Westover Student Organizing Children's Gift Sale in December

This season, Sarah Cavallaro, a junior at Westover School from Middlebury, is helping young children in the community find affordable presents for family members and friends.

Cavallaro is organizing the Kid’s Winter Season Sale, which will be held on Sunday, Dec. 6, from noon to 4 p.m. in Westover’s Fuller Athletic Center, 1237 Whittemore Rd.

Children who come to the sale may purchase up to 10 items, each selling for $1. Cavallaro will then donate the proceeds from the sale to Safe Haven of Greater Waterbury, which supports victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Cavallaro has been organizing the Kids’ Winter Season Sale as an independent community service project. She is basing the project on a program that was organized by the late Karen Kemp, Cavallaro’s former guidance counselor at Middlebury Elementary School.

The sale is an opportunity for Middlebury area children from kindergarten through fifth grade “to be able to purchase inexpensive gifts for loved ones in this busy winter season,” said Maggie Nuñez-Fernandez, a Westover faculty member who is coordinating the School’s Community Service program this year with her colleague Christopher Sweeney. They have been providing guidance and support to Cavallaro in organizing the event.

Cavallaro is currently collecting donated items – candles, books, toys, tools, jewelry, wrapping paper, and other items — from faculty, staff, students and their families, as well as donations from members of the Middlebury community.

In addition to a selection of gift items, Cavallaro said, there will also be a wrapping station and a bake sale featuring gluten-free items at the December 6 event. She also hopes to have a jewelry-making booth at the event where children can create their own hand-made gifts as a purchased gift item option.

Cavallaro has recruited volunteers to staff the event from among her fellow Westover students and from the members of a Middlebury Girl Scout troop.

Anyone wishing to donate new or gently used items for the sale can bring them to Westover’s Red Hall from now until Friday, Dec. 4.