Au Pairs in Rye help out at Sharing Shelf

Caring Au Pairs Learn About The Sharing Shelf

“The best way to learn more about one of Westchester’s most vital volunteer programs is by rolling up your sleeves and helping out” note Birgitte Stoerger and Barbara Brown, Area Directors for the national au pair placement service AuPairCare.  “Birgitte’s daughter Caroline elected to work with The Sharing Shelf and its director, Deborah Blatt for her Girl Scout Gold Award project.  It proved to be such a rewarding event that we wanted to share the amazing things they do with the au pairs in Westchester.”
 


The Sharing Shelf of Family Services of Westchester collects, sorts, cleans, and then packages a week’s worth of new and gently used clothing for needy children in Westchester, from infants through teenagers.  The process of sorting the clothing requires lots of bodies and time.  So on April 7, 2014, Birgitte and Barbara and their army of 35 au pairs headed up to Port Chester and The Sharing Shelf for a volunteer session that lasted over two hours.
“The children we care for have lots of different clothes, but other kids in the area aren’t as lucky.” notes au pair Vladica from Serbia.  “I think it’s important to help provide these children with clothes which are still in a very good condition.”
 
The team from AuPairCare really made a dent in the piles and piles of donated clothing.  One host family and their 5-year old daughter asked for diapers as gifts for the child’s birthday party, which they donated to the Sharing Shelf.  Stoerger and Brown point out that: “The work of The Sharing Shelf is ongoing and they are always looking for volunteers.  We are thrilled that some of the girls have decided to make this more than just a one-time event. Matilda from Sweden added  “In my opinion it is a great opportunity to help out and to do something good for the Westchester community. Since we take care of kids, we know how important clothes are for them.” 


To setup your own volunteering session or if you are interested in donating clothing, you can contact The Sharing Shelf via http://www.fsw.org/our-programs/the-sharing-shelf.  For more information on AuPairCare, please email BStoerger@aupaircare.com and Barbara Brown at bbrown@aupaircare.com