Carson City community donates 159 winter coats for kids as part of Carson Nugget fundraiser
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Tue, 12/24/2019 - 12:05pm
The Carson Nugget and Food For Thought, a Carson city nonprofit that is dedicated to feeding children in need, teamed up this fall and launched a winter coat drive that culminated Monday where dozens of children were able to pick their new jackets and parkas and enjoy a holiday brunch among friends and family.
Donations from the Carson City community made the drive a success as 159 coats were collected for Carson City school children identified as being in transition.
Dozens of children and their families and guests enjoyed the holiday experience in the upstairs of the Carson Nugget, with children receiving their parkas, a gift and a special holiday brunch, thanks to Food for Thought and the generosity of the Carson City Nugget Casino Hotel.
Based on the premise that every kid should be able to enjoy Christmas with a gift, a hot meal and a winter jacket, the Kids Brunch was organized by Traci DiLullo, wife of Nugget owner Dean DiLullo, and Marlene Maffei, executive director for Food for Thought.
"We have a heart for the children in our community so when we learned there was a huge need for them in Carson City, we wanted to be a part of it," said Traci DiLullo.
Among the recipients of a new parka is Austin Hernandez, 14, who, as a bonus, dazzled volunteers and guests with his amazing piano playing skills.
The Carson High School student and self-taught piano player, picked out the coat himself, saying he liked the color and style. His Mom, Kathryn, offered her thanks to Food For Thought and the gifts for her son, who said he began playing piano at age 5 and picked it up on his own.
"You do so much for the community and are all so loving, thank you," said Kathryn Hernandez, addressing the volunteers and staff of Carson Nugget and Food for Thought.
The coat drive opened in October. By the week before Christmas, Maffei said they were down to needing 26 more coats to cover each of the children’s needs.
Dirk Roper, owner of Carson City’s Roper’s Heating and Air Conditioning, and his executive assistant, Amanda Scramlin, spent a couple of hours scouring local stores to come up with the missing coats.
“We cleaned them out,” Roper said. “When it came to our attention that there were still kids needing coats, we knew we had to help out. We spend our days making people warm and comfortable, and we would not be happy knowing we didn’t get them all. We really appreciate the support of our customers and coworkers that allow us to participate in programs like this.”
Maffei said this is the first year Food for Thought has done the coat drive and the party.
“When the Nugget reached out to us and said they wanted to work with us, we were thrilled,” she said. “It’s a wonderful way to show the community’s support for our kids.”
Throughout the year, Food for Thought provides shelf-stable, non-perishable food items each weekend for more than 300 local children. Supplies are packed up on Wednesdays and the school district picks up the packaged items and distributes them to each Carson City school in the program.
“Each bag of food provides healthy proteins, fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates,” she said. “For many of our children in transition, the last meal they’ll get for the week will be Friday lunch at school until breakfast at school on Monday. These packages sustain them through the weekend.”
Maffei said Food for Thought is currently doing their annual fund drive and the organization is seeking funding for next year’s food program.
“For $5 per week, or $250 a year, a student will be provided food packages for the entire year,” she said. “We also have a list of approved food items we can accept on our website.”
For more information, visit www.nvfoodforthought.org, or call (775) 885-7770.
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