EDITOR’S NOTE: For 27 years, Peninsula Daily News readers in Jefferson and Clallam counties have supported the “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.
Today, we feature another in a series of articles on how the fund operates and who benefits from our readers’ generosity.
To donate online by credit card, visit https://secure.peninsuladailynews.com/homefund.
J’Dai Bower’s life started to change for the better after going to the Olympic Community Action Programs’ Head Start in Sequim to inquire about child care services.
“I learned about all these amazing resources available” to help struggling single mothers like herself, said Bower, who is 22 and lives in Sequim.
She immediately enrolled her family in Early Childhood Services.
Through it, her children qualify to take part in the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program and Head Start.
Both are free educational services and support systems offered to low-income families with children 5 and younger.
Bower also enrolled in the Home Care Assistance program, in which a counselor visits the home once a week to offer family support, including help accessing resources and social service.
Counselors also help parents like Bower know whether their children are developing physically, mentally and emotionally within the normal range of their age groups.
Bower already knew her toddler’s speech was far below the norm for his age but said she did not realize there were programs in place to help him.
Thus, she said, becoming part of the program was one of the “best decisions I’ve made.”
Those visits with a counselor have “helped me learn how to be a better parent” to Liam, 3, and her newborn son, Hayden, Bower said.
Jobless, Bower was encouraged to take part in a class that helps participants prepare for job interviews.
Part of the program, she said, included “showing up looking professional, and I didn’t have anything to wear.”
That is when the Peninsula Home Fund provided a voucher for $50 to purchase work clothes from a thrift store.
She beamed with pride when sharing the professional outfit she purchased, saying it was “really helpful” because it helped her get a job as a store cashier.
The Home Fund also provided $150 in gift cards to help her purchase groceries, diapers and formula.
Combined with the clothing voucher, she received $200 from the Home Fund.
OlyCAP is the No. 1 emergency-care agency on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Among its many services and responsibilities, it manages the Peninsula Daily News’ Peninsula Home Fund, screens the applicants in Clallam and Jefferson counties, carefully disburses the funds and provides life-changing counseling and services to struggling families who need “a hand up, not a handout” to overcome a crisis.
Funding comes from generous community members donating to the Peninsula Daily News’ fund.
Assistance is provided for basic living expenses such as rent, utilities, energy, food, prescriptions, gasoline and public transportation.
Bower said that prior to becoming a mother, she “didn’t want help from anyone.”
Now that she has received it, she is “extremely touched because someone out there cares and wants to be supportive of someone they don’t even know.”
A former Sequim High School honor roll student who was shy just five credits of graduating, she said, Bower now plans to get a General Educational Development (GED) certificate through a Peninsula College program.
During the weekly home visits, her counselor has “become like a real friend to me,” she said, with the two often sitting together to brainstorm different ways to teach Liam to speak.
At 3 years old, he “barely spoke a word,” Bower said.
“I’d talk his ear off and get nothing back,” she lamented.
Her counselor helped her find a speech therapist and get a specialist’s evaluation.
Liam now attends a developmental preschool in the mornings before he attends Head Start in the afternoon.
Liam has made great gains in his speech and behavior, his mother said.
He can count with numbers, say his ABCs, differentiate colors and shapes and “all kinds of good stuff.”
“He’s learning so quickly now. It’s amazing,” Bower said.
“Yesterday, he said, ‘I love you,’ for the first time, and it seems like forever that I’ve been waiting to hear that from him.
“It made me so happy, I wanted to cry.”
Her entire family is doing much better now, she said, thanks to help from OlyCAP and the Home Fund. For that, she said, she is “very grateful.”
Peninsula’s safety net
The Peninsula Home Fund — a safety net for local residents when they suddenly face an emergency situation and can’t find help elsewhere — is seeking contributions for its annual holiday season fundraising campaign.
From Port Townsend to Forks, from Quilcene and Brinnon to Sequim and LaPush, money from the fund is used for hot meals for seniors; warm winter coats for kids; home repairs for a low-income family; needed prescription drugs; dental work; safe, drug-free temporary housing; eyeglasses — the list goes on and on.
■ Assistance usually averages less than $100. The average amount of help this year has been $70 per person.
The maximum allowance per year is $350 per household.
■ All instances of help are designed to get an individual or family through a crisis — and back on the path to self-sufficiency.
Home Fund case managers often work with each individual or family to develop a plan to become financially stable — and avoid a recurrence of the emergency that prompted aid from the fund.
