Our drive to create 35 baskets for the annual “Easter Baskets for Cate’s Kids” at Circles of Mercy is under way.
If you haven’t yet begun purchasing items from the suggested “wish list,” today would be a good time to begin before things are picked over. Plus, we have to deliver all the baskets to Circles of Mercy, the Rensselaer-based family assistance organization, no later than Friday, March 18.
Today, I dropped off a batch of new Easter baskets, plus filler grass and wrappings, at Columbia High School. The high level of enthusiasm among the office staff there was contagious, and encouraging, since John Sawchuk has pledged 17 completed baskets from the school.
Meanwhile, Shannon Romanowski at the Greenbush YMCA is working on two aspects of the drive — completing four baskets from contributions by Y members, plus accepting Rotary Club members’ contributions for a separate effort that will go to fill 14 baskets to be assembled by Len Leonidas’s Cub Scouts.
Please drop off your contributions at the YMCA no later than Monday, March 14, specifying they are for the Cubs’ baskets rather than the Y’s baskets. Len then will pick up those donations and, with his Cubs, assemble baskets at their Wednesday, March 16, meeting. Here’s what we need for the baskets that will go to kids ages 2 to 12:
• Traditional Easter candies
• Coloring books
• Crayons
• Color pencils
• Facial tissues
• Toothpaste
• Tooth brushes
• Dental floss
• Hair combs and brushes
• Small stuffed animals
• Toys
• Books
Incidentally, for those of you who don’t know why the program is called “Easter Baskets for Cate’s Kids” — Circles of Mercy was founded in Dublin, Ireland, in 1827 by Catherine “Cate” McAuley, the first Sister of Mercy. Her name also is used at Catherine’s Closet, the clothing thrift shop that is one of the many assistance, education, and mentoring services provided to needy families by the organization.
— Bill Dowd, project coordinator
Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club 