Bill Maloney spent 37 years serving the community as a member of the Elmira Police Department.
Even after his retirement more than 20 years ago, Maloney has kept busy helping with various community causes — and so have several other members of his family.
Their latest effort benefits the Samaritan Center at 380 S. Main St. in Elmira, a Catholic Charities agency that provides homeless services and a variety of other resources to needy families in Elmira and Chemung County.
Among those services is an effort to help provide families with basic household items most of us take for granted — toothbrushes, soap, razors, clothing and much more.
That’s where Maloney and his family come in.
For the third year, Maloney and about 20 family members have been buying items the Samaritan Center said it needs and are prepared to turn 2,400 items currently stored in Maloney’s house in West Elmira over to the center.
“Our family is so dedicated to helping the needy, we all realized there are so many people that you would consider to be needy people in this entire community,” Maloney said. “So we have all been dedicated to getting things done to help the needy.”
The first year, July 2024, Maloney and 17 other family members spent more than $1,200 out of pocket to purchase nearly 1,200 items for the Samaritan Center. In 2025, they doubled that amount with 2,400 items, including nearly $500 worth of women’s only products.
This year, the Maloney family once again has procured 2,400 items, including 35 new ponchos. They also received an unexpected donation of an additional 1,000 items from a family friend who lives in Connecticut.
“I’ve never met the man, had no idea who he was,” Maloney said. “He’s friends with the Viselli family in Elmira. It was a big surprise, 100% surprise. I had no idea.”
Catholic Charities isn’t surprised at the Maloney family’s dedication, but they are always thrilled to get the help.
Having basic household items to provide for people in its programs is a “wonderful blessing,” said Catholic Charities Marketing and Development Director Katie Rhodes.
“We rarely receive funding for those kinds of items and are grateful to be able to distribute them to our community,” Rhodes said.
“If other people would like to get involved, they can call us or reach out via our website. All year long we accept donations and have special wish lists for items that we are low on at our food pantries,” she said. “We are grateful for those that work with us to meet local needs and provide essential items for those who come to us for help.”
Maloney said he works with the Samaritan Center and they will let him know what items they need most.
After that, participating family members will get a list of items and will pick up those necessities over an 8-month period in advance of the July giveaway.
Over the three years, the Maloney family has invested more than $7,500 to provide well over 6,000 items for the Samaritan Center and its clients.
The collected items will be loaded into trucks this weekend and delivered to the Samaritan Center on Monday, July 27.
“It’s amazing how many people say ‘Bill, how do you do this?’ So many people need so many things in this community,” Maloney said. “It’s a lot of work but it’s a simple process. We’re a close family and everybody wants to help. All these people in the community are suffering. They all need help.”
For more information on the Samaritan Center and other local Catholic Charities programs, call 607-734-9784 or go to catholiccharitiescs.org.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Elmira family set to donate thousands of items to Samaritan Center
Reporting by Jeff Murray, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Jeff Murray, Elmira Star-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
