On September 6, 2019 at 10am, our basement doors opened for the first Day of Sharing following the almost $200,000 renovation, funded in part through a grant from New York State Dormitory Authority through the office of Sen. Sue Serino and, in part, through an in-kind donation from RL Baxter Building Corp. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Day of Sharing, it is like our shop for our community partners to find basic necessities for their clients - at no charge.
We had to assign numbers and stagger the entry times as there were almost 90 representatives of faith-based organizations, schools and nonprofits who had lined up before 9am for Day of Sharing. Every member of our staff was there to help out, whether it was restocking shelves, carrying bags out to cars or helping representatives choose items.
As I spoke with people there, one woman asked if we might have a wheelchair. It turned out it was her first time at Day of Sharing and she was sent there by her school principal. The wheelchair was to replace one that was used by one of the students, whose wheelchair had been damaged a few weeks earlier. We had one. She took it for that student and we heard later what a relief it was for both the student and her family to have a new wheelchair as they couldn’t afford to replace it themselves.
She was just one of the many representatives who came in with a long list of items needed for her clients who found new housewares, hygiene items and children’s goods. In fact, last year, we distributed more than $200,000 worth of items through our Day of Sharing gift-in-kind program.
In December, we heard that there was a need for men’s items — socks, underwear and hygiene items. This isn’t something we usually stock, so we’re running a hygiene drive now through February 21. For information, go to uwdor.org/donatedrive.
