Nonprofit provides winter coats, shoes to 350 children
Hundreds of San Benito kids went home with a winter coat and
shoes Nov. 7 after the annual Small Steps shopping trip at Target
and Payless Shoes in Hollister.
The nonprofit raises money and recruits volunteers each year to
ensure that needy children in the community have a warm jacket and
new shoes.
Nonprofit provides winter coats, shoes to 350 children
Hundreds of San Benito kids went home with a winter coat and shoes Nov. 7 after the annual Small Steps shopping trip at Target and Payless Shoes in Hollister.
The nonprofit raises money and recruits volunteers each year to ensure that needy children in the community have a warm jacket and new shoes.
“We give each child $100 to buy as much clothing and shoes as they can get,” said Mary Hubbell, a committee member for Small Steps. “We don’t allow toys, candy. We allow a minimal amount of school supplies … the focus is really on clothing.”
The local stores offered a 20 percent discount to the shoppers to help stretch the money a little further.
The annual shopping event has been happening for 12 years, and Hubbell said the event has grown from helping 25 children the first year to helping 350 kids this year.
One of the major supporters of the event is Intero, which has a nonprofit foundation that donated $15,000 to Small Steps this year.
The budget for this year’s shopping trip was $36,000, and Hubbell stressed that in addition to the large corporate donation, it was a lot of $5 and $10 donations from local residents that made the shopping day possible.
The shopping day is the first or second Saturday in November, just around the time the weather starts to get cold.
The committee members ask each local school to select a certain portion of the 366 children, and teachers are asked to choose students in kindergarten through eighth grade that need it the most.
Volunteers gather at 5 a.m. to prep the parking lot for the students and their families. This year there were 400 volunteers involved with the shopping day.
“We have an amazing group of volunteers,” Hubbell said. “It amazes me we can take this many kids shopping and we are usually done by 11 a.m. It takes a lot of organization and we just have some really great people that do that.”
Many of the volunteers return year after year, Hubbell said.
“Once you do it and have a good experience, you are willing to come back again,” she said.
The children receive a granola bar as a snack and then receive a breakfast of a sausage McMuffin, donated by the owners of the local McDonald’s.
“They love everything,” Hubbell said. “They are so excited. Some of them haven’t been able to really get new things before so they are really very excited.”
Hubbell said that one year when the volunteers arrived at 5 a.m., a family was sitting there waiting. The children’s father had to go to work, and they only had one car, so he dropped the kids and their mother off on his way.
“It makes you realize how lucky we all are,” Hubbell said. “It’s so nice to be able to help.”