As needed, Peninsula Home Fund contributions are often used in conjunction with money from churches, service clubs and other donors, enabling OlyCAP to stretch the value of the contribution.
The goal again: “a hand up, not a handout.”
■ No money is deducted by the Peninsula Daily News for administration fees or any other overhead.
Every penny goes to OlyCAP.
The money goes to help the most vulnerable members of our community, from infants to families to seniors.
■ All contributions are IRS tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law for the year in which the check is written.
Your personal information is kept confidential.
PDN and OlyCAP do not rent, sell, give or otherwise share your address or other information with anyone or make any other use of it.
Out of money Dec. 31
Since its beginning in 1989, the fund has relied on the support of Jefferson and Clallam residents.
Individuals, couples, businesses, churches, organizations and school groups set a new record for contributions in 2014 — $271,981 — smashing the old record of $268,389 set Dec. 31, 2013.
As of Nov. 15, approximately $205,000 has been spent for Home Fund grants.
Most all of the remaining money — $75,000 — is expected to be spent before Dec. 31.
How to apply for a Home Fund grant
To apply for a Peninsula Home Fund grant, contact one of the three OlyCAP offices:
■ OlyCAP’s Port Angeles office is at 228 W. First St., Suite J (Armory Square Mall); 360-452-4726. For Port Angeles- and Sequim-area residents.
■ Its Port Townsend office is at 823 Commerce Loop; 360-385-2571. For Jefferson County residents.
■ The Forks office is at 421 Fifth Ave.; 360-374-6193. For West End residents.
Leave a message in the voice mail box at any of the three numbers, and a Home Fund caseworker will phone you back.
OlyCAP’s website: www.olycap.org; email: action@olycap.org.
If you have any questions about the fund, phone Terry Ward, PDN publisher, at 360-417-3500. Or email tward@peninsuladailynews.com.
Contributions so far
A number of generous individuals and organizations have been donating money to the Peninsula Home Fund since the first of the year.
While most of the money is raised between Thanksgiving and Dec. 31, the fund itself never closes.
Donations of any amount are always welcome.
To donate online by credit card, please click on www.secure.peninsuladailynews.com/homefund.
Below is the first half of the list of the donors whose contributions were processed between Dec. 9 and Dec. 15:
Thank you very much for making a difference in the lives — and futures — of your neighbors:
• Sequim Seventh-day Adventist Church, Sequim – $515.
• Earl and Becky Archer, Sequim – $200.
• Randy and Jane Priest, Sequim – $100.
• Bonnie Svardal, Sequim – $50.
• Bill and Jeanne Manzer, Sequim – $200.
• AFSCME Union, Port Angeles – $400. This donation is brought to you by: The City of Port Angeles Public Works and Utilities Employees Union, The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Union Local 1619.
• Heien Family, Sequim – $215. In honor of Irene and Rita.
• Gerald and Charlotte Pierce, Sequim – $100.
• Jennifer Swenson, Sequim – $100. In honor of Richard Swenson.
• Yvonne Dillon and Daniel Zimm, Port Townsend – $100.
• Mark and Diana Schildknecht, Sequim – $250. In memory of Francis Bishop, Thaddeus S. Smith, Richard B. Anderson and Marvin G. Shields, Medal of Honor heroes from the North Olympic Peninsula.
Many thanks also to these donors (who requested that the amount of their donation be kept private):
• Paul D. Rogland, Port Townsend.
• Dan and Esther Darrow, Port Ludlow.
• Joanne D.
• Susan and Stan Kriegel, Port Ludlow. In memory of Tim Davis.
• Monte Rivett, Port Angeles. In honor of Pauline Daniel.
• Ellen Dustman, Port Townsend. Thanks for this great work. I love reading the stories in the paper of everyone being helped.
• Gwen Lovett, Port Townsend.
• Marjorie Faires, Port Angeles.
• Rich and Carol Norseen, Sequim.
• Dana and Sally Dolloff, Jacksonville, Fla.
• Randi and Heather Hansen, Port Angeles. In memory of Phyllis and Gloria, gone to soon.
• E.C. and Jean Gockerell, Sequim. In memory of Carl Gockerell.
• Roger and Maura Oakes, Port Angeles. In memory of Merrill and Roberta Oakes.
• Mr. and Mrs. Irving Hackett, Sequim.
• Donna M. Campbell, Sequim.
