Last-minute contributions are still coming in, but as of our last deposit at First Federal on Thursday, $210,977.35 from people and organizations in Jefferson and Clallam counties had been donated to the Peninsula Daily News’ 2010 “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.
While that’s below the record total amount we received last year, $230,806.95, it’s a terrific amount, and it’s the second year the fund, in its 21st year, has gone over $200,000.
Thank you, North Olympic Peninsula!
Donations of $5 to $25,000
Donations last week ranged from $5 (from a former Home Fund recipient) to $25,000 (from a husband and wife on behalf of a well-known company on the North Olympic Peninsula who asked to be anonymous).
This week we will tally the remainder of donations from our generous readers — and it may approach or exceed last year’s total.
Said Tim Hockett, executive director of nonprofit OlyCAP — Olympic Community Action Programs, the No. 1 emergency care agency in Jefferson and Clallam counties — which manages the fund for the PDN, screening applicants and disbursing the money:
“We have all been expecting that, due to the economy, the Home Fund drive would likely fall far short of prior years.
“But our community has surprised us again.
“Folks here understand that the need for neighbor helping neighbor is more pressing than ever.
“And so the donors to the Peninsula Home Fund have extended their hands once more with unsurpassed generosity.”
Final tally next Sunday
A final total, and a final list of donors and donations, will be published in next Sunday’s PDN and at www.peninsuladailynews.com.
The $230,806.95 raised by the Peninsula Home Fund in 2009 allowed OlyCAP to help more than 2,300 families, many with children, and individuals in 2010.
These are your neighbors with nowhere else to turn, local people that OlyCAP wouldn’t have been able to assist otherwise.
The Peninsula Home Fund — which began in 1989 — is carefully rationed every year.
With heavy demand again this year, only a few dollars are left from the 2009 campaign and will go with the new money right away to make sure no one falls through the cracks during the dark, winter days of January, the most demanding time of the year.
A narrow divide
The distance is often very short between those of us with jobs and homes and medical care — and those Peninsula residents for whom fate has dealt a much different reality.
Peninsula Home Fund workers said they heard heartbreaking stories this year of unexpected poverty and illness — and many recipients were seeking help from the fund for the first time, often because a family member recently lost a job.
Always showing respect and kindness to people who don’t always receive that in their daily lives, Home Fund staff’s most important goal is to get the individual or family through a crisis, and back on the path of self-sufficiency.
Whenever possible, Peninsula Home Fund casemanagers 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.
In addition:
• No money donated to the Home Fund, not one penny, is used for administration or other overhead.
All costs are absorbed by the PDN and OlyCAP.
Your entire donation goes — without any deductions — to help those who are facing times of crisis.
• All contributions to the Peninsula Home Fund are fully IRS tax-deductible.
• Peninsula Home Fund contributions are often used in conjunction with money from other agencies, enabling OlyCAP to stretch the value of the contribution.
• Money is usually distributed in small amounts, usually up to $150.
• Assistance is limited to one time in a 12-month period.
• Home Fund donors’ 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.
Many donors to the Home Fund give their names, some perhaps hoping to spur friends and colleagues to donate, too.
Others, including some of the Peninsula’s most well-known figures, prefer to remain anonymous.
While the vast majority of donations come from Jefferson and Clallam counties, donors (usually former residents) in remote parts of the state and as far away as Tokyo sent checks this year.
Fund never closes
While a final total, and list of last-minute donors and donations, will be in next Sunday’s PDN and www.peninsuladailynews.com, the Peninsula Home Fund itself never closes.
Donations of any amount are always welcome.
Every gift will make a difference in a neighbor’s life.
Donations postmarked after Dec. 31 will go toward the 2011 campaign.
The holiday fund-raising campaign for the Home Fund begins every year on Thanksgiving Day and runs through Dec. 31
Contributions collected before Thanksgiving gave us a running start on the 2010 drive.
Individuals, couples, businesses and school groups contributed more than $15,1350 between Jan. 1 and Nov. 24.
A better future
As in previous years, the PDN did stories every Wednesday and Sunday on how the Peninsula Home Fund works.
Despite the crime, tragedy, controversy and other troubles that daily command our attention, the twice-weekly stories also showed there are countless victories — large and small — being won every day in the lives of real people from Port Townsend to Forks, from Quilcene and Brinnon to LaPush.
Seemingly insurmountable personal demons have been overcome at a pivotal moment with the assistance of the Peninsula Home Fund and OlyCAP’s staffers and volunteers.
The Home Fund is a chance for a better future for children, teens, families and the elderly — when there is nowhere else to turn.
