Left: Taylor Buffa, 9, a student at Plumsted Elementary School, gives a presentation on Lakewood’s Tent City to students at Allentown High School as part of her “Sock It To ‘Em” sock drive to benefit the homeless at Tent City. Allentown High School students help to carry socks donated by the school for Taylor (center), 9, after her presentation. PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff The residents at Tent City in Lakewood are going to receive a heartwarming — and foot-warming — gift this holiday season, thanks to 9-year-old Taylor Buffa.
“It makes me feel happy that not only will they feel warm on the outside, but I hope it will also make them feel warm on the inside,” Taylor, a student at Plumsted Elementary School, said.
When Taylor visited the makeshift homeless community known as Tent City, seeing people without any real place to call home made her want to do something to help. Now, thanks to her efforts and the generosity of the Upper Freehold Regional School District (UFRSD) and others, she will soon be able to present the people there with pairs of warm, woolen socks.
It all started with a trip to Tent City Taylor took with her grandfather Dominick Russo, who along with her grandmother Lori Russo, a teacher at Allentown High School, often visits there to make donations to the homeless community.
“I went there and my mind went blank,” Taylor said. “It was so sad.”
While there, she talked with Reverend Steven Brigham, the head of the community. He told her about how the community runs, and said the biggest needs for residents there with winter coming would be socks, gloves and fire starters, she said.
When Taylor’s enrichment class called for community service projects a few weeks ago, helping the people of Tent City seemed like it fit, hand-in-glove — or footin sock.
“I thought of Tent City immediately, because my grandmother and grandfather are always going there to donate,” she said.
Sock It to ’Em was born. Taylor took money from her own savings and purchased wool socks wholesale online for $5 per two-pack. From there, she began soliciting donations with a goal of being able to donate 100 pairs of socks to Tent City residents. She created a PowerPoint presentation about Tent City and the need there, and sent a letter outlining the project to her school’s principal, who forwarded it on to the entire staff there.
Lori Russo quickly jumped on board, sending a letter out to all staff at Allentown High School.
“We’re always giving to the community,” Russo said of the school and district as a whole, adding, “[Taylor] is really touched. She is excited. I thought it was so sweet that she went out of her way. She did this on her own.”
Within days, Taylor was close to reaching her goal. As of the last tally, she had well exceeded it, with 257 pairs of socks.
More than half of that amount came from the UFRSD, Russo said. Family, friends and local businesses made up the rest.
“I can’t believe the response we’ve gotten,” she said. “It is a very generous district.”
Because of the outpouring of support for the sock drive, Taylor expects to have more than enough to fill the need there and donate the remaining pairs to homeless shelters in New Brunswick and Trenton.
Two classes at Taylor’s school are making Christmas cards for Tent City residents to accompany the socks.
Dominick was scheduled to again accompany Taylor to Tent City Wednesday to deliver the socks and cards. Lori Russo, however, may not make the trip.
“I can’t even go there anymore,” she said. “It’s very painful.”
Established in woods near Cedar BridgeAvenue and S. Clover Street in 2005 by a small group of people with nowhere else to go, Tent City has faced opposition from the township over the years. Last month, about 200 people marched from Tent City to the township’s municipal plaza to raise awareness of the approximately 70 residents there and ask for help.
For more information about Tent City, visit http://tentcitynj.org. To make a donation to Sock It to ’Em, contact Lori Russo at [email protected].