GREENBRIER COUNTY W.Va. (WVDN) – Children’s Home Society of West Virginia is preparing to kick off its annual statewide fundraiser, the Little Red Stocking campaign. Typically, Little Red Stockings are sold in convenience stores and small businesses, where they are proudly displayed as a way of showing the community’s support of the children and families Children’s Home Society of West Virginia works with every day.
The Little Red Stocking campaign got its start from a tradition dating back to the 1800s when children would save their pennies all year long and put them in socks. Then, just before Christmas, they would take them to local schools. The principals would then take the coin-filled socks to nearby orphanages with the purpose of helping children without families for the holiday. This heartfelt giving provided children with a new coat, hat, gloves and a new toy. The children at the orphanage would be able to wake up on Christmas morning and see that they had not been forgotten.
Over the past several years, the Little Red Stocking campaign has been one of Children’s Home Society’s largest fundraisers. Last year, the Little Red Stocking campaign assisted over 5,133 children and families during the holidays statewide while the Lewisburg Site provided Christmas for over 130 local children. All the funds raised locally remain in the community to help provide services for the children and families served from the Lewisburg Site.
Programs include the emergency child shelter in Rupert, which provides a safe living environment for up to 14 children, ages 7-18. The Lewisburg site also has a foster care and adoption program that serves children and families in Greenbrier, Summers, Monroe and Pocahontas counties, an Independent Living program for young adults who have aged out of foster care, a Building Better Communities Closet designed to help anyone in the community in need and participates in the local Healthy Grandfamilies program. The funds raised during the campaign help ensure that children have safe car seats and cribs, winter coats, shoes, clothing, school supplies and other items necessary for their well-being. These funds are also used to ensure all children in the community enjoy gifts on Christmas.
Children’s Home Society is always welcoming new businesses to participate in The Little Red Stocking campaign and is always looking for community members to sponsor children for Christmas. For more information, please feel free to call 304-647-3430 or email Mary Carr, Site Manager, at MCarr@childhswv.org.
