HOW IT WORKS
Between now and Dec. 31st, The Patriot Ledger will bring you stories about South Shore people in need this holiday season.
The money you give will be used to help meet the needs of the people we write about and of many other of our neighbors who are struggling this holiday season. The Lend a Hand fund will share your donations among long-established and wide-reaching community service agencies. Our partners again this year are Quincy Community Action, South Shore Community Action and South Shore Mental Health.
Individuals and families whose stories you read have been chosen by the agencies as representatives of their hundreds of clients who live, work and attend school on the South Shore.
You can make a Lend a Hand donation online, or with the Lend a Hand coupon provided below for you to print out and send in with your donation those in need this holiday season.
Lend a Hand accepts monetary donations only. Administrative costs are absorbed by The Patriot Ledger and the agencies, which means 100% of the money raised benefits needy people in our city and towns.
We will publish the names of all contributors and the amount of their donations as an acknowledgment of their gifts. You may also make donations anonymously, or in memory of a loved one.
If you have any questions about Lend a Hand, please call The Patriot Ledger at 617-786-7022.
Donate online
Donate by phone
Printable coupon
ABOUT LEND A HAND
The Patriot Ledger founded Lend a Hand as a non-profit organization in 1998 to raise money to help our neighbors with needs that weren't addressed by other social service programs. Working with a small group of established community service agencies, we found people with compelling stories and wrote about them, then invited our readers to open their hearts and wallets. We acknowledged each donation in the paper.
Our first story was about a carpenter with five young children who was injured in a fall and did not have disability insurance. Our readers helped him build an addition to his home. Later we wrote about a couple struggling to provide for their prematurely born triplets, and young boy with a chronic illness unable to provide medicine he desperately needed. We told the story of a 63-year-old man with disabilities whose only wish was to live independently in his family home. Over the past eight years, we have written more than 200 stories about families in need. The money from our readers has provided everything from furniture and refrigerators to wheelchair lifts and orthopedic shoes. We also help people on the verge of homelessness to pay overdue rents and mortgages, and we help pay for housing for people in shelters, along with more prosaic needs such as car repairs, heating bills and winter clothing.
Children pass the hat in school. Church and civic groups chip in generously. Organizations hold special events. Businesses run special collections. Individual readers give in honor or in memory of loved ones. Some of the most touching contributions have been for small amounts, given to remember victims of September 11, police and firefighters and U.S. soldiers. It is especially rewarding to receive donations and notes from people who were helped in the past, and who are now able to return the favor. Even more satisfying is that this seems to be new money, not just donations deflected from other worthy charities. We have tapped into a strong desire to help neighbors.
The response has been heart-warming. From $89,000 in 1998, we have watched the total swell by the year. In 2006 we raised a record $250,910. The downturn in the economy, while creating a greater need for help, has hurt our fundraising over the past two years, but we are hoping to turn the corner in 2009. Although we don't set goals, the $2 million mark is within reach and we wouldn't mind getting there by New Year's Day.
All donations are tax-deductible. To make it easier for online readers to help, we have a secure Internet site for credit card donations. Most credit card companies charge a small fee for that service. With that exception, every penny raised by Lend a Hand goes directly to help people in need.
Thank you for your support in the past. We hope you will consider helping out again this year.
FOR HELP
If you need help, please contact the appropriate agency, not The Patriot Ledger.
QUINCY AREA: Quincy Community Action Program, 617-479-8181, Ext. 356
PLYMOUTH AREA: South Shore Community Action, 508-747-7575, Ext. 257
MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES: South Shore Mental Health, 617-847-1915