It pays for hot meals for seniors, warm winter coats for kids, transportation, utility deposits, home repairs for the low income, needed eyeglasses and prescription drugs, dental work, safe, drug-free temporary housing . . . the list goes on and on.
To apply for a grant from the fund, phone OlyCAP at 360-452-4726 (Clallam County) or 360-385-2571 (Jefferson County).
If you have any questions about the fund, contact me — John Brewer, Peninsula Daily News editor and publisher — at 360-417-3500.
Or e-mail john.brewer@peninsuladailynews.com.
Contributions so far
Here is a list of donors whose contributions were received between Dec. 23 and Dec. 29 — thank you very much for making a difference in the lives — and futures — of your neighbors:
• Russ Sieber, Port Hadlock — $200. In memory of Donald Krone.
• P.A. & Co. Hair Salon, Port Angeles — $100.
• JC and Pat S., Sequim — $200.Once again, I thank you for all you do for the local people who are in need. 100 percent with no other fees, etc., is truly amazing to me, when you consider the big national funds and their huge salaries paid to CEOs, etc. May God bless you forever. Good job. Well done.
• Bobbie McMahon and Jerry Spieckerman, Port Townsend– $250.
• Paul S. Hanway, Sequim — $50.
• Ellen Gage, Port Angeles — $50.
• Glenn and Beverly Dawson, Port Angeles — $300.
• Randy and Deana Volker, Green Cove Springs — $1,000.
• Colleen Ostrye, Port Angeles — $50. In memory of Dale L. Hickson. I miss you still, my friend.
• Al and Lori Althoff, Sequim — $125
• Donna Frazer, Port Angeles — $200.
• Sharon, Carlsborg — $25. In memory of my friend Julie’s father, Bill Galagon.
• Tom Coville, Port Angeles — $30.
• Clallam County Road Department Employees, Port Angeles — $200.
• J.H. Kelly and Crew at Nippon Paper Industries, Longview — $500.
• Peninsula Daily News staff, Port Angeles, Sequim, Port Townsend — $452.
Many thanks also to these donors (who requested that the amount of their donation be kept private):
• Bryce Fish, Sequim.
• Tom and Jan Kummet, Sequim.
• Bob and Sherry Phillips, Sequim.
• Jim Halvorsen, Port Angeles.
• Kim Kay, Sequim.
• Florence Chamberlain, Port Angeles.
• Dorothea Coe, Port Angeles. In memory of H.E. Coe.
• Bero and Joyce Mestayer, Sequim.
• Jon Purnell and Sherrie Rogers, Port Angeles.
• Robert and Virginia Bowling, Sequim.
• Jeff and Donna Green, Sequim. In honor of our parents.
• Stanley and Mary Lou Johann, Sequim.
• John and Diana Anderson, Sequim.
• Dee and Garry Kispert, Sequim. In honor of Dennis and Mimi Johnson.
• Patsy Busby, Port Angeles. In memory of Wes Gooding.
• Jack and Millie Lyon, Port Angeles.
• Nancy and Ed Grier, Port Angeles.
• Raymond and Peggy Vannausdle, Port Angeles.
• Velma Johnson, Port Angeles. In memory of Corky Johnson.
• Selma Cole, Port Angeles.
• Ricci Molenkamp, Sequim.
• Dale and LaRue Robirts, Sequim. In honor of our 59th wedding anniversary.
• Penny Brewer, Sequim. In remembrance of my beloved David.
• C.M. Engvall and E.P. Schoen, Sequim.
• Gail and Scott Likbrank, Port Angeles. In memory of Rufus, who is greatly missed after 14 years of fun and companionship.
• Timm and Cindy Kelly, Port Angeles. In memory of Kris Fairbanks and Tea Rose Beil.
• Chris Duff, Port Angeles.
• B. Stull, Port Townsend. In honor of George Grams and Geri Ramsey.
• Robert and Hayes Wasilewski, Port Angeles. In memory of our parents.
• Ethel Butler, Port Angeles. In memory of Harold Butler.
• Bud Critchfield, Sequim.
• Tom Bihn Inc., Port Angeles.
• Diane and David Bommer, Port Townsend. In honor of Tom and Pat Moreland.
• Ed Bowlby and Mary Sue Brancato, Sequim.
• Tom Schaafsma, Sequim. In memory of Owen Sumerwell.
• Christina and Brando Blore, Port Angeles.
• Soeren and Connie Poulsen, Sequim.
• Norma Michels, Sequim. In memory of our beloved son, Chad M. Stanislaw.
• Gordon James, Sekiu.
• Miggles Wallace and Ron Shannon, Sequim.
• Rex and Olga Wilson, Port Angeles. In memory of Henry Acevedo, whom we’ll always miss.
• Don and Marilyn Thomas, Sequim. We applaud the scope of your program and firmly believe in it.
