A group of dedicated Villages volunteers recently marked a successful decade of bringing warmth and joy to children in need at Christmas.
“We want to say a big thank you to everyone who donated this year,” said Judy Schober, publicity chair for the Girl Scout Alumnae Silver Trefoil Group’s Pajama and Book Drive. The group had set a goal of 6,000 pairs of pajamas and when the final count came in, the number of pajamas collected was 7,206. This includes the pajamas purchased with the cash donations.
This is the 10th year the group has sponsored this drive.
“Mikki Blumberg brought the idea to the group 10 years ago and we have been doing it ever since,” said Schober.
In the past nine years, not including this year’s donations, the group has collected 32,348 pajamas and more than 24,000 books.
This year close to 4,000 books were donated.
“We also want to thank The Villages Recreation Department for working with us,” said Schober. “The big red boxes that are our collection points for the pajamas and books are placed in every single recreation center.”
Schober expressed the group’s appreciation for the cash donations.
“It allows us to round out any needed sizes,” she said.
She said that that exceeding the goal was such a good thing this year because there are so many children in need in the tri-county area.
“There has been an influx of families moving to this area from the Panhandle following the hurricane and they can certainly use the pajamas,” Schober said.
Through the Marion County Public School Social Services and the Sumter County Children’s Alliance, the pajamas and books will be distributed to children in Marion, Sumter and Lake counties.
Pajamas are given to children living in homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters and group homes. They also are given to children living in the Ocala National Forest.
“We are just so grateful to everyone who donated,” said Schober. “We walked in The Villages Christmas Parade in our big red boxes as a way to say ‘thank you’ to everyone.”
