EDITOR’S NOTE: For 19 years, Peninsula Daily News readers in Jefferson and Clallam counties have supported the “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.
Today we feature another in a series of articles that provide a window into how the fund operates and the people it serves.
The next article will appear Sunday with the latest list of donors.
By Timothy L. Hockett For Peninsula Daily News
FORKS — Can you imagine if you needed eyeglasses, but you couldn’t afford to buy them?
Could you read?
Could you drive or hold a job?
Could your children do their school work?
Could you be self-sufficient?
Every year, the Peninsula Daily News’ Peninsula Home Fund provides new prescription eyeglasses to residents of Jefferson and Clallam counties.
They are children, the elderly and others who are desperately trying to make ends meet.
Without the help of the Peninsula Home Fund, these people would have to choose between purchasing food, medicine and clothes — or buying prescription eyeglasses at an average cost of $195.
Because of eyeglasses obtained through the Home Fund, children can succeed in school, unemployed adults can find jobs and support their families and seniors can remain independent and safe in the dignity of their own homes.
Each person’s story is different, but every pair of glasses obtained through the Home Fund made an immediate and real difference to a grateful Peninsula resident.
For one woman in Port Townsend, new glasses allow her to drive her car to work.
It let her maintain her job as a health aide and to read stories to her grandchildren.
With clear vision, life holds new promise.
Home Fund money is also used for hot meals for seniors, warm winter coats for kids, home repairs for the low income, needed prescription drugs, dental work, safe, drug-free temporary housing . .
The list goes on and on — from Jan. 1 through last Friday, the Home Fund has helped 2,843 individuals and families in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
All the money collected for the Peninsula Home Fund goes — without any deductions — to making life better for children, teens, families and the elderly across the North Olympic Peninsula.
Here is a case from the 2007 campaign that shows how through the Home Fund, you can change a person’s life . . . in just a blink of an eye.
________
Denny Garrett worked very hard in the woods.
As a U.S. Forest Service employee, he spent much time outdoors in an industry that is rough on the human body.
Most of his work life was in the Shelton area, but upon retirement he and his wife settled in Forks.
At the age of 72, when Denny was interviewed in 2007, he was living alone.
His wife was confined to a nursing home in Olympia because she needed special care that could not be provided in Clallam or Jefferson counties.
Denny had a very difficult time seeing without his eyeglasses.
But he had let his glasses literally fall apart because he simply could not afford to get new ones.
His federal pension of $650 per month did not allow for any extra expense.
His wife’s Social Security (in about the same amount) was being used up completely to provide her medical care.
Taped glasses together
Denny enjoyed going to the Forks Recreation Center several times a week to visit with friends and have a hot, nutritious meal
It was at the rec center that someone commented that his glasses really needed to be replaced.
“Yeah,” he laughed as he remembered.
“I had to tape my lenses into the frames. Of course it looked pretty funny to everybody.”
He had scotch-taped his glasses together.
“I had to tape the middle part too,” he says as he points to the bridge of his nose. Yep, it was that classic nerdy look.
OlyCAP — nonprofit Olympic Community Action Programs, the No. 1 emergency care agency in Jefferson and Clallam counties, provides the hot meals at the rec center through the organization’s senior nutrition program.
OlyCAP also manages the Peninsula Home Fund for the PDN, screening the applicants and distributing the funds.
‘I was afraid to ask’
His friends at the center told Denny about the Peninsula Home Fund.
“I was afraid to ask,” he recalled.
“I was scared. I didn’t know what to expect, but my glasses were really shot.
“I was also afraid of what others would think, you know, maybe they would think that I should be able to take care of myself.”
He saw Bill Plumley, the Forks rec center’s director, who immediately put Denny to ease.
“I told him this is exactly what the Home Fund is for,” Plumley said.
And Plumley did more than get Garrett a check.
“Bill actually called our local eye doctor and got me an appointment and explained my circumstances — and I got a very good pair of glasses,” said Garrett.
Using funds from the Peninsula Home Fund, OlyCAP then wrote a voucher to cover the cost of the glasses.
“I was afraid to ask for help,” said Garrett, “but I am sure glad I did.
“And I want to thank those who donate to the Home Fund and tell anyone who needs help on the West End, this is the place to come.
“They never made me feel bad.”
From Thanksgiving through Dec. 31, the PDN’s Peninsula Home Fund — a safety net for residents in Jefferson and Clallam counties when there is nowhere else to turn — is seeking contributions for its annual holiday season fundraising campaign.
From Port Townsend to Forks, from Quilcene and Brinnon to LaPush, it’s a “hand up, not a handout” for children, teens, families and the elderly.
The Peninsula Home Fund is a unique, nonprofit program:
• No money, not one penny, is used for administration or other overhead.
• All contributions are fully IRS tax-deductible.
• Your personal information is kept confidential. Peninsula Daily News does not rent, sell, give or otherwise share your address or other information with anyone or make any other use of it.
• Instances of help are designed to get an individual or family through the crisis — and back on the path to self-sufficiency. That’s the “hand up, not a handout” focus of the fund.
• Peninsula Home Fund case managers work with individuals or families as needed to develop a plan to become financially stable — and avoid a recurrence of the emergency that prompted aid from the fund.
Almost all gone
• Begun in 1989, the fund is supported entirely by Jefferson and Clallam residents.
Individuals, couples, businesses and school groups set a new record for contributions in 2007, when Denny Garrett was interviewed — $193,312.
The fund is now down to less than $2,000, and all of the money will be used before the end of the month.
• Assistance is limited to one time in a 12-month period, and money is usually distributed in small amounts, usually up to $150.
In addition, Peninsula Home Fund contributions are often used in conjunction with money from churches, service clubs and other donors, enabling OlyCAP to stretch the value of the contribution.
To apply for a grant from the fund, phone OlyCAP at 360-452-4726 (Clallam County) or 360-385-2571 (Jefferson County).
If you have any questions about the fund, contact John Brewer, Peninsula Daily News editor and publisher, at 360-417-3500. Or e-mail him at john.brewer@peninsula dailynews.com.
The PDN publishes stories every Sunday and Wednesday during the fundraising campaign listing contributors and reporting on how the fund works.
