POULSBO — For yet another year, volunteers at the Bellringer campaign have seen the generosity of the Poulsbo community buoy up their efforts to help North Kitsap neighbors in need.

The annual fund-raising drive for the 52-year-old fund set a $25,000 goal and the community responded by contributing more than $29,500 to Bellringer’s coffers.

In just a few weeks’ time, donations large and small have inched the total contributions closer and closer until the “bell” was rung yet again.

Last year, community members donated about $32,000 toward the fund’s $25,000 goal.

The Bellringer Fund was begun 52 years ago by Frank and Mabel Raab to help Poulsbo area neighbors in need. Most often, the bell was rung by the Raabs and other community volunteers to alert neighbors to needs in the community. The most common needs included families being burned out of their homes by a fire, or individuals falling on hard times after World War I and II who needed assistance with food and shelter.

Today, the fund is administered through the Raab Foundation by volunteers from the Poulsbo Noon Lions club but its vision remains the same as ever — to help community members through their darkest times.

Throughout the year in 2003, an estimated 350 local families were helped with one-time emergencies by the Bellringer Fund. Assistance includes things like food, rent, utilities, medication and even emergency transportation.

The Poulsbo Noon Lions also furnished 100 Christmas food baskets through Fishline Food Bank this holiday season with funding from the Bellringer Fund.

Though this annual fund-raising campaign has now come to an end, Bellringer volunteers would like to remind the community that they can contribute to this community safety net at any time of the year.

Tax-deductible donations can be mailed to the Bellringer Fund at P.O. Box 1244, Poulsbo, WA 98370. This P.O. Box is maintained and checked by Bellringer volunteers year round.

The phone number for any North Kitsap resident to request assistance from the Bellringer Fund is (360) 697-6078.

Volunteers ask that those leaving a message on the system not call from a phone with caller ID and allow a day or two for volunteers to get back to them.