Hanukkah started Tuesday night, and Santa Claus will be visiting Northeast homes in a week. Besides exchanging gifts, local folks are looking forward to sharing meals with loved ones.
However, the Christmas and Hanukkah seasons are not happy ones for all. There are many Northeast individuals and families who cannot afford to buy gifts or food for holiday dinners.
In the last couple of months, we’ve received letters and emails from these people.
They include a Holmesburg woman whose husband has had a stroke, making it even harder for her to provide for her daughter and three grandchildren; a Wissinoming woman with a deteriorating health condition who wants to give her 5-year-old son a nice Christmas; and a Tacony woman whose husband was in a bad car accident, making it hard for them to keep their home and make Christmas joyous for their four children.
At the Northeast Times, our Eleanor Smylie Community Fund has helped people for 66 years during the holiday season.
Each year, the Times asks its readers to contribute to the fund. All money collected is used to buy gift cards to give to those struggling, so they can provide holiday dinners and gifts.
The Times will publish your name in a list of donors. If you prefer to donate anonymously, we will honor that request.
In 2013, the Times mailed more than $9,600 in gift cards to individuals and social service organizations that help the less fortunate during the holidays.
If you are able to make a donation, it can be sent to:
Eleanor Smylie Community Fund
3412 Progress Drive, Suite C; Bensalem, PA 19020
If you would like to request help, or if you know of someone who could use assistance during the holidays, please write a letter to the same address or email [email protected]
Include a name and contact information for an agency or person for verification.
Here are some of the contributors to this year’s fund:
• Irvin and Nadalee Farber $50
• James Albert $15
• Fred and Gertrude Loeble $25
• Sharon and Richard Bradshaw $30
• Anonymous $50
• Shirley Quirus $50
• Kathleen Zolkowski $5
• Roslyn and Rand Feldman $25
• In memory of Brian Colalongo $25
• In memory of Robert L. Gill Jr. $40
• Sophie Mansfield $20
• In memory of Margaret A. Magee and Richard C. Magee $100
• Jane Lambing $20
• Stuart Levin $10
• In memory of John W. McGowan Sr. $100
• Adrienne Saddington $20
• Frances Petrella $10
• Jeffrey George $10
• Anonymous $20
• Oscar Sako $5
• David Campbell $50
• Anonymous $20
• Gia and Mena Porreca $25
• William and Bonnie Hughes $100
• Helen Maclain $25
• H. Mary Buda $72
• Anonymous $50
• West Family $40
• Bela Princz $100
• Anonymous $50
• Joseph Karwoski $15
• In memory of Margaret O’Hagen $25
• In memory of Bill Sr. $25
• Mystic Lodge 270 $200
• Felicia Dooley $50
• Linda Reichert $20
• Anonymous $1,200
• Anonymous $500
• Steven and Sylvia Mayover $50
• Mr. and Mrs. Mikutis $100
• Walter and Virginia Rininsland $25
• Jacquelynn and Philip Diaz $25
• In memory of Ethel and the Harding family $30
• In memory of Margaret Evans-Tarpinian $25
• In memory of Frank and Elva Kister $50
• In memory of George and Helen Schweizer $50 ••
