Opinion - Top opinion

POSTED: Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009

Extend-a-Hand a chance to give a community gift

The real purpose of the holidays is simple - continue the thousands-of-years-old tradition of offering gifts as a way to honor something, or someone, important.

There are so many ways to do that: a simple card to a special friend expressing love; a toy given to a child that brings a magnificent smile; that perfect gift that tells your spouse that you understand their needs.

Community gifts, in the form of donations to social service agencies who feed and clothe and help house Whatcom County's needy, are always a great reflection of the gift-giving spirit.

As we have for many years, our newspaper offers a way for you to give a community gift this fall. For many years we have operated a fund that gives money to people who have specific needs not covered by other social service agencies.

In the last year, generous citizens gave nearly $45,000 to the Extend-a-Hand program, which accepts donations starting on Thanksgiving. All of the money goes to residents in need because The Bellingham Herald covers all administration costs.

We work with the Opportunity Council on Extend-a-Hand. The Opportunity Council is one of our community's most important non-profit organizations, focusing on helping homeless and low-income people get services to help themselves live and succeed. We promote and pay administrative costs for Extend-a-Hand and the Opportunity Council officials assess needs and collect and distribute funds.

Officials tell us that about 80 percent of last year's funds were used for housing programs, especially for the "eviction prevention" program, which helps people who are in danger of losing their housing and becoming homeless.

In the past, people typically needed such help when they were getting by paycheck-to-paycheck but were hit with a large, unexpected expense, such as medical bills. In recent times, with the sour economy, more people need rent support because their job situation is troublesome - with layoffs or reductions of available work hours, we are told. That is, unfortunately, too common of a story in our current economic malaise.

We encourage those have the ability to give the gift of a donation to Extend-a-Hand again this holiday season.

TO HELP:

Donations to Extend-a-Hand should be mailed or delivered to: Extend-a-Hand, c/o Opportunity Council, 1111 Cornwall Ave., Suite C, Bellingham, WA 98225. Credit card donations are accepted.