The most productive thing you do in 2016 could be starting off the year with a donation to the Peninsula Home Fund.
You can offer struggling families “a hand up, not a handout” through the fund.
Thursday was the last day to donate and get a receipt for a tax deduction in 2015 but you can still make a tax-deductible donation for 2016.
What the Home Fund does for our neighbors in Jefferson and Clallam counties depends on how much is raised each year.
In 2015, using the $271,981 raised in 2014, the Home Fund helped 2,974 people, as we reported Wednesday.
These are local people that our partner, OlyCAP — nonprofit Olympic Community Action Programs — wouldn’t have been able to help otherwise.
Donating
There is still time, and reason, to help.
“The Home Fund is a lifeline for many and a path to a new future for some,” said Dale Wilson, director of OlyCAP.
To donate online using a credit card, push the “Home Fund — Click Here to Donate” button at www.peninsuladailynews.com or go directly to the donation Web page, https://secure.peninsuladailynews.com/homefund.
You can also use the donation coupon and mail it with a check.
For 27 years, the Home Fund has helped thousands of families across the North Olympic Peninsula.
OlyCAP, the Peninsula’s No. 1 emergency-care agency in our two counties, oversees the Home Fund for the PDN, screening the applicants and carefully distributing the funds.
“A family without food, an elder living in isolation, a single mom facing eviction, a homeless veteran in search of a stable life, neighbors who cannot afford their medication, nights with no heat, a cold rain soaking every possession — this is the reality for thousands living in Clallam and Jefferson counties,” Wilson said.
“For too many families, too often, it is a desperate existence,” he said.
“These are conditions that challenge the understanding of those of us that have adequate food, a warm home and regular medical care.
“However, it is clear, through the overwhelming support of the Home Fund, that people across the North Peninsula, and sometimes from far beyond, do understand the effects of poverty and their rejection thereof,” Wilson said.
No money is deducted by the PDN for administration fees or any other overhead.
Every penny goes to OlyCAP to help the most vulnerable members of our community, from infants to families to seniors.
The average amount of help in 2015 was $70 per person — with a maximum allowance per year of $350 per household.
But even though the dollar figures are small, the impact can be big, in huge, life-changing ways.
“Every dollar contributed to the Home Fund represents the community’s refusal to let poverty win,” Wilson said.
Home Fund grants
To apply for a Peninsula Home Fund grant, contact one of the three OlyCAP offices:
■ OlyCAP’s Port Angeles office is at 228 W. First St., Suite J (Armory Square Mall); 360-452-4726. For Port Angeles- and Sequim-area residents.
■ Its Port Townsend office is at 823 Commerce Loop; 360-385-2571. For Jefferson County residents.
■ The Forks office is at 421 Fifth Ave.; 360-374-6193. For West End residents.
Leave a message in the voice mail box at any of the three phones, and a Home Fund caseworker will phone you back.
