Readers are invited to join local schoolchildren, Women Involved in Newtown (WIN) and Newtown Human Services Department for the annual Thanksgiving Basket Program.

With person-to-person contact still being handled cautiously, WIN has collection bins set up in schools, churches, and Newtown Community Center to help individuals, couples, and families. More than 80 households are being assisted through the annual outreach this year.

“Middle Gate School has adopted 25 families, and Sandy Hook School is doing a food drive that will go to the food pantry,” WIN Co-President Mandy Monaco said October 19. “A few churches have also adopted families.”

Newtown Community Center is hosting a public collection location. The public is welcome to drop off donations any time the center, at 8 Simpson Street, is open: Monday through Thursday, 6 am to 9 pm; Friday, 6 am to 8 pm; Saturday, 7 am to 5:30 pm; and Sunday, 7 am to 5 pm. Donations will be accepted at that location through Friday, November 18.

WIN will donate turkeys, Monaco said. She and other members of the club are requesting donations of nonperishable items, cleaning products, personal hygiene items, paper goods, and similar items.

Until 2019, the Friday before Thanksgiving was spent collecting and sorting thousands of donations in the hall of Newtown United Methodist Church. Boxes were filled with a turkey and full Thanksgiving dinner provisions, along with the same items being requested this month.

Working with the Town’s Social Services department (now Human Services), which kept the names of the households confidential, those receiving the donations would drive to the church parking lot to pick up their holiday collections.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, that type of gathering and person-to-person activity stopped. For the past two years, WIN had sponsors deliver the items directly to the recipient families instead of gathering everything in one place and having families pick items up.

Human Services has reached out to each recipient family to make sure they are comfortable with this plan. Recipient families will again have the option of picking their items up at Social Services if they prefer.

Groups, organizations, businesses, and clubs interested in adopting a family are invited to contact WIN Co-President Mandy Monaco as soon as possible for details. She can be reached at 203-426-5600. Additional questions about the WIN Thanksgiving Basket Program can also be directed to her at that phone number.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.