Retirees from the Millville Board of Education normally gather once a month for lunch and at the December luncheon, rather than have a gift exchange, donations are made to a community benefit. Due to the pandemic, things have NOT been normal during the past year, such as these monthly gatherings. The Millville Woman’s Club has been in a similar situation with monthly luncheon meetings being cancelled, but the giving spirit has remained very much alive. Many of the Woman’s Club members are retired from the Millville Board of Education so retirees were invited to use the Club’s parking lot to gather their gifts.

Barbara Westog, Millville Woman’s Club, and Walda Passaro, Millville Board of Education retiree, worked together to establish date and time. Barbara suggested giving to the Cumberland County Shelter for the Homeless and Code Blue so contacts were made with these organizations to obtain lists of priority needs. Walda alerted retirees to date, time and lists of needed items and on December 16, cars filled the Woman’s Club parking lot as people brought their generous donations.

Due to COVID, all items were new. Contributions including pillows and pillowcases, towels, body wash, shampoo and more were delivered to the Cumberland County Shelter for the Homeless. Donations were also made to Code Blue and these included underwear, snack packs, other non-perishable food items and more. It was a good opportunity to work together for the benefit of our community.