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Does it seem like Unite with Light has been happening in Winchester for a long time? Well, it’s only been few years and this might be the last year — unless other kids take it on.
Winchester High School senior Mairin Norton started it with her brother, Colin, after they heard that Concord was doing this fundraiser.
Since 2019, the Norton kids have donated the money to Winchester Got Lunch. This year, the money is going to the Make a Wish Foundation for critically ill children.
And also new this year, Mairin is doing it alone — her brother’s now a first-year student at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
“When I heard about it in Concord, I thought it would be fun to do it in Winchester,” says Mairin.
She “roped” her friends into helping put flyers into residents’ mailboxes and also to assemble the kits, which consist of 10 small paper bags with votive candles. When assembled, they turn into luminaria, which participants can place on their front walks on Dec. 8.
“We ask for $20 a kit,” says Mairin, “and they can be ordered on the website or bought in person at Sweet Suprize.”
Shop owner Heidi Rutstein DiLeo is happy to do it.
“Mairin’s just like her mom, interested in helping people. I decided to carry the kits in the shop because I love giving back to the community in some small way,” she says.
“We bring in anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 each year,” Mairin reports. “During COVID more people got involved and made donations.”
Mairin gets a lot of help from the Lion’s Heart clubs.
“The high school and middle school boys help assemble the kits and drive them to the 1,000 donors when orders come in,” she says.
Her friend Lucas Brescia’s Edgehill Road neighborhood has many participants and they’ve turned the date into a block party.
Mairin will go off to college next year and is hoping someone else will continue the tradition.
