PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Michael Biasetti Jr. and Crystal Falta look over clothing that they have collected which will be donated to homeless shelters.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
LYNN — Everybody deserves to be warm.
That belief is what’s driving one Lynn family to make sure the roughly 64 families scattered throughout the city’s homeless shelters have winter hats, scarves and gloves for the upcoming winter.
Michael Biasetti Jr., 30, Crystal Falta, 33, and Falta’s 16-year-old daughter, Taryn Cote, are collecting the winter essentials for families in need, to donate to Lynn shelters on Dec. 23, just in time for the holidays.
Their goal is to collect 150 each of new hats, scarves and gloves, for what Biasetti is tentatively calling “Project Warm at Heart.” A typical family in a homeless shelter, Falta said, is comprised of two or three people.
They are also collecting toys for children to open up on Christmas morning, but aren’t accepting cash donations. Falta, a stay-at-home mother, said the family started buying materials to donate after Christmas last year, but officially started collecting last Monday from other people. So far, they have accumulated 40 hats and the same number of gloves, along with some socks and slippers.
Biasetti, a seasonal worker for the Lynn and Reading department of public works (DPW), said the young children in shelters can’t help where they are.
“If we can make one kid happy, that makes it all worth it for me,” he said.
This is the first time the family has done a holiday drive for homeless shelters, which they plan to continue every year, but the couple said they often try to help others in need.
When they lived on Chatham Street near the Lewis Street Dunkin’ Donuts, they would often encounter homeless people who would collect change so they could go inside to buy a coffee and stay warm. Falta said when she and Biasetti noticed, they would buy them coffee.
“We always try to give when we see people like that,” Falta said. “We always try to help people out.”
A few years ago, Biasetti said, they bought a friend a Christmas tree and the decorations.
Today, with the winter collection for Lynn shelters, the family is adhering to the timeless concept of the holiday giving season.
“I would hope if I was in a position like that, someone would do something like that for me and my family,” Biasetti said.
The family will have a drop-off box that says “donations” at 35 Laurel St. For more information, contact Crystal Falta at [email protected].
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.