To the editor:

Thanks are extended to many residents and organizations in the Town Of Newbury who made the children's clothing drive held at the Newbury Town Library a success. The clothing went to Cradles to Crayons, a children's service agency in Quincy that distributes donated items to families in need across the state of Massachusetts.

The Rev. Meredith Brown and the Community United Methodist Church in Byfield started accepting donations before the library did. Many families dropped off donations in the meeting room of the library, and on Friday morning women from the library community came in to start the sorting. Amy Tardy, Lauren Carr, Tammy Cotter, Debbie Pike, Patti Olson, Monica Burgess and her daughters, Ania and Kyana, helped organize the many bags of children's clothing.

Thanks also go to Triton Regional High School students who assisted in the clothing drive and the faculty who helped to get them to us. Kathy Norton, National Honor Society adviser, and Andrea Sargent, Community Service adviser, made arrangements for students to come by on a Saturday morning and help us out. Maggie Pratt, Sommer Spillaine, Jenna Norton, Jillian Gallagher and Lindsay Dube came to the library and helped to sort through stacks of children's clothing donations. Many of the students still had sporting events to participate in the afternoon, so we really appreciated them taking time in the morning to help.

Donations were organized by gender, size and season, and because we did the initial sorting here at the library, the clothing was available for distribution immediately when it arrived at their warehouse. Cradles to Crayons had 1,000 requests for warm fall and winter clothing for needy children in the previous week. The packages that eventually leave the Cradles to Crayons facility are very individualized, as workers fill requests for specific children.

Christine McCall and Melanie Collins from Cradles to Crayons made the process so easy, and they very happily headed to Quincy with much-needed donations. Visit the Cradles to Crayons Web site at www.cradlestocrayons.org. Feel free to call me at the library at 978-465-0539 for any information about working with this organization. There are all sorts of options for volunteer opportunities for community service groups and individuals.

Thanks to library director Jen Brown, the Board of Trustees and, of course, the library staff for their support in this endeavor.

Special thanks go to Victor Tine and The Daily News for sharing information about this effort.

Laurie Collins

Children's Librarian

Newbury Town Library