“As a child, I was raised by a single mom most of my life and it was tough having one parent who did all the income for the family. I was about 6 or 7 years old when she took part in the Snowsuit Foundation to get me a snowsuit to play outside with the other kids. That’s when I got introduced to this great, amazing charity, and that’s why I hold it dear to my heart. You guys gave me a snowsuit when I was a child and made me feel like a have versus feeling like a have-not.
I do remember showing up there with my mom and the staff being very amazing to us. I wasn’t too sure where I was going as a kid, I just thought it was a store, so it was cool they made me feel like I wasn’t going to a charity per se. They were very welcoming. I think it was a green snowsuit that I got and I wore it a good number of times. I played outside frequently with it and it was an amazing experience as a child to have.
The community I come from is like a lower-income cooperative housing, so we were about 5 to 6 kids that all took part in the Snowsuit Foundation.
At the time I was able to have a choice. They gave me two and as a kid I liked green so I chose the green one. The other kids in the neighborhood all got different ones because they didn’t want us to feel like we all looked the same. So it was great that we were able to get different models and colors of snowsuits because as a child, you want to stand out and not look like the rest of the kids. It was great that we had the opportunity to choose different models, sizes and colors of snowsuits for our needs.
From 5 to 8; those were the years that I took part in the program and was able to get snowsuits.
Back in the late 90s, temperatures were a little bit colder and there was a little bit more snow than nowadays, so it was very important to keep the child warm during that period of time.
Every parent struggles with children always outgrowing their clothes. Parents are always coming into the stores trying to get a snowsuit, but the one they bought last year doesn’t work. I just want people to think instead of going to the marketplace and selling it yourself and having the profit to yourself, think about donating to charities. Now with COVID, there are a lot of families out there who are struggling and need help with any type of snow equipment.”