An “06880” reader writes:
Like many Westport residents, my family donates to many charities — everything from cancer research to United Way.
In the past, we have given school supplies to the Bridgeport and Norwalk districts.
This year I decided to donate school supplies closer to home: Westport.
I posted on Facebook’s Westport Front Porch page. I knew that was risky, because comments there take strange twists and turns.
Every student needs a backpack.
But I asked if anyone had information for someone from the school district I could contact, to determine the needs before I purchased the items.
It took all of 10 minutes for the comments to start.
The first was a helpful one, about the Westport Domestic Violence Task Force collection of school items for families that are victims of abuse.
While I thought this was a worthwhile cause, and said I was more than willing to donate to it as well, I still wanted to donate supplies to the town.
That was met with comments saying I was misguided, and no one in Westport is in need of help.
I started to respond to the naivete of that statement. Four percent of the town lives below the poverty line. But I decided to delete both my response and the entire post, to avoid any more comments.
Our children had friends who went to school here. Their families struggled with decisions like whether to pay for school supplies or other bills. They chose to live in Westport to provide an exceptional education for their children.
They did this despite knowing it may cause issues for their children based on where they live, in what, sadly, some would call “undesirable” areas of Westport.
I reached out to a friend on a town board, who directed me to the Department of Human Services. I spoke to youth and family specialist Annette D’Augelli.
She confirmed what I already suspected: Many families here need help. She said that the town gives out gift cards and donated school supplies each August to help these families.
It astounds me that some residents are so naive that they do not understand that many families struggle. No one knows what their neighbors may be going through.
I think it is important to not only call out the good work that the town does on behalf of the less fortunate families in the town, but to remind everyone that we have residents who may need help.
Treating your neighbors with understanding, acceptance and kindness will always be important.
(Westport’s Department of Human Services is collecting school supplies of all types — backpacks, notebooks, pens, pencils, highlighters, crayons, lunch boxes, 3×3 sticky note pads, 3-ring binders, graphing calculators — along with Walmart gift cards. They can be dropped off in Room 200 at Town Hall.
(Donations can also be made online. Click here; scroll down, then click on the blue box “Family to Family.” That brings you to the donation page, where you select the fund (Family to Family) and seasonal program (Back to School).
(Questions? Contact Annette D’Augelli: 203-341-1050.)
