What makes a person spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars every year, re-purposing, repairing and giving hundreds of bicycles away to local children in-need?
Ask Kim Camara of Yesteryear Cyclery why he does it, the next time you see him!
4 Year Old Austa Shares Her Birthday Presents
Four year-old Austa taught us a thing or two about sharing!
Kenny, an Eagle Scout on a mission!
Kenny is not your average teenager. He did something amazing for his Eagle Scout Project.
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On a cold and drizzly Saturday, October 14, 2014 to be exact, in walks a 13 year-old young woman who matter of factly and unpretentiously tells us that she wants to help local children who don’t have the basic things they need; clothes, books, toys and birthday presents. She goes on to tell us that she wants to start now and off she goes to work in the factory on her first volunteer day!
This remarkable young woman is Sam McGill. Sam is currently a freshman at Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School and has accumulated 470 volunteer hours to date, mostly on Saturdays and we are hard pressed to think of more than a few Saturday’s Sam has not been with us! Sam is currently helping us manage our Thrift Store.
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Last Saturday two representatives of Girl Scout Troop 68123 delivered a ton of hygiene supplies. We were flabbergasted! We never have enough of these type supplies to place in our gifts packages. They’re on a new mission, one of early literacy and they need our help. Please reach out to them if you can help!
We asked their leaders to send us a story, so that we had some context and could share. Here is what they had to say – “The girls in New Bedford Troop #68123 chose to use donated funds they received during their cookie program booth sales to buy baby shampoo, powder, and lotion — based on GiftsToGive stated need for these specific items. They also put together “kits” for adults & children — including shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste, combs, and petroleum jelly.
Last Saturday morning we met a most remarkable girl, who did a most amazing thing!
We asked her Mom for details: “Caitlyn is a third grader at Pulaski Elementary School and she recently celebrated her 9th birthday. Caitlyn decided that she wanted to ask her friends to donate toys or clothing to GiftsToGive rather than receive gifts for herself. Through volunteering at Gifts to Give with her family, Caitlyn has realized the importance of giving to others”
Caitlyn says: “There are so many needy children with no special toys. I am lucky to have more than I ever wanted. These children are very brave. I wish that these toys will give them a happy surprise on their birthday!
We recently hosted the 7th Grade from Freetown-Lakeville Middle School. We could tell you what the experience was like for us, but student journalist Lucas E. Quinn sent us this essay and the photos are by student photographer Julie Medeiros. (Photos from their visits are here.)
” Rows upon rows of shelves lined the walls. Everything on those shelves had been donated from someone like us. Colorful toys were being cleaned and fixed and given new life, so that more families in poverty would have something to look forward to. This was the view I took in when I first walked into the factory known as GiftsToGive.
Hadleigh and Braelyn
The longest journey begins with a single step. The first step in this story started with an email from Carolyn, Hadleigh and Braelyn’s mom – “On 1/19 my daughters are turning 8 and 10. I am interested in having them and some friends volunteer at GiftsToGive as part of their party on 1/18. I see stories of kids that had friends bring presents to donate instead of birthday presents for them, could the girls and their guests also volunteer their time?”
Carolyn sent a follow-up email after the girls’ visit – “As parents, we try our best to teach our daughters about being thankful for their blessings and look for opportunities to give back to those in need.”
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Learn, Lead, Serve, Succeed is the mantra for the Alma del Mar Public Charter School.
We are huge fans of the work they do and especially of how much they have been able to accomplish since starting four years ago. We have always supported their community service efforts and we recently had a visit from their entire 5th grade class.
Rather than we tell the story, we asked 5th grader Rosa to interview some of her peers and send us a story.
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Abby and her family
Nine year-old Abby is in the 4th grade and lives over an hour away from New Bedford.
For the second year in a row, Abby asked friends coming to her birthday party not to bring her any gifts. Instead, she wanted them to bring new things that she could donate to GiftsToGive.
Abby likes to bring everything down to the mill with her sister, Maggie. Maggie is in the 2nd grade and just turned seven.
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