EDITOR’S NOTE: For 28 years, Peninsula Daily News readers in Jefferson and Clallam counties have supported the “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.
Tax-deductible donations can be made now for 2016, the 29th year for the Home Fund.
To donate online by credit card, visit https://secure.peninsuladailynews.com/homefund.
Many thanks.
Because of the generosity of readers in Clallam and Jefferson counties, $255,468 was contributed to the “hand up, not a handout” Home Fund in 2015.
That will allow Olympic Community Action Programs to help thousands of our friends and neighbors on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Of the 720 donations given to the Home Fund in 2015, nearly 80 gave all year long.
All the donors join the PDN in delivering hope to thousands of individuals and families, many with young children, who suddenly face an emergency situation and can’t find help elsewhere.
Everyone who donates — whether it be $1 or $1,000 — is a partner with us in forging a stronger Peninsula community.
In the past 27 years, the Home Fund has distributed $3,010,733 to help those in need on our Peninsula.
We have been able to do so only because of you, our caring readers.
Many of the 3,027 clients — from 1,039 households — who received help from the Home Fund in 2015 were children getting shoes, eyeglasses so they could read and winter coats for the school bus stop.
How you helped
Gifts in 2015 ran the gamut, from people remembering loved ones with memorials to anonymous donors who contributed through foundations to several generations who joined together to donate.
Donors also included hundreds of individuals, school groups, service clubs, recreation and employee groups, and people who have given yearly since the fund began in 1989 — plus a number of past beneficiaries of the fund whose lives have improved.
For many of our readers, the fund is as much a holiday tradition as a Christmas tree or roast turkey.
A gift to the fund embodies the spirit of Christmas.
It is a chance to help neighbors in need, for no personal gain.
Thank you!
Check to OlyCAP
A check will be given as soon as possible to OlyCAP — Olympic Community Action Programs, the No. 1 emergency services agency for Jefferson and Clallam counties — so the money can begin helping our neighbors immediately.
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.”
Every penny goes to OlyCAP to help the most vulnerable members of our community, from infants to families to seniors.
It has the experts who get these much-needed funds where they need to be.
Fund never closes
The books on the 2015 fund drive are closed. But the Peninsula Home Fund itself never closes.
Donations of any amount are always welcome.
They can be sent at any time to Peninsula Home Fund, Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
New contributions go toward the 2016 campaign.
All Peninsula Home Fund contributions are fully IRS tax-deductible.
The fund’s IRS number, under the auspices of OlyCAP, is 91-0814319.
Your personal information is kept confidential.
The PDN does not rent, sell, give or otherwise share your address or other information with anyone or make any other use of it.
The Peninsula Home Fund is registered with the Washington secretary of state’s charities division in Olympia.
We have already received donations dated Jan. 1 and afterward that will go — with much thanks — toward the 2016 fund drive.
Shoestring philanthropy
The Home Fund is not a welfare program.
The average amount of help is usually below $100 — in 2015, it was $70 per person — with a maximum of $350 per household every 12 months.
But even though the dollar figure is small — some call it “shoestring philanthropy” — the impact can be big, in life-changing ways:
Instances of help are designed to get an individual or family through a crisis — and every effort is also made to put them back on the path to self-sufficiency.
And, as needed, Peninsula Home Fund contributions are often used in conjunction with money from other agencies, enabling OlyCAP to stretch the value of the contribution.
No money is deducted by the Peninsula Daily News for administration, fees or any other overhead.
Every penny contributed goes to OlyCAP to support our neighbors in need in Jefferson and Clallam counties.
Whenever possible, Home Fund case managers work with each individual or family to develop a plan to become financially stable — and avoid a recurrence of the emergency that prompted aid from the fund.
The fund is not set up to hand out money passively; recipients play active roles in their own success, their own rehabilitation, their own empowerment, their own futures.
That’s the “hand up, not a handout” focus of the Home Fund.
Applying for a grant
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 numbers, and a Home Fund caseworker will phone you back.
OlyCAP’s website: www.olycap.org.
Email: action@olycap.org.
Dale Wilson, OlyCAP’s executive director, oversees disbursements from the Peninsula Home Fund. He can be reached at 360-385-2571 or by emailing dwilson@olypen.com.
If you have any questions about the fund, phone Terry Ward, PDN publisher, at 360-417-3500, or email him at tward@peninsuladailynews.com.
2015 donors
The following are the 2015 campaign’s final donations by cash, credit cards and checks dated as of Jan. 12.
Thank you very much for making a difference in the lives — and futures — of your neighbors:
• R.J. Services Inc., Port Angeles — $750.
• No Sangha, a Zen meditation group, Port Angeles — $1,050.
• William and Nancy Irvine, Sequim — $200.
Many thanks also to these donors (who requested that the amount of their donation be kept private):
• Sandy Frankfurth, Sequim. In memory of Bob Duncan, a kind-hearted student I will always remember.
• Pat Fogard, Sequim.
• Mr. Edward Chadd, Port Angeles.
• C.A. Modena, Port Townsend. In memory of Dana Roberts of Port Townsend.
• Kay McClurken, Port Angeles. In memory of Al, Chuck and Stu.
• Bill and Marlene Davies, Port Townsend.
• Pam and Randy Gardner, Port Angeles.
• Robert and Ina Palmer, Sequim.
• The Carol Young and Glenn Browning Fund, Sequim.
• Arnold and Debbie Schouten, Port Angeles.
• Edith Christie, Port Angeles.
• Joanne D.
• Tracy Devose, Tacoma.
• Jean Epps, Sequim.
• Grace’s Bounty Fund.
Many thanks also to these donors (who requested anonymity):
• Sun City, Ariz. $200.
• Carlsborg, $100.
• Sequim, $100.
• Port Angeles, $25.
• Port Angeles, $100. In honor of Kelly German.
• Sequim, $100.
• Port Angeles, $50. In memory of Anna Barrigan.
