Volunteers power Middletown area’s Warm the Children

MIDDLETOWN — As the Middletown Kiwanis’ Warm The Children season concludes and we prepare for next season, it is time to reflect andshare our successes.

To date, our coffers have about $53,000 for next season’s spending. Our goal is to raise $60,000 by Sept. 1, which will enable us to continue our current level of service. We hope donations will continue, and we can fill the gap with grants from very generous foundations willing to support Warm The Children .

Warm The Children is participating, again this year, in the Birdies For Charity program of the Traveler’s Championship. Warm The Children will earn a 15 percent bonus on every dollar raised through Birdies For Charity, a no-cost, no-risk program. The money raised will be used to purchase warm clothing and footwear for local children in need.

Warm the Children is neighbors helping neighbors, and families helping families. Again, this year, the Independent Day School raised money for Warm The Children with its annual Fearless 5k and Fun Run, coordinated by IDS Director of Physical Education Janet Sisson.

For the sixth year , Mondo’s Pizza donated 10 percent of one evening’s sales to Warm The Children. The Kiwanis sponsored Middletown High Key Club students contributed from the proceeds of their annual Powder Puff football game. The staff of several schools and personnel from local offices held dress-down days, the proceeds donated to the organization.

Several fraternal and civic organizations donated, as did local church groups and businesses.

There are so many acts of kindness that benefited Warm The Children. We can’t mention them all here, but you will see, in the final season thank you ad, so many of our friends and neighbors donated whatever they could to help, with many more choosing to remain anonymous in giving.

Because Warm The Children is an all-volunteer program, 100 percent of donations are spent on new clothing for children in need from Middletown, Cromwell, Durham, East Hampton, Haddam, Middlefield and Portland. This year, we served 761 children from 337 families.

The program continues to be a success, due to efforts of various groups:

— The staff at The Middletown Press provided support with coupon ads and donor thank you ads.

— Our program contacts at schools and referral agencies served as liaisons between Warm The Children and families.

— Walmart staff were attentive and pleasant, even when busy with holiday shoppers.

— Liberty Bank’s Leah Pickard accepted, processed and deposited donations to our account, and many Liberty Bank employees served as volunteer shoppers.

— More than 175 volunteer shoppers, including Middletown Rotarians, assisted families, as they selected warm clothing and footwear for children.

— Our friend Libbi Carta, who sends thank you letters to all of our donors.

— Middletown Kiwanians supported all facets of the program, by coordinating it, covering administrative costs, providing financial contributions, volunteering time as shoppers, and sending donation acknowledgments.

Warm The Children’s success this past season can, again, be attributed to many acts of kindness involved when neighbors help neighbors. Thank you upper Middlesex County.

Donations can be made through the year to Warm The Children, Liberty Bank, Attention Leah Pickard, 315 Main St., Middletown, 06457; or at middletownkiwanis.org.