Neighbor Aid a success: raises more than $65,000
Published 2:56 pm Friday, February 13, 2009
By Mark Ince
ShareNet Executive Director
As we review our busy holiday season, ShareNet is overwhelmed with gratitude for the incredible support we received from our entire community, both in terms of our Neighbor Aid 2008 fundraiser and the food we distributed at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We anticipated donations would be down due to the economy, and Kingston proved us wrong in a big way. The final total donated is $65,131, not only exceeding our initial goal of $50,000, but more than doubling last year’s giving. Your donations assured that ShareNet was able to provide a holiday to many people who otherwise would not have had one, and allow us to continue our year-round quality assistance into 2009.
The troubled economy may have actually worked in our favor in that stories of agencies like ours and the people we serve were perhaps more visible than ever, and felt closer to home as probably most everyone in the community experienced financial reversals of one kind or another.
What’s amazing is that even people experiencing this difficulty found a way, or a place or time, to donate. Donations came to us in just about every manner you could think of: through our food barrels and marketing displays scattered at retailers and other businesses throughout the community; through the mail and in-person drop-offs; through local schools and employers; and through organizations and foundations, some even outside our community, who learned of the work ShareNet does.
The efforts of many individuals and teams went into making such a successful fundraiser, first and foremost our donors and volunteers. We’ve attempted to list all donors and participating businesses below but I know inevitably we will overlook someone who really helped out. Many donors chose to remain anonymous. Either way, we know no one did it for the recognition, but rather to forward their generosity to community members in need. Happily, no one who works or volunteers here does it for the recognition either; we are just the vehicle through which this assistance is provided.
Because their names won’t appear below, I must thank Barbara Brumagin and Rex Gallaher, ShareNet Board members who were driving forces in this campaign (Barb for her planning and always able assistance and Rex for handling the barrels) and Rebecca Pirtle and Donna Etchey of Kingston Community News, our partner in this fundraiser and the chief reason Neighbor Aid 2008 was so visible. Also a great big thanks to our onsite staff for all the extra work required during the holidays: Kathy Melseth, Food Bank Manager, Karen Tague and Amy Phillips, Thrift Store co-Managers, our intern Kim Thompson, Scott and Julie Snyder for the campaign’s graphic design, and of course all our great volunteers who give their time and heart week after week.