• Harold and Shirley Van Riper, Sequim.
• Peter and Judith Shepherd, Port Angeles. In memory of Susan L. Meyer.
• John and Renee Jones, Sequim.
• Bill and Bonnie Dyrness, Sequim.
• Prudence and Mike Nathan, Port Angeles.
• Peninsula Worldwide Church of God, Port Angeles.
• Wayne and Vicky Murphy, Port Angeles.
• Sue and Jason Mayo, Port Angeles.
• J. Schumacher and K. Brevik, Port Townsend. In loving memory of Jay C. Brevik: a great man of gentle strength and a huge and generous heart. He is forever in our memories.
• Birgit Moenig, Sequim. In memory of Sue Lahti.
• Ruth Godfrey, Sequim. In memory of family and friends.
• Virginia Smith, Port Ludlow. In memory of Karen Smith.
• Bob and Mary Brodhan, Port Angeles.
• Dale Cushman, Port Angeles.
• Don Case and Joanne Peterson, Port Townsend.
• Joan Walker, Sequim.
• Amy and Carol DeQuoy, Sequim. In honor of Carol DeQuoy.
• Jackson and Elizabeth Williams, Sequim.
• Pat Gilbert, Port Angeles. In memory of Dorothy, Virginia, Vesta, Anne.
• Steve Moore and Gigi Callaizakis, Port Townsend. In memory of Gus Callaizakis.
• Richard and Annette Bertolina, Port Townsend.
• Jack Dunham, Sequim. In honor of Jean Ernst.
• Florence Marceau, Port Angeles.
• David Martin, Sequim.
• Jane Glass, Sequim.
• Denny, Forks. In memory of Arthur Jesse Stark.
• Patricia L. Nagle, Sequim. In memory of Nelson Briceno.
• Carol and Tom Sinton, Port Angeles. In honor of Mary Sinton.
• Kenneth A. Monds, Port Angeles. In memory of Jim and Mabel Monds.
• Shaun Hubbard, Seattle. In honor of Tom and Robin Swanson.
• James Symes, Sequim.
• Josephine Soltis, Sequim. In memory of Mrs. Linda Henricksen.
• Winifred Mayes, Sequim.
• R.M. Schober, Sequim.
• David W. Hepner, Port Angeles. In honor of William O. Hepner.
• Jeanette and Henry Fischer, Sequim.
Many thanks also to these donors (who requested anonymity):
• Quilcene — $5
• Port Angeles — $25,000.
• Port Angeles — $50.
• Port Angeles — $100.
• Sequim — $50.
• Port Angeles — $20.
• Sequim — $50.
• Nordland — $50.
• Sequim — $40.
• Sequim — $50.
• Sequim — $25.
• Sequim — $210. In memory of Nan and Irene.
• Sequim — $50.
• Port Angeles — $500. In memory of Dennis Venzon.
• Sequim — $100.
• Port Angeles — $200.
• Port Angeles — $150. In honor of Janice and Dan Blazer.
• Port Angeles — $100.
• Port Angeles — $600.
• Port Angeles — $50.
• Port Angeles — $200.
• Sequim — $15.
• Sequim — $50.
• Port Angeles — $100.
• Port Angeles — $150.
• Sequim — $100.
• Sequim — $200.
• Port Angeles — $50. In honor of Golden Agers Club at the Port Angeles Senior Center.
• Port Angeles — $500.
• Sequim — $25.
• Port Angeles — $35.
• Sequim — $100. In memory of Harriette Adams.
• Port Angeles — $100.
• Sequim — $100.
• Port Angeles — $200.
• Port Townsend — $250. In loving memory of Don and Eileen Garling.
• Port Townsend — $400.
• Port Angeles — $500. In honor of those helping others.
• Sequim — $100.
• Sequim — $50.
• Port Angeles — $25. In honor of Bud Kennedy.
• Carlsborg — $100.
• Sequim — $500. In honor of our family.
• Port Angeles — $1,000.
• Port Angeles — $25.
• Port Townsend — $200.
• Port Angeles — $50.
• Port Angeles — $200.
• Sequim — $500.
• Port Angeles — $150.
• Port Angeles — $1,000. In memory of our parents.
• Port Angeles — $50. In memory of Bob and Chris Dalton.
• Carlsborg — $300. In honor of friends and family.
• Sequim — $300. In memory of Dennis Venzon.
_________
HANDWRITING CAN BE hard to decipher at times.
Please report any errors in this list to John Brewer, 360-417-3500 (there’s voicemail if he’s away) — or e-mail him at john.brewer@peninsuladailynews.com.
We’ll rerun the listing correctly.
Our sincerest appreciation again to our donors.
