PORT TOWNSEND — Christina Ballew found friends in Port Townsend, most of whom she never met.

“I’m very grateful to all the people out there,” she said Thursday. “It’s been the one good thing in my life here in Port Townsend, the help I’ve gotten.”

Ballew fled from a domestic violence situation in India to a job in Port Townsend but after living for some time in a rental that turned out to be infested with mold, she became too ill to work.

“I got really sick, had to leave my job, could barely manage life,” said the 39-year-old woman.

The help she received from the Peninsula Home Fund and programs through Olympic Community Action Programs (OlyCAP) that pay for vouchers for such needs as food, child care, clothing and other necessities, kept her going.

“It was a miracle that lifted a huge weight,” she said.

OlyCAP distributes vouchers to help people in need using money from the Peninsula Home Fund that has been donated to the agency. Case workers often combine several programs to help people in need.

As of Wednesday, in the week before New Year’s weekend, Home Fund donations had reached $111,414.76 for this year..

The annual campaign begins on Thanksgiving and extends through the holiday season. All contributions are federally tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law for the year in which the check is written.

Donations to the Home Fund are neighbors helping neighbors.

The money is used to give people living in Clallam and Jefferson counties “a hand up, not a handout.”

Among the help Ballew received was the ability to have her daughter, now nearly 6, in YMCA while Ballew attends school full-time.

Although she has a master’s in sustainable development — which she used in her job in Port Townsend — she is attending Peninsula College to retrain.

“I’m upgrading skills for this century,” she said.

The help she received also added recovery of her health.

“It took about a year for the mold to get out of my system,” she said. “I don’t have headaches or nausea every day.”

Peninsula Home Fund money allows case workers with OlyCAP to disperse vouchers to North Olympic Peninsula residents from Port Townsend to Forks, from Quilcene and Brinnon to Sequim, Joyce and La Push who are in need.

Donations are for unexpected, emergency expenses that don’t necessarily fit into a category. It can help bridge the gap between making it this month and going under for people who can then continue being or becoming productive members of society.

The donations fund needs ranging from gasoline to get to work, school or medical appointments; rent or utilities; food, clothing or other shortfalls.

Donors can give by mailing checks to the Peninsula Home Fund along with the coupon attached to this story.

They can donate with a credit card online by clicking on the Peninsula Home Fund button on the peninsula dailynews.com homepage. (Scroll way down). Donations also can be made to the Peninsula Home Fund account at any First Fed branch.

Donors are listed in updates published in Peninsula Daily News throughout the campaign, which ends in January. Gifts can be listed anonymously, by name only, by name and amount, or in honor of or in the memory of another.

The only money ever taken from the fund is 10 percent to assist OlyCAP with administrative costs. The rest is for those in need.

How to apply

The best way to request assistance from the Peninsula Home Fund is to fill out an online inquiry.

The “Ask for General Assistance” button at www.olycap.org will take you to the request form.

If you are unable to access the internet, you may call OlyCAP offices in Port Angeles — 360-452-4726 — or Port Townsend — 360-385-2571, regardless of which county you reside in, and the front desk staff will fill it out on your behalf over the phone.

Cherish Cronmiller, OlyCAP’s executive director, oversees disbursements from the Peninsula Home Fund.

Every donation, no matter the size, makes a difference. It creates a safety net for Peninsula residents when there is nowhere else to turn.

From children’s pennies to checks for thousands of dollars, the generosity of Peninsula Daily News readers makes a positive difference.

Donor list for week ending Dec. 19, 2023.

NAME ONLY

• Nick and Sandy Larson, Port Angeles, in memory of Fred Sr. and Bob Michalscheck, and Esther Nelson.

• Diane Jones, Sequim, in memory of Erwin P. Jones Jr., husband.

• Jeanne and David Oldenkamp, Port Angeles.

• Kathleen Young, Port Townsend.

• Roy and Mary Gotham, Sequim.

NAME AND AMOUNT

• Richard and Shyla Wilcox, Port Angeles, $500.

• Ruth Jenkins, Port Angeles, $100.

• Sara Peterson, Sequim, $100, in memory of Solveigh Hoffman.

• David and Lisa Bednarski, Snohomish, $300, in memory of Ron Bednarski.

• Xi Iota Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi , Port Angeles, $200.

• Janis Burger, Port Angeles, $200.

• Richard and Kandy Lohneis, Beaver, $100, in memory of our parents.

• Barbara Vanderwerf, Sequim, $150.

• Pat Flood and Lori Kramer, Port Angeles, $100.

ANONYMOUS

• Port Angeles, $600, in memory of Bal and Jack.

• Port Angeles, $50.

• Sequim, $50.

• Sequim, $500.

• Port Angeles, $500.

• Port Angeles, $150.

• Sequim, $100.

• Sequim, $100.

• Port Angeles, $200.

• Nordland, $300.

• El Dorado Hills, $300.

• Port Angeles, $50.

• $1,000.

• $500.

• Port Angeles, $102.53.

• Port Angeles, $310.

• Port Angeles, $102.53, in honor of Clallam County Veterans.

• Chimacum, $100.

• Severance, $510.65.

• Port Angeles, $102.53, with Noelle Nordstrom.

• Sequim, $510.65, in memory of Mark Jones.

• Port Angeles, $204.56.

• Port Townsend, $153.55.

• Port Townsend, $255.58.

• Sequim, $102.53.