From early January through mid-March each year, the Isaac Meier Homestead offers items to community members in need to keep warm over the winter.
Michelle Voydik, president of the Isaac Meier Homestead, mother of three, and grandmother of seven, and Kathy Yang, chair of the Myerstown Recreation Board and homeschool mother of three, spoke with LebTown about the winter giving fence at 525 S. College St., Myerstown.
As a former EMT and firefighter, Voydik came into contact with community members in need and was aware of the need within the community for essential items to keep warm over the winter.
“I had found out several years ago from a neighbor of mine who drove van for the ELCO School District that most of the kids on her van were homeless,” Voydik added. “And I’m like, ‘Kids in ELCO School District are homeless?’ So, that was kind of an inspiration too, for, well, what can we do for them?”
Voydik came up with the idea for the winter giving fence on Christmas Eve 2023 and turned to Yang for her opinion. “I texted Kathy. I said, ‘Hey, what do you think about putting hats and scarves and gloves on the fence at the [Isaac] Meier House?’ And what did you say to me, Kathy?”
“I thought it was a great idea,” Yang said, noting she had just seen a post on Facebook about an organization that decorates evergreen trees with hats, gloves, and other items for community members to take. “I had literally just seen it either the day before or a few hours before she messaged me. I was like, ‘Absolutely, how can I help?'”
The Isaac Meier Homestead turned to its community — online and in-person — for donations of hats, jackets, scarves, mittens, gloves, and blankets — store-bought and handmade. Voydik even crocheted a hat and posted it on her Facebook page to solicit donations.
With the help of the Christmas spirit and the approval of Myerstown Borough, the organization started to accept donations for the winter giving fence in a box inside the Myerstown Community Library, 199 N. College St., Myerstown.
Voydik and Yang described the initiative’s inaugural year as a “success.” The homestead received 145 donations for its giving fence. About 84 of those items were taken off the fence by community members in need, and the excess items were stored by the organization for the following year.
“A lot of the council members when we brought this up to Myerstown Borough were like, ‘Oh, the kids are just going to ruin it,'” Voydik said. “We have not, knock on wood, had any vandalism. So, that’s a plus with a lot of the vandalism that goes on in that park. They are leaving this alone.”
Read More: Here’s what’s happening on the Isaac Meier Homestead now through May 2025
“It’s just still really positive,” Voydik said of the community’s response to the initiative in its second year. In addition to the excess items from last year, the homestead also received some donations before this year’s winter giving fence was set up on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
The first recipient of this year’s winter giving fence was a woman who graduated with Voydik from ELCO High School in 1982. The woman is battling cancer and undergoing chemotherapy and lost everything in a recent house fire. She received some winter essentials this past December before this year’s winter giving fence was set up.
Within the first four days of it being set up, about 26 of the then-118 items were taken off the fence by community members in need. Voydik said these items ranged in type and size.
The organization continues to accept donations for the winter giving fence the same way. Voydik stops by the library once a week to empty the box — having to switch the day of the week due to the number of items being made and donated by a knitting and crocheting group that meets at the library.
She then swings by the homestead to place the items in clear plastic bags, label them by size, and hang them on the fence or set them in totes along the fence, depending on the type of item. Some community members also hang items — including umbrellas — on the fence.
Voydik said that the organization has received more scarf donations in its second year compared to its inaugural year, in which it received mostly hats. “We don’t get a lot of donations for gloves and mittens. I actually go to Walmart in December and pick up as many pairs for children through adult[s] as I can get,” she said.
In a follow-up to LebTown, Voydik said that the Isaac Meier Homestead recently received a large donation of blankets in different sizes, which will be placed in clear plastic bags, labeled by size, and set in bins along the winter giving fence.
“The family tried to donate them to Ronald McDonald House and other organizations, but they refused them,” Voydik stated. “We are so grateful that the family contacted us, and we are able to make them available to those in need of a warm blanket.”
Voydik has reached out to local municipalities, professionals in the ELCO School District, the Newmanstown Volunteer Fire Company, other local fire and ambulance organizations, and the Pennsylvania State Police to make them aware of the winter giving fence as a resource for people in need. Voydik added that the fence is not exclusive to members of the school district and is open to anyone in need.
“Michelle is, I mean, she is really the driving force behind it,” Yang said. “I am just like a minor player in this awesome thing that’s happening with the hats, gloves, and the community coming together to provide the warm things for anybody.”
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