Hamburg, N.Y. (WBEN) - For over 30 years, Warm the Children volunteers have been busy arranging shopping trips with local families in the Southtowns.
Donations are a critical part of the program, but they are not collecting jackets, mittens and hats. They're collecting monetary donations.
"The founder of the program in Connecticut wanted to provide warm winter clothing, but he wanted everything to be brand new," said Liz Angelbeck, Volunteer Coordinator for the program, speaking with WBEN.
"He wanted families to have the dignity to shop and pick out their own clothing. For a lot of these kids, it's the first time they are able to buy new clothing. They've always had hand me downs. They've gone to thrift stores. For many, it's a real joy to get new underwear, pajamas, jackets and boots."
Angelbeck has served as Volunteer Coordinator since 2009.
"We reach out to families affected by job loss, or illness. Interestingly, over the last several years we are helping more and more grandparents who have taken custody of their grandchildren for a variety of reasons," she noted.
Warm the Children helps between 400 and 500 children each year in the Southtowns.
"We just received a wonderful donation from West Herr Automotive Group and East Hill Foundation, which is the Greatbatch family."
The program is limited to families in the greater Hamburg area, or who attend schools in Hamburg, Frontier, Lakeshore, Eden and North Collins.
"A teacher relayed a story to me about Pajama Day at her school, when everyone comes to school wearing pajamas. A couple of students came into her classroom and they were extremely excited because the pajamas they were wearing were new PJ's purchased at Walmart the day before through the Warm the Children program. You can't measure that level of joy," she added.
Angelbeck said she is honored to be recognized as "Selfless Among Us," "I never did it for the recognition. But it's a real joy to be able to pair community shoppers with families in need. I'm just happy to be able to bring them together. All the money that is donated, by the way, goes toward clothing. Any other expenses are covered by the Rotary Club of Hamburg."