BENNINGTON — When Mindy Shoestock found out that her Warm the Children application had been approved, she was thrilled. Her two sons could go outside for recess.

Shoestock, whose children are aged 7 and 13, works part-time and is enrolled in an associate’s degree program for behavioral science. She had applied for Warm the Children when it opened online in the fall. Even with a job and an academic schedule, she was having trouble making ends meet.

“The government shut down. I think everybody was at a scarce for a month and a half, worried about how they were going to get food, let alone warm clothing,” she said.

Warm the Children was started 33 years ago by Mack Stewart, who was then the publisher of a Connecticut newspaper. Its goal is to “provide local children with warm clothing for

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