D.W. Diner, Patrons Brighten Holidays at Children's Home

The holidays for the kids living at the Nashua Children's Home just got quite a bit brighter, thanks to the generosity of the staff and patron's at the D.W. Diner.

On Friday evening, D.W. Diner owner Peter Yeanacopolis, with his daughter and dining room manager Danielle Magee and waitresses Karen Clancy and Lynn Theberge, made a very special delivery in the form of more than $5,000 worth of presents for the children and teens who are living at the group home.

“All of this is the result of a raffle for a TV? All this?” asked Nashua Children's Home Business Manager Lori Wilshire, an air of excitement in her voice. “That's amazing.”

Wilshire asked where they hid the U-Haul as the diner team with the help of Children's Home staff carried in bag after bag of freshly purchased gifts.

Yeanacopolis said the project was spearheaded by waitress Karen Clancy and the dining room staff and they were amazed at what they were able to do. When they set out to raise money for the children's home through a raffle for a 42-inch smart TV, they never expected to raise $5,260.

“They spent every dime,” Yeanacopolis said. “And it wasn't easy. They kept calling me saying 'We have too much money,' and I said 'Keep shopping.'”

Clancy, Lynn Theberge and Danielle Magee spent more than nine hours on Wednesday and Thursday last week filling shopping carts with presents trying to hit the items on a list Wilshire gave them of some of the needs at the home – things like sweatshirts, socks and blankets. They ended up coming through with a lot more, however, including two Xbox 360s, two Nintendo Wiis, games, both electronic and board games, a train set and more.

Also on the list of donated gifts were Nike and Under Armour sweatshirts and duffle bags, sheet sets and blankets, socks, water bottles and more.

“It was awesome, it was such a blast,” Clancy said of their shopping experience.

The savvy shoppers were able to stretch their dollars even further by shopping with some companies that gave them discounts for their efforts.

Dick's Sporting Goods came through for them in a major way, Clancy said. Between sales and a store discount they purchased $2,800 worth of merchandise for $1,300.

“That was huge,” Clancy said.

They also received a discount at Walmart and Target and shopped at The Pawn Guys in Derry, where Yeanacopolis is friends with the owners.

Though this isn't the first time the diner has set out to raise money for a charity, Yeanacopolis said, it is the largest response they've seen. They've held 50/50 raffles for for Meals on Wheels and as breast cancer awareness fundraisers, but this was unique.

“It's for the kids and it's Christmas, so it fits,” Yeanacopolis said of the decision to have the money benefit Nashua Children's Home.

Wilshire, who sees the struggles the children living at the children's home go through on a daily basis was overwhelmed by it all.

“No, we don't have things like this happen a lot,” Wilshire said after giving a tour of the grounds at the Amherst Street facility.

“There are times that that community comes together for us, and we're very grateful, but this doesn't happen often. We're so grateful. There's no money in our budget for Christmas presents.”

Children who live at the Nashua Children's home are there for any period of time from a few weeks, to a few months to a few years. The Nashua Children's Home has been a part of Nashua for 109 years, 90 of which its main facility has been at the Amherst Street location. In addition to housing children between the ages of 17 and 18 there, there is also a house for adolescent-aged girls on Concord Street and a couple of houses the provide transitional housing for young adults 18-20 who pay a nominal rent to live their under the guidance of the staff. Most of the transitional housing renters are kids who “aged out” of the system but still need some support.

The Amherst Street location, in addition to serving as the primary boarding house, with separate boys and girls dormitories broken down into to age groups, is also home to their kitchen, the school for children who cannot thrive in a traditional classroom setting, a gym, playground, basketball court, baseball field and more.

Wilshire said over the last several years, budgets at the nonprofit have been trimmed tighter and tighter, and kids who don't have a home to visit for Christmas usually end up spending the day together, but it's not the happiest of days for them.

“This is the most emotional month here,” Wilshire said, again expressing her deep gratitude for the generous donation made by the D.W. Diner staff and customers. “We try to make it as homelike as we can. Thanks to you and you and you, this year that's easier.”

Wilshire said the kids will be so excited to see Nike and Under Armour gifts, mainly because they never are able to purchase name brand clothes that they see their classmates wearing at school. A $200 shopping budget per child at the beginning of the school year has to get them everything they need, so a $70 sweatshirt doesn't fit the budget.

“You'll have to tell us how happy they were on Christmas morning,” Theberge said.

None of this would have been possible, Clancy said, without the support of the public, who bought the raffle tickets. And congratulations go to Merrimack resident Doug Mellin who won the TV.

“The turnout was so good, we changed our goal three times,” Clancy said, and they ultimately still surpassed the third goal of $5,000.

It was a community affair that has led to a merrier Christmas for some of the area's displaced children.

“The customers are the ones who did this,” Theberge said. “We couldn't have done it without them.”