Wee Care Closet donates roughly 4,000 toys, clothing items in annual holiday drive

ELYRIA — On Monday evening, members of the Amherst high school soccer team and the Midview High School baseball team packed garbage bags stuffed with toys, coats and other donations into the back of a rented box truck. By the time they were done, the floor of the 26-foot box truck was nearly invisible, and the pile of bags at the back rose almost as tall as the boys who loaded it. As impressive as the haul was, it was only a fraction of the thousands of donations that Elyria nonprofit Wee Care Closet will donate to dozens of schools throughout Lorain County this week. Wee Care Closet was founded by Realtor Tammy Koleski of Elyria three years ago to formalize a toy and clothing drive that she had initially started on her own during the COVID-19 pandemic. Donations and participation have risen strikingly in the three years since, and this year Wee Care Closet will donate roughly 2,400 toys, 800 coats and hundreds more smaller clothing items and necessities to school districts in every corner of the county, which will then give them to students in need. "When you see the gravity of it, it is amazing," Koleski said. "We want to bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. There are so many children that just don't have what they need in every district across the county, so we are in every school district in the county, some private and parochial schools and even some preschools." Wee Care Closet collects and provides donations throughout the year, like the 750 backpacks stuffed with supplies it gave out in August, but Koleski said that the holiday season drive has become the biggest both in undertaking and in donations and assistance from the public. Teams and groups of young people from local schools are an important source of manpower for the drive, Koleski said, like the players who carried bags out of her office at the Howard Hanna on North Abbe Road. "We were glad to help out," Amherst soccer player Carter Boone said. "We are just spreading the Christmas cheer to those who are less fortunate." More items were taken out of Koleski's car for the donation, but all of it was just a portion of the thousands of items the nonprofit will hand out this week and beyond. Koleski said that at one time every room of her home, with the exception of her bedroom and the kitchen, had been filled with bags bound for donation. As the sheer number became increasingly unwieldy to keep at home, Koleski has found other organizations willing to donate space for storage, like the First Congregational Church in Elyria, where an entire room is full of future donations. While Koleski coordinates the fundraising and distributions, her sister Pam Richards of Wooster purchases the vast majority of the items that Wee Care donates. "She is my secret shopper," Koleski said. "She does about 90 to 95 percent of the shopping we do, but we don't pay full price for anything if we can help it." Koleski touted her sister's ability to find incredible discounts as a major reason that Wee Care to donate the amount of items it does. She also specifically credited her friend Leslie Szalowski along with thanking all of her friends who help with the closet throughout the year. Also crucial to the work that Wee Care does are its district partners and the individual school faculty in each district who tell Koleski what their students need and then take on the role of distributors at the school. "We don't care how they distribute it," she said. "... They are the ones seeing the kids and the parents, they know who needs what. I've had grown men and women with tears running down their faces when I walk in, because they already know who is in need and we are bringing it to them at no cost. I always say teachers are underpaid and there is a lot put on them, they were all buying all these things or as a kid needs it. We are trying to fill that gap in and not have that burden put on them." After a year of preparation and fundraising, on Monday Koleski and her volunteers began their odyssey across Lorain County to drop off donations at every district, a process Koleski said would take three days. One district that received donations on Tuesday was Oberlin Schools, which thanked Wee Care volunteers in a news release for its annual commitment to ensuring students have an enjoyable, and warm, holiday season. "Ms. Koleski and her team always come through for us, and the kindness shown warms the hearts of our students in more ways than one," said Oberlin Director of Student, Family and Staff Support Jay Nimene in the release. "It's much appreciated." Koleski said that to her and those who help her, knowing that kids will have both toys and necessities they otherwise would not receive was appreciation enough. I'll take these (donations) to some of the schools and the nurse or a teacher will walk by and go, 'When I grow up I want to be you.' (They say) 'I love what you're doing.' And my heart just explodes, because anybody can do it, it's a matter of just doing it." To make a donation, contact Koleski at (440) 935-4910 or on Facebook at facebook.com/weecarecloset. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.