ON THE VERGE OF New Year’s Eve, compassionate Peninsula Daily News readers continue to help through the “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.
Of all the gifts they give this holiday season, their donations to the Home Fund could mean the most.
Thursday is the end of our holiday season fundraising campaign — and while the Home Fund never closes, Thursday is the last day to make a donation and get a tax donation for 2015.
For 27 years, the Home Fund has been a safety net for Jefferson and Clallam residents when there is nowhere else to turn.
What the Home Fund will do for our neighbors in Jefferson and Clallam counties in 2016 depends on how much is raised in 2015.
This year’s help
This year, using the money raised in 2014, the Home Fund has helped 2,974 people as of Monday.
These are your neighbors.
These are local people that our partner, OlyCAP — nonprofit Olympic Community Action Programs — wouldn’t have been able to help otherwise.
In 2014, $271,981 was contributed to the Home Fund — a record amount.
Approximately $245,328 of the money contributed by individuals, couples, businesses, churches, organizations and school groups had been spent as of Monday.
OlyCAP expects that the rest, some $26,653, will be given to those in need by mid-January — just in time for this year’s funding to be in place.
Goal to beat 2014
Will 2015’s donations match those of 2014?
As of Dec. 22, donations were $161,463.
The money raised this year will go to work right away to make sure no one falls through the cracks during the dark days of winter, the most demanding time of the year.
All the money collected for the Home Fund stays in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
And 100 percent goes to OlyCAP, the Peninsula’s No. 1 emergency-care agency in our two counties.
It oversees the Home Fund for the PDN, screening the applicants and distributing the funds.
‘Shoestring philanthropy’
The Home Fund has demonstrated, time and again, how even a seemingly modest sum of money can relieve or vastly improve the lives of families across the Peninsula — thanks to our readers opening
their hearts.
The Home Fund is not a welfare program.
The average amount of help this year was $70 per person — with a maximum allowance per year of $350 per household.
But even though the dollar figure is small — some call it “shoestring philanthropy” — the impact can be big, in huge, life-changing ways:
■ Hot meals for seniors.
■ A bus pass for a job seeker barely scraping by.
■ Helping cover back rent for a family hoping to stave off eviction.
■ Eyeglasses for a struggling high school student.
■ Energy and transportation needs, warm winter coats for kids, home repairs for the low-income, needed prescription drugs, dental work, safe and drug-free temporary housing . . . the list goes on and on.
Instances of help are designed to get an individual or family through a crisis — and every effort is made to put them back on the path to self-sufficiency.
That’s the “hand up, not a handout” focus of the fund.
In many instances, Peninsula Home Fund case managers at OlyCAP work with individuals or families to develop a plan to become financially stable — and avoid a recurrence of the emergency that prompted aid from the fund.
And, as needed, Home Fund contributions often are used in conjunction with money from other agencies, enabling OlyCAP to stretch the value of the contribution.
While most of the Home Fund money is raised every year between Thanksgiving and Dec. 31, the fund is open year-round.
Donations of any amount always are welcome.
Remembrances
Many people send gifts to the fund to mark a special occasion or remember a loved one.
For instance:
■ Walter and Edith Rowell of Denver donated $100 as a Christmas gift to their daughter and son-in-law, Ben and Donna Pacheco of Port Angeles.
■ Jacob and Laura Geoff of Port Angeles contributed $300 “in memory of Grandma and Grandpa Melly and Grandma and Grandpa Kus.”
Many requested that the amounts of their donations be kept private.
Among them were:
■ Pam and Bruce Busch of Sequim, whose gift to the Home Fund is in honor of Rose Crumb, founder of Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County.
■ Joe and Naomi Denhart of Port Angeles, who gave in memory of their parents and Mary Harris.
■ Heather Peters of Chimacum, who donated in memory of Ellsworth (Pete) Peters.
“We remember you, Grandpa, and your service to our country, your family and community,” Peters said. “This gift to help others is in honor of all you gave.”
Peters also made a donation “in memory of Jack and Betty Phillips: In loving remembrance of Nana and Grampy, the firm foundation of our family, now our twin lights in the heavens, watching over us always, ever guiding us home.”
■ John and Mary Wegmann of Port Angeles gave in memory of John Willits.
And there are those anonymous donations, given in memory of Gene Turner, Bob Dalton, Williams Hayes, Barbara Clampett and others.
An anonymous $10 donation read only: “May God bless us all and God bless America.”
How to donate
To donate online today using a credit card, push the “Home Fund — Click Here to Donate” button at www.peninsuladailynews.com, or go directly to the donation website — https://secure.peninsuladailynews.com/homefund.
You can also use the donation coupon — and mail it with a check dated today or Thursday.
If you wish to make your donation by phone, or have any questions about the fund, call Terry Ward, PDN publisher, at 360-417-3500 (there’s voice mail if he’s away), or email him at tward@peninsuladailynews.com.
All contributions, whether $100, $5,000 or $10, are greatly appreciated and needed, and are fully IRS tax-deductible.
