EDITOR’S NOTE: For 25 years, Peninsula Daily News readers in Jefferson and Clallam counties have supported the “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.
More information about how the Home Fund operates and who benefits from our readers’ generosity, plus a list of donors, will appear Sunday.
To donate, please click here: https://secure.peninsuladailynews.com/homefund
CAN YOU IMAGE 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 schoolwork?
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 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.
Safety net
■ A teenager in Port Angeles was failing in school — because he could not see his lessons.
His grades turned around when he received glasses through the Home Fund.
For him, the most valuable gift he ever got was a pair of eyeglasses.
■ For a woman in Port Townsend, new glasses allow her to drive her car to work.
They let her maintain her job as a health aide and read stories to her grandchildren.
■ A retired U.S. Forest Service employee got new glasses through the Home Fund after his old ones literally fell apart.
He had Scotch-taped the lenses into the frames.
He couldn’t afford to buy a new pair on his federal pension, which barely covered the cost of food and rent.
With clear vision, life holds new promise . . .
Home Fund money also is used for hot meals for seniors, meeting rent, 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.
From Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve, the Peninsula Home Fund — a safety net for North Olympic Peninsula residents 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 Sequim and LaPush, the Home Fund — now in its 25th year — is a “hand up, not a handout” for children, teens, families and the elderly to get through an emergency situation.
So far this year, the Home Fund has helped more than 3,000 individuals and families in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
No money is deducted by the Peninsula Daily News for administration fees or any other overhead.
Every penny goes to OlyCAP — nonprofit Olympic Community Action Programs — the No. 1 emergency-care agency on the Peninsula.
Assistance, which usually averages less than $100, is also limited to one time in a 12-month period.
