Featured Volunteer: Carlean Gharpury

“We moved to the Coastside from New Jersey approximately 9 years ago.  At the time I was a stay at home Mom and was looking for volunteer work to fill some of my time.  I found out about Coastside Hope during The Adopt-A-Family program the first winter I was here.  My daughter was a student at Sea Crest School and each class adopted a family.  While I was happy to shop for Christmas needs I wondered about the other eleven months of the year when these families did not get support.  What were some gifts that would meet their needs during the other months of the year?

Cristy Conklin and Tricia Dell approached me about an idea they had. What if we found families that wanted to adopt a family for the whole year and supply them with basic needs like laundry detergent, toilet paper, personal care items and cleaning supplies on a monthly basis?

Could we find families that would be willing to spend between $35 – $50 a month, shop for their family on a monthly basis and deliver their supplies to Coastside Hope by the third Thursday of the month so they could be handed out along with the monthly food delivery?  Out of this conversation a program called Special Delivery was born.

I signed up immediately and have been participating in the program ever since.  My husband, daughter and myself sponsor 3 families a month.  I also allow our house to be a drop-off point HMB and deliver somewhere between 5 – 7 other families contributions to Coastside Hope each month.

What I have learned is that most of the families that receive our help work at least one job and more than likely two.  They are most grateful for the help we supply.  We also have many families that ask how they can get Special Delivery packages.  I would encourage any of you reading this that would like to participate to contact Coastside Hope.  They will assign you a family, give you a list of items the family needs and for a little money and some time you too can make a major difference in someone’s life.

I am working now, so I don’t have as much time to volunteer.  If you want to spend a productive afternoon, head up to the harbour on the 3rd Thursday of the month and help with the food distribution.  Extra hands are always welcome.  Contact Coastside Hope for directions and times.”