Contributions are still coming in, but as of Thursday night, $147,964.35 from people and organizations in Jefferson and Clallam counties had been donated to the Peninsula Daily News’ 2006 “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.

It’s a new record.

Donations last week included checks and money orders from $15 to $1,105 from PDN readers from Port Townsend to Port Angeles to Oxnard, Calif.

Said Tim Hockett, executive director of nonprofit OlyCAP – Olympic Community Action Programs, the No. 1 emergency care agency in Jefferson and Clallam counties – which manages the fund for the PDN:

“The amount collected will allow us to help more people, and many more families.”

Each contribution makes a tangible difference, with no deductions for administration or overhead.

Said Hockett:

“In the past week alone, donors to the Home Fund, through the expert offices of OlyCAP, helped warm the hearts of more than 30 households from Forks to Port Angeles to Sequim to Port Townsend.

“It is a tribute to the character of this community.”