Community Corner
East Marion Family Brings Warmth to the Holidays
The Warm Hands ... Warm Hearts hat-and-glove drive is underway.
A tragic accident in January 2010 inspired an East Marion family to organize a hat-and-glove drive to help give back to the community that gave so much to them when they were in need.
Heather Walker, her husband Eugene and their two children were visiting New York City to see The Titanic Exhibit when tragedy struck. Heather and her daughter Brittany, who was in third grade at the time, were hit and run over by a New York City taxi. While Brittany emerged from the incident okay, Heather sustained severe damage to her pelvis and her shoulder.
Walker has endured several surgeries since the accident and is to have one more surgery on her shoulder, and hopefully she will be finished.
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While she was in the hospital and recovering and was unable to be with her family, the North Fork community rallied behind her family.
“We received a lot of help from the community and by December of last year, we were both feeling fine and wanted to find a way to give back to the community,” she said.
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Finding just the right way to give back took some thought, she said, because at the end of the year people are always doing food drives and coat drives. Walker volunteers at John’s Place, the homeless shelter run out of St. Agnes Parish on Tuesday evenings.
“I noticed that no one had hats or gloves when they came in,” she said.
She came up with the idea of a hat-and-glove drive, which they named Warm Hands…..Warm Hearts. In the first year, she said they collected 240 sets of hats and gloves. Walker said that by keeping this campaign affordable, more people can help out.
“People can do this without a lot of added expense,” she said.
Although she anticipated the drop-off period to start on Dec. 1, she has already begun receiving donations for this year.
The adult-sized hats and gloves are given out at John’s Place and any items collected for children go to (CAST). She said used items can be dropped off now through Dec. 20 at the in Greenport, McMann Price Insurance Agency in Greenport, the Walker home in East Marion, or sent to Brittany at
For additional information, please contact Walker at heatherjcw@yahoo.com or call the family at 477-8456.
