support of the whole project.”

He said, however, because he believes his organization should not be in competition with other charitable groups, his goal for Twelve Months of Christmas for this month will be to adopt one or more families as part of WIN’s annual Thanksgiving baskets project.

“We’re happy to combine forces and help out with existing projects,” he said. “We’ll see what we can do in December.”

Mr Quinn would like to see Twelve Months of Christmas sponsor a different project each month throughout the year. He is open to suggestions for events or projects.

 “Hopefully next year we will be stronger and make an impact on the area,” he said.

For information about the Twelve Months of Christmas effort, call Mr Quinn at 270-9538 or e-mail him at dquinn01snet.net.