Every year the Bucks County Road Runners seeks to collect donations from Winter Series participants at the Jingle Bell Run so that we can help families in need this Christmas. Last year we collected $550 which we gave to the Bucks County Courier Times Give a Christmas Fund. For those who aren’t aware of what the Give a Christmas Fund does, below is an excerpt from a recent editorial from Tuesday’s Courier Times:
“Give A Christmas is not just about Christmas. It helps anyone in need, regardless of their faith or politics. Anyone can fall on hard times….
The generous readers of the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer have, over the years, raised more than $7.5 million for their neighbors.
The Courier Times partners with the Levittown-Bristol Kiwanis Club to collect donations and distribute them in the form of $25 vouchers for children in struggling families in Lower Bucks County. Those vouchers are redeemable at businesses like Acme, Burlington stores and Barnes & Noble.
The Intelligencer’s fund is administered by the Bucks County Opportunity Council and the Keystone Opportunity Council to help us identify children from needy families in Bucks and Eastern Montgomery counties. It provides families with help buying gifts and groceries as well as medical bills and rental assistance.
Over the life of the program — 61 years for the Courier and 31 for The Intell — the community has donated generously. But, for the last few years, expenses have exceeded income, meaning the requests for help have outpaced donations. And, so far this year, the trend appears to be continuing. On Wednesday, The Intelligencer passed the halfway mark on the way to its $140,000 fundraising goal. But the Courier Times, where the goal is $120,000, was still shy of $60,000 as of Friday.
To those who’ve donated, we thank you. To those who haven’t, please consider a contribution that will help needy families in our community. Give A Christmas is not just about Christmas. It helps anyone in need, regardless of their faith or politics. Anyone can fall on hard times.