The first snow storm of the season did little to hamper the efforts of Women Involved in Newtown (WIN) and those who volunteered to organize and deliver holiday baskets to families in need last Friday. If anything, the cancellation of classes on Friday actually helped the organization, which ended up with more help than in years past.

On November 16, WIN members collected donations of food, hygiene items, and pet supplies in the hall of Newtown United Methodist Church. Then they divvied those items among the 74 families identified this year by Newtown Social Services as being qualified for receive the fixings for a Thanksgiving dinner, along with additional essentials to help them through the holiday season.

Cyndy DaSilva and Mandy Monaco, the co-presidents of WIN, have been co-chairs of the club’s Holiday Basket Program for at least 15 years, Ms DaSilva said Friday afternoon.

“WIN has been doing the program for approximately 40 years,” she pointed out.

WIN works with Social Services to ensure that the town’s needy families have food and other essentials for the holiday season. The club then puts out a call to local clubs, organizations, families, and individuals to “adopt” families. Those who commit provide each family with food for their Thanksgiving dinner, along with additional staple foods and supplies.

The identities of the families is known only to Social Services staff, who assigns each family a number. WIN coordinates its efforts using those anonymous numbers.

On the Friday before Thanksgiving, all items that have been collected for families are delivered to the church hall. Additional items usually arrive during that day as well and are shared among the carefully sorted collections.

In past years, volunteers have driven to four of the town’s schools — Newtown High School, Newtown Middle School, Reed Intermediate School, and Sandy Hook School — to pick up the items that have been donated through collection events within each of those communities. With school closed last Friday, however, volunteers were able to access only three of the schools.

“We just showed up at some of the schools, and people were there and able to get us in,” Ms DaSilva said. Middle Gate alone, she said, had adopted 22 families this year.

“They are a huge supporter of this project,” she said.

Reed School was the only location WIN volunteers could not access last week.

“Those were the only items we were unable to get this morning,” Ms DaSilva said. “But we’ll have people pick up the food there and deliver it to Social Services on Monday.”

By late afternoon, families were beginning to arrive at the church hall. WIN volunteers were still working, helping them load their “baskets” — in most cases, large bags and boxes overflowing with donations — into their vehicles.