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Date: 12/11/2019
CHICOPEE – The owners of a local coffee shop are finding a special way to give back during the holiday season.
Victor and Katie Narvaez, who own Goodworks Coffee in Chicopee, are using their shop to give back to the children in the community with their giving tree.
Victor worked for the Department of Children and Family Services (DCF) for 11 years before the pair decided to open Goodworks in 2017. Victor said the thing he had enjoyed the most while working for working for DCF was “contributing for families” during the holidays.
Last year, Victor and Katie decided to integrate that passion with the coffee shop. Victor said he reached out to someone at DCF and asked for the names of 40 kids who were in need of anything from clothes to a holiday gift.
Each child's name was put on a tag, which was then transferred to a wooden hanging Christmas tree when someone chose to sponsor the child. Included with the list of children’s names was also gift suggestions, including their clothing size, their age and their clothing needs.
Victor said within a matter of days after announcing the giving tree on social media, all the children had been sponsored.
“I asked for 40 kids and the moment I put it on Facebook and within the first two days all those names were gone,” he told Reminder Publishing. “So then I asked for another 40 names, for a total of 80.”
Once again, Victor said the community and customers “were so generous,” and soon all 80 children had a sponsor to buy holiday gifts for them. “Even when the second set of 40 was gone, people were still asking ‘Do you still have any more kids,’” he said.
By the time the deadline to drop off presents had come, Goodworks was filled with beautifully wrapped gifts to deliver to the kids.
“It’s amazing to see the community come together,” he said. “People were so generous, the kids got bikes, helmets, they got brand new bedding.”
After all the gifts had been dropped off at Goodworks, Victor and Katie then worked with DCF employees and students from Elms College to load cars and take them to the district office to be distributed to the families.
Victor said the kids being sponsored consist of “infants to 18” and unfortunately, “have an open case with DCF.” However, Katie said this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re in foster homes.
“These kids are not necessarily in foster homes, they live with, probably, their biological family and they just have a need and needing more resources,” she said.
Victor echoed this, and said, “Families at times just can’t provide gifts for their kids.” He said this is when DCF tries to help out, to the best of their ability.
This year, he said they asked for 80 names, “just to play it safe,” but were hoping to exceed that. “We’re starting off with 80, but who knows, maybe we’ll get another 80,” he said.
He said people often take more than one name, sometimes sponsoring a whole family. “There’s people that will take four or five of those hearts, and will come again. And then there’s siblings on there too, people will just get the whole family,” he explained.
He said people are encouraged to take the time to wrap the gift before dropping it off at Goodworks. “The packaging was amazing [last year]. We encourage people to wrap them. Kids will see the gifts and they will know people have taken the time to wrap them,” he explained.
Victor mentioned that the giving tree “gives the community another resource, a safe resource” to give back during the holidays, and he feels “honored that people trusted us.”
Victor said he and Katie plan on making the giving tree a yearly tradition, and hope to work with nonprofits in the future to grow it further.
Those wishing to sponsor a child can visit Goodworks at 46 Center St. or call 331-3910. Wrapped gifts can be dropped off at the coffee shop until Dec. 19. The coffee shop will stay open later, until 9 p.m., the day of Dec. 19.