Washtenaw’s Warm the Children Faces Record Need as Winter Sets In

“The fact that many of our neighbors are hurting financially is no surprise, but this year too many children in Washtenaw County are facing a particularly cold winter without boots, warm coats, gloves, and mittens,” says Mary Stewart, who heads the non-profit organization Warm the Children.

The heart-warming, children-warming program is working hard to help as many children as possible this winter—“but we have been flooded with more requests than ever before, and we’re running out of funds. We desperately need help.”

By mid-November, before the snow began falling, the non-profit had already provided winter coats, boots, warm pajamas, socks, sweatshirts, and other necessities for 1,490 children—but many more need help. “We’re funded entirely by donations from members of our community,” Stewart says. “They’ve matched what we’ve received in the past—but the need is much greater this year.”

Four years ago, Warm the Children began a partnership with J.C. Penney. The program provides $90 to buy clothing per child for as many as four children (aged three to sixteen) per family. One of 45 volunteers from the Ann Arbor Kiwanis Club meets them at the mall and helps select and provide vouchers for the clothing. “J.C. Penney has been very generous. They offer thirty percent discounts off Black Friday prices,” Stewart says.

School administrators from Washtenaw’s 78 schools and countless social service agencies submit requests to clothe children, who come from all over Washtenaw County, from rural townships to the cities. “More than ever, we’re serving homeless families,” Stewart says, recalling a family that recently visited J.C. Penney.

“The mother, who was pregnant with three little children, had to bring them to the mall on a bus from Ypsilanti. She told our Kiwanis volunteer that they were homeless, temporarily living in a hotel. Fortunately, another family who was shopping for warm clothes offered them a ride home in their car.”

She hears sad, tragic stories from Washtenaw neighbors every day. “It’s a privilege to be able to do something to make their lives even a little easier.” In some cases, after the J.C. Penney shopping trips, she also refers families to the Kiwanis Thrift Store voucher program, which provides good used clothing free of charge to needy families.

Stewart builds relationships with social workers and schools, manages the budget, and tries to anticipate the year’s needs while designing and distributing shopping vouchers to social workers, agencies, or guardians. Then she matches Kiwanis volunteers—45 this year—with families.

In the fall and early winter, Sewart averages twenty hours a week performing all the administrative work for Washtenaw’s Warm the Children, and she also supervises an additional 29 Warm the Children projects around the country—“we’re the largest.”

This is a legacy program for Mary Stewart. In the 1970s, her father, Mack Stewart, was working with the Torrington News in Connecticut when he drove past a school bus stop on a chilly late-fall day and noticed children who had no warm coats, hats, or mittens. He decided to help remedy the situation and launched Warm the Children, a clothing drive sponsored by his newspaper. Then he began reaching out to newspapers around the country, suggesting they run similar drives.

            The Ann Arbor News answered his challenge, as did other papers, but when they began hitting hard times, in some cases local clubs and organizations stepped in to adopt the project. Mary Stewart became involved in 2012, and when the paper went digital five years later, Kiwanis agreed to sponsor the program and provide her with office space.

            Sandra Washington is one of the volunteers who meet deserving families at the J.C.  Penney doors and shops with them. “More than fifteen years ago,” she began volunteering, and now she averages 150 visits each year. “God has always provided for me, and I want to do His work,” she says. “It makes me happy to see other people happy.”

            Wherever she goes in public, she says, she keeps her eyes open for families who may need help during the winter months especially. “I walk up to them, introduce myself, and tell them about the program and how to sign up for it,” she says. “It doesn’t matter where I am: Kroger or Penney’s or Walmart.

            “I have heard so many sad stories,” she adds, shaking her head. Recently she called a woman to set up an appointment for her family, and the woman broke down, sobbing. Her husband had left her and filed for divorce, leaving his wife and two children destitute. Another time, she worked with a family with eight children who were living in a homeless shelter. Although the WTC program usually provides for a maximum of four children, Mary Stewart made an exception so Sandra could shop for all eight after Sandra described their plight.

            “People who donate and the volunteers who work in this program have a heart for helping less fortunate people. It becomes a ministry,” Sandra Washington concludes. “These families need to know that they’re important and worthy, and that someone cares for and about them.”

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            There are several ways community members can help children stay warm this winter. They can donate online at WarmTheChildren.org or in person at any Old National Bank branch in Washtenaw County. They can mail checks to Warm the Children c/o Old National Bank, 27235 S. State Street, Suite 100, Ann Arbor 48103. Or they can give in person at the Kiwanis Thrift Store. The checkout counters feature a giving tree with mittens identifying individual families’ needs; shoppers can donate when they pay for their items.