NOBLESVILLE — At a home in Noblesville, Kim DeMasie is hard at work.
“I just wanted to honor my mom when she passed, I just want to donate pajamas,” DeMassie said.
DeMassie is packing up boxes of donated pajamas and books to send to kids all over the state of Indiana.
“I work with agencies that give these pajamas to kids and they just tell me how they light up, maybe they have never had something brand new,” DeMassie said.
Demasie joined the nationwide Pajama Program more than six years ago. She serves as the Indiana chapter president.
“The Pajama Program is a program for kids who are underprivileged. They are in foster care, these kids might be in shelters, they might be in Head Start programs, they might be homeless,” Demasie said.
Now, she’s giving back one set of pajamas and one book at a time. DeMassie said she sends out more than 100 sets of pajamas and books a month to kids all over the state.
“So my dad was raised in foster care, and we’ve heard stories back in the 60s and 50s about how things were, and they were just not very good. So my husband and I kinda stepped into the foster care ourselves,” DeMassie said.
The Cooper House is an organization that rallies around families that are involved with the Department of Child Services.
Cooper House CEO Brooke Howe knows first hand the troubles kids facing adversity go through. She has three foster children of her own.
“It's really cool and really rewarding to be able to rally around these children and their parents as well so they can come back together in a safe and thriving home,” Howe said.
The Cooper House has seen first hand the impacts of the Pajama Program. During Christmas, the Pajama Program donated sets of pajamas and books to all the kids in the Cooper House.
“Just to know that these kids will get to sleep at night in a warm cozy set of pajamas, it’s just a really special and impactful gift,” Howe said.
At the end of the day DeMassie and Howe see the lasting impacts that a new set of pajamas can have on a child.
“We want to do something to make your life a little easier,” DeMasie said.
If you are interested in donating to the Pajama Program you can contact Kim DeMassie at kimdm@pajamaprogram.org.
