WTC celebrates 28 years helping North Woods youth

This year marks the 28th year that Warm The Children, a nonprofit program sponsored by the Vilas County News-Review that provides winter clothing to eligible children, has been servicing children of the North Woods, but the organization has been helping families across the country for even longer.
The beginnings of Warm the Children (WTC) were founded in Torrington, Conn., in 1988 when Mack Stewart, publisher of the local newspaper, The Register-Citizen, felt a need to bring adequate, warm clothing to children in his community. This came after he was driving through town on a cold November day when he passed children waiting for the school bus, and saw that most of them lacked clothing to protect them from the cold and snow.
Inspired by a newspaper in Troy, New York, that had a program called “Clothe-A-Child”, providing clothing and footwear to children in need, Stewart thought of bringing a similar program to his own newspaper, and thus Warm The Children was created.
Working alongside the Salvation Army to identify children in need in Torrington, the Register-Citizen asked its readers for monetary donations to help purchase winter clothing and footwear.
In the first year of WTC, the newspaper raised $20,000 and served 249 children.

WTC then expanded into Middletown, Conn., where Stewart went on to manage The Middletown Press.
Stewart retired from the newspaper industry in 1993 and has continued to help newspapers across the country embrace the program, including the Vilas County News-Review in Eagle River.
There are currently 27 WTC programs in 12 states, and collectively each year they serve over 13,000 children with approximately $1 million in new winter clothing and footwear.
The WTC program first came to Eagle River in November, 1997, and, in its first year, the program received $17,000, exceeding the initial goal of $10,000 that had been set.
Another milestone for the News-Review was in 2017 when over $85,000 worth of donations came in, outshining the set goal of $70,000.
Since it first came to the News-Review in 1997, WTC has gone through several coordinators that have helped the program flourish. Coordinators ranged from Marge Baerenwald from 1997 to 2000, Sharina Adams from 2000 to 2014, to Jacki Risjord who took over the program in 2014, and now Nancy Brandner, who took up the helm as project coordinator in 2022.
In 2024, the News-Review has set an $80,000 goal, with approximately $42,000 reached as of Friday, Nov. 15.
Donations to WTC are still accepted at the News-Review via check, cash or online donation form.
Checks can be made out to “Warm The Children” and mailed to: Vilas County News-Review, P.O. Box 1929, Eagle River, WI 54521, or dropped off at the News-Review office located at 425 Mill St. in Eagle River. Online donations can be made at vcnewsreview.com on the home page.
Monetary donations are tax-deductible and are under the auspices of the Eagle River Rotary Club Foundation, a 501(c)(3) entity.
Shopping began Nov. 2 this year and will continue through mid-December. Applications are available by stopping into the News-Review office.
For more information about the program, call Nancy Brandner at 715-479-4421.
In addition to the many anonymous donors, donations were received as of Nov. 15 from residents in the following communities:
Conover: Neal and Cheryl Adams.
Eagle River: Bill and Jackie Anderson; Rick and Cathy Donohoe; Carl and Cam Eggebrecht; Jim and Kathy Holperin; Larry and Sue McPartlin; Lowell and Mary Petersen; Douglas and Debra Petrie; and WalkAbout Paddle & Apparel.
Land O’ Lakes: St. Ann Altar Society of St. Albert Catholic Church; Fred and Corinne Duerkop; Elizabeth McNair.
Sayner: Tom and Karen Reed.
St. Germain: Jon and Sally Reuling; and Bob and Peggy Ausloos of Lakeland Monuments.
Other Wisconsin cities: Marty and Kelli Heindel, Appleton; Willie and Karen Kaulitz, Watertown; and Paul and Linda Koch, DePere.
Out of state: Nanne Simonds, Clayton, Mo.; and George Kychta, Watersmeet, Mich.