Wonderful news! Just as we closed the 2006 holiday campaign for the Peninsula Daily News’ “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund, four last-minute checks arrived, dated Dec. 31 or earlier – and a $10 bill.
The $10 was accompanied by an unsigned note dated Dec. 29 and postmarked Long Beach, Calif.:
Dear Everybody at the Peninsula Home Fund:
You helped me in 2006.
Now I want to return the favor. I wish it was more, but it is all I can afford.
I want to help others in need. Thank you so much.
There was a check for $1,000 from the Port Townsend School of Massage, 1071 Landes Court.
This donation was made for “those in need, and to help give back to our community.”
The five kind and generous donations received last week swelled the previous record-breaking total of $189,674.85 by $1,675 to $191,349.85.
Plus a $25 Safeway gift card and a $200 Costco card contributed by two PDN readers.
There were almost 1,000 donations this year – private citizens from Brinnon to LaPush, businesses, unions, organizations, seniors clubs, church groups and kindergarten classes.
The new final – final – total for the 2006 campaign from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve swept past the old record set on Dec. 31, 2005, of $135,168.
With the Peninsula Home Fund down to pennies, we gave a check last week to OlyCAP – Olympic Community Action Programs, the No. 1 emergency care agency on the North Olympic Peninsula – so the money can begin helping your neighbors immediately.
More than 1,500 people were helped in 2006.
OlyCAP manages the fund for the PDN, screens the applicants – and provides life-changing services to those who need a “hand up, not a handout.”
And every dollar you sent in – 100 percent – goes directly to help put people on the road to self-sufficiency in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
All costs are absorbed by Peninsula Daily News and OlyCAP. There are no deductions.
