EDITOR’S NOTE: For 24 years, Peninsula Daily News readers in Jefferson and Clallam counties have supported the “hand up, not a handout” Peninsula Home Fund.

More information about how the Home Fund operates and who benefits from our readers’ generosity, plus a list of new donors, will appear Sunday.

By John Brewer

Publisher and Editor, Peninsula Daily News

A note written in pencil accompanied by a check for $100 arrives every year as Christmas nears.

This year, the note read:

Peninsula Home Fund:

I hope this will provide some help to those who are struggling in these tough economic times.

The Sequim widower who wrote the note has contributed to the fund for 12 straight years.

For him, he says, the Home Fund is about “standing up and being counted.”

He says it’s about making a “powerful gift that needs no wrapping paper.”

He carves the $100 out of a tight household budget, and he always wants the donation to be anonymous.

He’ll be in the “anonymous” portion of this coming Sunday’s list of Home Fund contributors, his donation in the PDN simply noted as “Sequim — $100” with his message.

A donor from Port Townsend gave $70.70 to the Home Fund. She also included a note:

I know what it’s like.

It was about 50 years ago.

I want to do my part to improve someone’s future.

A few years back, a $10 bill arrived, accompanied by an unsigned note in an envelope postmarked Long Beach, Calif.:

Dear Everybody at the Peninsula Home Fund:

You helped me in 2006.

Now I want to return the favor. I wish it was more, but it is all I can afford.

I want to help others in need. Thank you so much.

In addition to those whose gifts to the Home Fund are accompanied by notes expressing goodwill and compassion for their neighbors, many residents designate their contributions in memory of loved ones.

For some, the grief is fresh.

For others, the fund has become a way to honor their friend or family member each year during the holiday season.

In memory of . . .

In honor of . . .

For Grandpa, who served his country and community with honor . . .

A gift honoring our grandchildren . . .

This is what Christmas is all about . . .

The list of Home Fund donors in the PDN every Sunday is tangible evidence and a historical record of the thoughtfulness and caring of our Peninsula community.

The Peninsula Home Fund — a safety net for local residents when there is nowhere else to turn — is seeking contributions for its annual holiday season fundraising campaign that runs from Thanksgiving through Dec. 31.

From Port Townsend to Forks, from Quilcene and Brinnon to Sequim and LaPush, the Home Fund is a “hand up, not a handout” for children, teens, families and the elderly to get through an emergency situation.

Money from the Home Fund goes for hot meals for seniors, meeting rent, energy and transportation needs, warm winter coats for kids, home repairs for the low-income, needed eyeglasses and prescription drugs, dental work, safe and drug-free temporary housing . . . the list goes on and on.

So far this year, the Home Fund has helped almost 3,000 individuals and families in Jefferson and Clallam counties.