• John R. and Jannine M. Norvell, Sequim.
• David and JoAnne Stewart, Sequim.
• William and Margaret Klover, Port Angeles.
• Darlene Jones, Port Angeles. In honor of Jim and Jeremy Jones.
• Doug McClary, Sequim. In honor of members of the U.S. Military, past and present.
• Don and Vicki Hinrichsen, Port Angeles.
• Bengt and Ann Nilsson, Sequim.
• Michael Witkin, Port Angeles.
• Bob and Verna Edwards, Port Angeles.
• Barbara Brittingham, Port Angeles. In memory of my sisters, Joan and Laurie.
• William and Carol Peet, Port Angeles.
• Lois Myren, Port Angeles. In memory of my husband, Budd Myren.
• Paul Forrest and Gail McDonald, Port Angeles.
• Barb and Mack Boelling, Port Townsend.
• Paul Howard, Port Angeles.
• Sandy Cudd, Port Angeles. In memory of Doug and Carole Cudd.
• Jake and Louise Marley, Port Townsend.
• Soeren and Connie Poulsen, Sequim.
• Beth Lorber, Port Townsend.
• Harry and Pam Grandstrom, Sequim. In memory of our parents.
• Richard and Karen Grennan, Sequim. In loving memory of Mimi, Mom, Aunt Helen, Gail, Ruthie and Sydney.
• Darryl Huddleston, Sequim.
• Layton Carr, Sequim.
• Brando and Christina Blore, Port Angeles.
• Hannah F. Singhose, Port Angeles. In memory of missing my dear friend, “sister” Donna.
• Dan and Judy Hendrickson, Port Angeles.
• Robert and Sheila Becker, Port Angeles.
• LaRue Robirts, Sequim. In memory of Dale and Andrew Robirts.
• Norma Peirce and Sharon Hall, Sequim.
• Cathy and Ron Grant, Sequim.
• Robbin and Patricia Hammel, Port Angeles.
• Eldora Pederson, Port Angeles.
• Jill Blake, Sequim.
• Shirley Van Riper, Sequim.
• Nydia and Thomas Levick, Sequim. In memory of Dal Kilmer.
• Malcolm Alexander, Port Angeles.
• Emogene Herb, Sequim. In memory of Jay and Randy Herb.
• George and Jolie Will, Sequim.
• Joseph Cress and Elaine Peaslee, Sequim. In memory of Jenny Cress.
• Muriel Faunce, Port Angeles.
• Dan and Janet Gouin, Port Angeles.
• Beth and Jim Garifalos, Sequim.
• Richard and Etta Mac Donald, Port Ludlow.
• Lorna Konopaski, Port Angeles. In honor of Warren Konopaski.
• Mel and Vicci Rudin, Port Angeles.
• Dorothy G. Field, Port Angeles.
• Barbara L. Baker, Sequim. In memory of Cy Severson.
• Hazel Vail, Port Angeles. In memory of Ken Vail.
Many thanks also to these donors (who requested anonymity):
• Cincinnati, $1,000.
• Sequim, $100.
• Port Angeles, $500.
• Port Angeles, $500.
• Port Angeles, $15.
• Sequim, $50.
• Port Angeles, $50.
• Port Angeles, $100.
• Sequim, $100. In honor of Sunland Golf Club’s, Ed Elro and John Smith.
• Sequim, $100.
• Port Ludlow, $30.
• Port Angeles, $100. In honor of peace, justice and love.
• Port Angeles, $100.
• Port Angeles, $50.
• Sequim, $100. In memory of Roy Robinson.
• Port Angeles, $50.
• Carlsborg, $100. In memory of Barbra Vance.
• Port Angeles, $1,000.
Sequim, $50. The story of LeeAnn Daniels touched our hearts. I hope she’s getting the help she needs.
• Sequim, $100.
• Sequim, $100.
• Sequim, $100.
• Port Angeles, $75.
• Sequim, $100.
• Port Angeles, $150.
• Sequim, $50.
• Port Angeles, $25.
• Port Angeles, $100.
• Port Townsend, $300.
• Sequim, $25.
• Port Angeles, $100.
• Sequim, $25.
EVEN THE BEST handwriting can be hard to decipher at times.
Please report any errors in this list to Terry Ward, 360-417-3500 (there’s voice mail if he’s away), or email him at tward@peninsuladailynews.com.
We’ll rerun the listing correctly.
Our sincerest appreciation again to our donors.
