Willie Renshaw’s Warm the Children, a charitable project that has provided new winter garments for children every year around Christmastime since 1995, is seeking donations for this year’s campaign. The Hopkinsville Kiwanis Club oversees the project and hopes to provide clothing for 250 children in Hopkinsville and Christian County.
“All the money goes toward the clothing,” said Nikki Chambers, who coordinates the annual effort with fellow Kiwanians Dustin Thompson and Mike Kissner.
That means no overhead at all, she told Hoptown Chronicle, and that is one of its key selling points to potential donors.
Local families who need assistance are selected every year to shop at a local store with volunteers. This year they will shop at the Hopkinsville Walmart Supercenter during the week of Nov. 28-Dec. 4.
Warm the Children was established by the Kentucky New Era and operated for years under the guidance of newspaper employee Willie Renshaw, who was also a Kiwanian. Today it is run entirely by the Hopkinsville Kiwanis Club with help from The Salvation Army and Family Resource Centers at local schools to identify families who need help buying clothes.
Renshaw, who died in June 2021, began training Chambers to take over as the lead coordinator a few year ago.
“Luckily for me, Mr. Willie Renshaw tried to pour everything he knew into me,” said Chambers.
After Renshaw died, the Kiwanis Club added his name to the program he helped create.
A member of Kiwnanis for four years, Chamber is the supervisor of the Moss Water Treatment Plant for the Hopkinsville Water Environment Authority. Her employer is the first corporate sponsor for the clothing charity.
Chambers said organizers have identified 120 children through the Family Resource Centers, 100 through The Salvation Army and about 30 through word of mouth. Kiwanians, other volunteers and high school students in Key Clubs will meet families at Walmart to shop for clothes. Each child may spend $80. Walmart provides a discount on the clothing.
For many participants, the clothing they receive through Warm the Children will be the biggest holiday gift, or the only gift, they receive, said Chambers.
Donations can be made online or mailed to Hopkinsville Kiwanis/Warm the Children, P.O. Box 470, Hopkinsville, KY 42241. On Nov. 26, the New Era will insert envelopes in its print edition that donors may use to send checks.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
