On Saturday, October 1, the Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS) held its third annual "Caring and Sharing" fundraising event. At the event, WATTS unveiled its new logo and mission statement. Their mission is to break the cycle of homelessness one life at a time. WATTS was established in 2009, and one of the services it offers is overnight shelter from November through March each year at various locations around the community.

SVWC has partnered with WATTS since those early days by providing and laundering the bedding for their guests. Before Covid, residents assisted staff with picking up the linens from the various shelters and delivering clean linens each week. Our laundry staff would wash, fold, and pack them each week. As a result, thousands and thousands of pounds were laundered during a WATTS season. When Covid hit, SVWC started providing a monetary donation to cover the costs of having the linens laundered at a local business.

At the event, SVWC was honored as the WATTS "2022 Community Partner of the Year," to our surprise and delight. There to accept the award on behalf of SVWC were John Ferrulli (Information Technology) and his wife, Karla, Chuck and Sally Walters (residents), Mary Kerns (Laundry) and her husband, Randy, and Jeannie Shiley (President and CEO). It has been extremely rewarding to be a part of the noble efforts of WATTS to assist those less fortunate in our area.

‍

‍