We accomplished a lot this season because our Volunteers are amazing people. Everything that I am listing below occurred because volunteers made it happen. We dream. They hear our dreams and make them a reality.
We met on Dec 3, 2016, outside of My Brother’s Table and the Lynn Emergency Shelter. We timed the event to coincide with the lunch service. These donations were a collection of lovingly handcrafted items and the fabulous items that were collected in drives by those with big hearts who wanted to help. There was plenty of foot traffic. We hung over 1000 items. We also had some long sleeve shirts that we were able to pass out. We had a little fun this year. Dandee Donut Factory in Marblehead gave us a bunch of donuts and we shared them with the crowd. We see so much outside of My Brother’s Table. I spent a lot of time helping people find items and even more time reassuring people we really were there to help them be warm. I can’t tell you how many times I heard a volunteer say some version of, “yes it was ok to just take an item if they needed it” At the end of the day, I am glad to have been of service. I am grateful that the folks at My Brother’s Table and The Lynn Emergency Shelter are on the job all year long.
We met again on Feb 4, 2017, on the street between Centerboard and St Mary’s Church. This was a COLD and early morning. I left my gloves at home by accident and very quickly I was regretting it. Many of the items that we had on this day were the extra hats, scarves, mittens and gloves that were collected by Lynn Museum/LynnArts and Centerboard for the West Baltimore Street Fire Families. St Mary’s facilitates a monthly visit from a Boston food bank so that the residents of Lynn can have access to a food pantry and better food security. We helped plenty of foot traffic as well as people who traveled from all parts of Lynn to collect their food pantry box. Warmer Lynn folks with better food security is a victory. Over 700 items were distributed. We could have stayed for longer. The need was great but our supplies ran out quickly. There were too many old people, moms, and kids without scarves.
I could say Thank you a million times to all the people involved in making this happen and it would not be enough. That won’t stop me from trying.
We’re hard at work planning for 2017-2018 Winter Season. Keep your eyes out for news and keep creating cold weather items.
Thank you!
Cheers,
Kecia
P.S. I have to admit that I don’t update the website as often as I update our facebook page. I’ll work on that.