Annual Initiatives
Helping kids thrive in every season
Ready for Learning
Whether schooling takes place in the classroom among peers, in scheduled virtual lessons, or somewhere in between, kids will always need supplies to feel empowered and ready to learn.
In Massachusetts, 1 in 3 children in Massachusetts is at risk of experiencing Clothing Insecurity, and many of these children also lack the tools they need to translate their knowledge and creativity into confidence and academic success.
Our Ready for Learning initiative ensures that thousands of children will have everything they need to feel ready to learn by distributing critical items – like backpacks and school supplies – through our network of Service Partners.
Gear Up for Winter
Remember the glory of wintertime as a kid? Bundling up to build a snowman. Wishing for days off from school. Crunching snow mounds with your boots. For families in need, however, a Massachusetts winter can be debilitating. No child should have to wait at the bus stop in below-freezing temperatures without warm clothing.
Our Gear Up for Winter program supplies warm winter gear to children whose families struggle just to stay warm. This program includes our signature volunteer event, the annual Un-Gala®, which helps to prepare kids for winter before it becomes an emergency.
Spring Greening
Children grow throughout the year — in every season. For families who struggle to make ends meet, it can be hard to keep up with these growth spurts.
Our Spring Greening initiative gives a second life to the new and nearly new clothing and goods tucked away in your kids’ closets and drawers by placing them in the hands of families and children who truly need them. The environment benefits as well because we are keeping perfectly usable goods out of already crowded landfills.
Gear Up for Baby
Imagine you’re a new mom, dad, or caregiver who’s living paycheck to paycheck. Diapers for one baby alone, which can’t be bought with governmental aid, will cost you $80 a month.* And without diapers, you can’t drop your baby off at daycare. That’s why many cash-strapped caregivers make the choice to quit work or school, often passing on the cycle of poverty to the babies they dearly love.
Our year-long Gear Up for Baby initiative, presented by Cuties, collects and distributes basic essentials for parents and their babies. Our items include diapers, blankets, bibs, soap, and more. Our goal is to enable babies and toddlers to have a better quality of life and to help their caregivers breathe a little easier as well.
* www.nationaldiaperbanknetwork.org