The Wilton Hustlers 4-H Club originally planned to host its annual Easter egg hunt on April 11 in Wilton’s City Park, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was canceled.
The Hustlers had eggs and Casey’s General Store had already provided the candy, along with prizes purchased with a donation from the United Way of Wilton that were going to be used for this year’s Easter egg hunt.
They were able to return the prizes and get the money back, but they still had the eggs and candy so the children of Dan and Michelle Marine, with Cora Marine heading it up, decided to bring the candy to residents anyway. However, before they could do it they had to get approval from the County Extension Office.
With the help of their mom, Michelle Marine, they posted information on Facebook stating “they would like to bring the annual Easter egg hunt to you since we can’t gather in the park this year. If you have kids up to 9 years old who would like a little surprise delivered a few days before Easter, please fill out a form and we will make it happen.”
Folks were directed to register using the Google link provided in the post. It was open to all Wilton families with kids 9 years old or under.
They ended up with 130-135 recipients on the list and started delivering special Easter bags on Monday, April 6. They wanted to have all the bags delivered by April 8 at the latest.
The eggs are put into a Ziploc bag so they can be left outside a few days and they don’t have to be touched right away. In addition to the eggs and candy, the Marines included printed instructions with fun Easter activities for kids to do.
Michelle said, “Making the deliveries is a little emotional. There was one driveway that had “Thank You” written in chalk on it.”