Warm The Children starts strong

By MARIA LORENSEN / Community Fabric

One of the first “other duties as assigned” I learned about when I came on board as editor 10 years ago (yikes) was keeping track of The Journal’s Warm The Children program. The former editor had gotten the program off the ground in 1995, and that first year, the program raised about $12,000.

Warm The Children began three years earlier as an effort among dozens of newspapers throughout the country. It was designed to assist needy families with warm winter clothing for their children during the holiday season. Local newspapers each run their own programs in their own community, with a national WTC coordinator providing oversight and advice.

Here’s how the program works: Fund solicitation begins, families get identified (through the Salvation Army and other non-profit organizations), shopping occurs at local stores (with the help of volunteer shoppers and at cost of $80 per child) and finally, bills are paid.

That first year, I gulped a bit at the thought of trying to keep track of donor solicitation letters, accounting procedures, bank deposits, donor thank you letters, all the while learning the job of editor. But the former editor had been planning to stay for several months and assured me that he’d be here to help.

About two weeks into my editorship, his plans changed, and he let me know he was leaving the area. The departure coincided with the WTC kickoff.

I gulped again.

As it turned out, we raised about $15,000 that year, and with the help of the Junior Civic League, successfully provided nearly 200 children with clothing. In the years since, the program has grown tremendously, so much so that last year, readers donated close to $50,000. The program helped more than 500 children last year.

During my tenure as editor and WTC organizer, The Journal has been linked with the national Warm The Children newspaper effort, headed by director Mack Stewart. Since the inception of our program, it has meant that Stewart and I are required to sign all checks for payment and deposit. All of our bank statements also are verified through Stewart.

Stewart was a longtime New England newspaper publisher who retired and took on the volunteer WTC director job full-time.

That first year when I took over at The Journal, Stewart fielded many panicked calls from me. As the program flourished over the years, those calls and later, e-mails, decreased.

This year, the e-mails and calls will cease completely.

Stewart, undoubtedly Warm The Children’s most enthusiastic cheerleader, has announced he’s retiring from his volunteer job. It’s a huge loss. Unfortunately, no other volunteer has offered to oversee the nationwide WTC effort. Imagine that.

What Stewart’s retirement means is that for The Journal to continue serving children locally — which we are committed to doing — we have to change the oversight part of the program. Fortunately, for us, the United Way of the Eastern Panhandle is willing to become WTC’s fiduciary agent.

Under the agreement, I will continue to sign checks for bank deposit and store payment, along with Jan Callen, United Way executive director, as co-signatory. Our bank statements and other bookkeeping will be reviewed during the United Way’s annual audit.

The United Way will take no monetary proceeds for its efforts.

And for that we are truly grateful.

Warm The Children becomes a completely locally administered program, with accountability provided through the United Way. Donations continue to be collected the same way. Donors still make checks to Warm The Children.

To date, WTC is off to a great start. We’ve collected more than $20,000, mainly through past donor solicitation. With carryover funds, we should have no trouble reaching $50,000 by Christmas.

Over the course of 11 years, Journal readers have donated several hundred thousand dollars and clothed thousands of area children — children who otherwise wouldn’t have boots and jeans, gloves and sweaters, hats and coats, even underwear these past winters.

And for that we are truly grateful.

If you would like to make a donation, simply write a check to Warm The Children, The Journal, PO Box 807, Martinsburg, WV 25401.

We look forward helping area children for many more years, with the help of our new partner.



—Maria Lorensen is editor of The Journal and can be reached at 263-3381, ext. 139, or at mlorensen@journal-news.net

Section: Columns    Posted: 11/12/2006