December 7, 2020 by Carol Britton Meyer
Thanks to generous donations from the community raised by the South Shore Special Needs Athletic Partnership (SNAP), more than 50 gift bags were distributed to veterans or their widows in Hingham, Hull, and Cohasset last weekend.
This was the fifth year that local volunteers filled gift bags for veterans housed at the New England Center & Home for Veterans in Boston, and the fourth for including local veterans.
This year SNAP got involved. "We could only run a limited number of programs in the fall [due to COVID-19] and nothing this winter, so we decided to sponsor the veterans' gift bag project for 2020 and make it a community service project," SNAP treasurer and founding board member Tom Hoffman told the Hingham Anchor. "We also asked the Hingham High School and Notre Dame Veterans Appreciation Clubs to participate, since some of those students already mentor SNAP participants."
Seven young people from SNAP and their parents were joined by members of both clubs to help fill more than 160 gift bags (donated by Stop & Shop).
"SNAP raised more than $10,000 from donors to fill the bags with gloves, hats, warm socks, hand warmers, personal care products, and snacks," Hoffman said. The owners of the Dunkin' on Rte. 3 near the Hingham Shipyard donated 160 gift cards.
Town Administrator Tom Mayo and Assistant Town Administrator Michele Monsegur made arrangements for the volunteers to use the vacant former Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant garage on Cushing Street for the assembly process.
All of the products were delivered in a U-Haul truck, and then the assembled bags were reloaded into the truck for delivery to Boston, at a discounted cost.
The project started five years ago when Hoffman and his wife, Debbie, raised money for gift bags to distribute at the NECHV -- where they both volunteered -- and worked with BJ's to purchase the items at wholesale cost. Hingham resident Andrew McCawley is NECHV president and chief executive officer.
Assisted by a group of Hingham Youth Football players, the bags were assembled in the Hoffmans' home the first year.
The second year the project took on new meaning when Hoffman learned from Hingham Veterans' Services Officer Keith Jermyn that at that time there were 30 veterans and veterans' widows living below the poverty level in Hingham. After hearing this sobering fact, those folks were included in subsequent years, eventually expanding to include Hull and Cohasset veterans.
The leftover donations from the SNAP fundraiser will be donated to the Hingham assistance fund for veterans.