Hollister
– As the days grow shorter and chillier, Small Steps is
preparing its annual shopping spree for needy children lacking
basic winter essentials, but needs volunteers to pull off the
annual event.
Hollister – As the days grow shorter and chillier, Small Steps is preparing its annual shopping spree for needy children lacking basic winter essentials, but needs volunteers to pull off the annual event.
“Our goal is to have one volunteer for every child,” said Mary Hubble, one of the event’s organizers. “And we have a lot of kids.”
For the past 10 years, Small Steps has been pairing children in need with big-hearted locals willing to give up one morning to ensure that one little boy or girl has a coat and a pair of shoes to get them through the winter.
“This is just a San Benito County thing,” Hubble said. “One day a bunch of us just got together and saw a need and wanted to do something about it.”
The event has grown from serving just 25 children who participated in the event at its conception to more than 350 local children identified by local school teachers as students who could use a hand. Each volunteer is paired with a child and given an envelope containing around $100. The pair then take an early-morning shopping trip through Target and Payless Shoes for coats, shoes and, if any money is left over, other must-haves like socks and underwear.
“One year we had a child who was so excited about owning socks, because he never had before,” Hubble said. “Another time we had a girl buy tennis shoes who was excited because she could finally participate in school sports. Her family could only afford one pair of shoes, and they had to be for church. That’s how we know what we’re doing is working.”
This year Small Steps is looking for roughly 385 volunteers, though not all need to go shopping on the big day.
“A lot of people want to help but think they might not be the best person to go shopping with a child,” Hubble said. “But we need people to sign up children and volunteers, people to cut the tags off the clothes, people to write the children’s names on their coats so they don’t lose them on the playground – there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Volunteers are required to submit their names, addresses and driver’s license numbers well in advance so that they can be checked out as per Megan’s Law. Volunteers are also fingerprinted on the day of the event.
“We’re dealing with children, of course, so we want to be as safe as possible,” Hubble said.
Each year’s shopping trip is financed with donations collected the year before, so Small Steps is actively collecting financial donations for 2007 right now.
“What’s fantastic is that our community is willing to support this every year,” Hubble said. “Just think about it; we spend $35,000 on coats and shoes every year. That’s amazing, and we should be very proud of this community.”
Anyone wishing to volunteer can request an application by calling 638-2111. This year’s event will take place at 7am Nov. 4.
Danielle Smith covers education for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or ds****@fr***********.com.
