When life, and a supermarket strike, handed Mattapoisett resident Jilline Fearons the supplies for 200 Easter baskets and less than a day to assemble and deliver them, she hopped to it to try and make a difference for kids in need.

Last Thursday the Fairhaven Stop & Shop called Fearons and asked if they could donate baskets, fake grass, stuffed animals and candy that were not being sold during the chain’s strike.

Though Fearons said she thought, “am I going to be able to pull this off?,” she accepted the donation and put her five children to work stuffing baskets so they would be able to deliver them to New Bedford Child and Family Services before it closed at 4 p.m. on Friday.

It took around three and a half hours to assemble them all, but the Fearons family was able to pull it off. Jilline delivered the baskets with New Bedford Chief of Police, Joseph Cordiero on Friday.

Fearons is known throughout the SouthCoast for her Fearons Celebration and Food for Tots fundraiser and charity gala. The Food for Tots fundraiser has restaurants across the SouthCoast donate 15 percent of their profits on a given day to Southcoast Hospitals. Last year the fundraiser raised $83,000, while the charity gala raised $200,000.

She has also collected teddy bears and other stuffed toys for children who enter the hospital, and outfitted policemen, firemen and other first responders with capes to comfort children. The mother was inspired by her son Jack’s multiple hospitalizations for chiari malfunction, a disorder of the brain and spine. 

Fearons recently started the Friends of Jack Foundation, which will allow her to expand her reach beyond Southcoast Hospitals to also help Hawthorne Medical Associates, New Bedford Child and Family Services, and others.

The baskets she gave to Child and Family Services will be delivered to children who are away from their families due to a crisis.

Though she did not deliver the baskets to the children directly, Fearons said she did get to see one little girl’s reaction.

“She was hesitant to touch it, or take it, and you start to think that maybe she’s never had something like that before,” Fearons said, adding that the girl timidly volunteered, “I have a brother…” only to have Fearons and the others assure her that her brother could have a basket too.

Though it was a quick turnaround for Fearons, that just meant that “there were so many amazing parts in such a short period of time.”

She is also grateful to Stop & Shop for their donation. “It’s been a tough couple of weeks for them, and it’s amazing what they are able to give back,” she said. 

And though Easter baskets may not seem related to physical health “it’s part of a child’s overall mental and physical wellbeing,” Fearons said.