For nearly 22 years, Stacey Moore has presided over Millerton’s Moore & More Printing. But in between fulfilling requests for copies, the Valley native works to brighten the lives of local children as leader of the Millerton’s Adopt-A-Family chapter, a part of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.
What started as a way to assist the town’s Astor Head Start program has evolved into a robust nonprofit that actively supplies new clothing and toys for children and teens in need.
“There might have been fewer than 50 children when we first started,” says Moore, who runs the whole operation out of her store (although the local library offers space for storage and a Christmastime “North Pole” for family fun). “Over the years, the neighboring towns that were helping families at Christmas reached out to us to give a little something to struggling families to make their children’s holiday a happier one.”
Last Christmas — thanks to a devoted circle of social workers, teachers, pantry workers, and church members, who ensure that no family is left out — Moore was able to provide more than 300 low-income children in the Webutuck and Pine Plains school districts with presents under their trees. “Sometimes it’s tough when we get kids with cancer,” she says. “But the bottom line is, as long as every child gets a Christmas, that’s what it’s about.” Beyond the holidays, the Millerton chapter also makes camp a possibility for local kids, and provides food baskets for families coping with illness or other difficulties. “It’s quite rewarding and a bit stressful, but it’s what I was brought up to do,” says the seventh-generation resident of Shekomeko, a hamlet in the town of Northeast.
Moore’s father was a hard-working farmer, and although the farm no longer exists, she notes that his “nature of giving and serving lives on through the volunteerism of not just me, but hundreds of others throughout our communities. It just feels good.”
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