Scarsdale Friends Bring Holiday Warmth to Those Without Homes

by Susan Weisfeld
Scarsdale Meeting

January 1, 2025, Westchester County NY — Scarsdale Friends Meeting’s annual Shelter Project was completed just before the Christmas holiday with almost 400 packages delivered to men, women and children living in shelters or to those who regularly come to shelters for meals and overnight beds. The shelters are in White Plains, Yonkers and one in Manhattan.

The distributed packages include warm hats, gloves, scarves and socks as well as appropriate toiletries, tooth brushes, nail files for the women, small toys and anti-anxiety tactile items for the children, and rain ponchos and hand warmers for those who spend much time on the street.

While this is a uniquely Quaker project, it is also an outreach to others in the community, and involves many people who give time, money and a great deal of love. The project begins with a fund-raising meal at the Scarsdale Meetinghouse, and is supported by individual contributions and generous grants from NYYM committees and the Scarsdale-Hartsdale Interfaith Women’s Council. Items are also donated via an Amazon wish list from people throughout the country. One former Yonkers resident now living in Vienna sent string backpacks for the younger children and a number of people in Florida joined together to collect toiletry cases for the women in the Samaritan House shelter in White Plains.

Packing takes several weeks because there are so many different recipients. Scarsdale Meeting’s children traditionally begin the process by sorting items and placing them into appropriate string bags for the children at the Passage of Hope shelter in Yonkers. Days later the main packing begins at one Friend’s living room where many join for hours with joyous camaraderie and a bit of confusion — then, despite pandemonium and an overwhelming amount of items, it all results in wonderful individual packages for all. When all is done, and the packages are placed into huge boxes and enormous carry bags, and then they are delivered with the help of neighbors and friends — so those without permanent homes and families have a special Christmas gift to be enjoyed and used for the cold months ahead.

This is the twelfth year that Scarsdale Meeting has coordinated this project, and it seems to grow each year. In February it is planned to continue with needed underwear to the men at Open Arms, tee shirts to the teens at Passage of Hope, and linens to the women of Samaritan House.

Scarsdale Meeting is the only organization that every year gives individual packages to every resident in those shelters served by the project, and planning has already begun on how the meeting will make the project a bit more efficient next year. The Amazon wish list will be available by October 15 for anyone who wishes to participate.

The true message of the holidays is not about gifts, it is about giving and sharing. When the items were delivered, one Friend said that “by connecting to people we don’t know, and sharing with people who have need, Scarsdale Friends feel they have found a special way to bring this season of Light to many, and this also brings love and Light to us all who participate.”