Making Newtown’s Holidays Happier

By Kaaren Valenta

Dozens of households in Newtown would face a bleak Christmas each year if it weren’t for the efforts of the Newtown Fund and the Newtown Junior Women’s Club.  These volunteer groups work together to provide a holiday meal and gifts of clothing, toys and household staples to those in need. But the volunteers need the help of many people in the community to make it happen.

“We already have 60 families that need help on the list this year,” said Colleen Honan, Newtown Fund board member. “We expect to wind up somewhere in the 90s. We still have 28 families without a sponsor.”

Mrs Honan, Doreen Kostecki, and Judy Rosentel are coordinating this year’s Holiday Gift Basket Program, which will culminate on Depot Day, December 18.

Residents and businesses are encouraged to sign up to adopt a family that will receive food baskets and gifts on Depot Day. Toys will be provided through the Newtown Junior Woman’s Club’s Tag-A-Gift project that operates in cooperation with the basket project.

Donations also are welcome, as is help on Depot Day itself.

The town’s social services department provides information about the needs of families and individuals that are to be the recipients of the holiday baskets.  The recipients’ names are confidential.

The list includes families made up of two parents and children, single-parent families, children being raised by grandparents, senior citizen households, and others. Thousands of individuals and families have been helped over the years since a group of local residents including the late Joseph P. Chase organized the first basket project more than 40 years ago.

Gifts for the individuals in the households often include such items as shirts and pants, sweaters, shoes, a winter jacket, and underwear. Requests also might include kitchen equipment, tools, and household linens. Sometimes prescription medicine, pet food, or even a haircut is requested.

“Often gift certificates are included so the family can get exactly what they need,” Mrs Honan said.  “Supermarket gift certificates also are included because we don’t have a way to store perishables.”

Linda Bates, an accountant and Newtown Fund board member who has worked on the project for many years, said perishables are a problem because there is no way to keep them chilled in the hours between the time they are donated and the time they are delivered.

“You wouldn’t want to receive milk or frozen vegetables that have sat out for hours,” she said. “But often donors forget this when they get into the spirit of shopping.” 

For people who want to help, providing a happy Christmas for a child can be as easy as picking an ornament off a tree and purchasing an extra toy. Or it can involve adopting an entire family in need and providing both a meal and gifts. It can be a donation of food, new clothing, blankets and the like. It can mean donating an hour or two to help deliver the holiday baskets. Or it can simply be making a tax-deductible contribution by sending a check payable to The Newtown Fund to PO Box 641, Newtown 06470-0641. (Write “Christmas Basket Program” in the memo line.)

All donated food and wrapped gifts, marked with the number of the family that is to receive them, are to be dropped off at Sandy Hook Elementary School at 9 am on Depot Day.  At noon recipients will begin to pick up the gifts. Volunteers also will deliver food baskets and gifts to households that are unable to pick them up.

Anyone who is interested in helping should call the Newtown Fund at 426-6565, follow the voice-mail instructions, and leave a message. Messages will be answered within a week.

Next week the Junior Women’s Club will begin to hang special ornaments, called “tags,” on trees or wreaths at Newtown Savings Bank in Sand Hill Plaza, Fleet Bank, Union Savings Bank, and the Wesley Learning Center. Each tag will have a child’s age, sex, and a number (instead of a name) identifying the family. Anyone can select a tag, purchase the gift, and leave it – unwrapped – in the specially marked boxes at these locations.

“Be sure to tape the original tag to the gift,” said Christine Grabowski, chairperson of this year’s Tag-A-Gift Program.

All toys should be placed in the collection boxes by noon on December 13. The gifts will be wrapped by the club members and delivered to Depot Day.

All donated food and other items are to be dropped off at Sandy Hook Elementary School by 9 am on Depot Day.  Delivery will begin at noon.