Every year holiday collections are gathered with pleas “for the children” at heart, but last Wednesday, the children at The Place in Norwich turned the tables of good will and delivered dozens of collected food items to the United Church of Christ.
“The kids wanted to do something, so we outreached to the church and just asked how we could help,” said Paula Crawford, director of the Kid’s Program at The Place.
I walked with the kids Wednesday afternoon as we went across town to deliver the over 500 food items collected in just a two-week period to the church.
Once there, the UCC Church volunteers and I aided the kids in sorting out the food in the pantry and then evenly distributed it to over 80 area families.
The Place’s Kid’s Program currently has 33 participants from 4 and a half to 12 years old, meaning that every child, on average, brought in more than 15 donations. Basically every single child brought more than one donation a day for the two-week period.
“At first the kids just brought stuff from their cupboards they didn’t like, but as they got excited and competitive too, everything started showing up,” said Crawford.
Volunteer Rena Hall said the church received referrals from Social Services agencies before donating to needy families to ensure that the right people received help and that the drive doesn’t overlap with other programs offering assistance. “We don’t want anyone who needs help this holiday to go away empty handed,” she said.
Hall also explained that those who were unable to get a food donation could be eligible for a gift card at Save-A-Lot instead to purchase items, depending on the monetary donations received by the church.