Give A Christmas challenge could push funds to goal to help in Bucks County
If the Bucks County Opportunity Council and the Levittown-Bristol Kiwanis Club reach their goals from last year to raise money to help county residents in need, Gene and Marlene Epstein will donate an extra $25,000 to each of their drives for this year's Give A Christmas collection.
Give A Christmas is sponsored by the service organizations with the help of The Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer. The current drive is continuing into January and the Epsteins will donate the $50,000 from their Humanitarian Fund if other organizations and businesses can help the BCOC and Kiwanis meet last year's collections again this year.
"It's my incentive to the public who care to make their donation ...People are hungry all year long," Gene Epstein said in a phone interview.
Epstein had given out $100 bills to people at a BCOC event before Christmas, as he has for the past several years, and he got 88 thank you notes back. "Some are so emotional," he said, concerned that $100 could mean that much to so many people.
"It felt great we did it," he said.
The Epsteins use proceeds from the sale of their antique cars to fund their charitable work.
So, get those personal and business checkbooks and credit cards out, Bucks County, and make a donation of any amount to the ongoing drives.
In Lower Bucks, the Kiwanis need to collect a total of $113,372 to meet the Epsteins' challenge. In Central and Upper Bucks, the BCOC needs to raise $175,000.
BCOC uses the funds all year to help people who need financial assistance and live and work in the county and surrounding area.
The Kiwanis Club has given out 4,000 vouchers for $35 each to families with children and senior citizens in need, said Mary Berman who coordinates the drive for the Kiwanis Club. The vouchers can be used at supermarkets and stores that honor them.
The All Fresh supermarket in Bristol is newly named and with new owners. But at the holidays, it wants to continue a service the former Selecto supermarket there started in allowing families with Give A Christmas vouchers to use them in the market.
"Since we're new here, we wanted to continue the tradition that Selecto did. It's just to help the community," said Cristina Torres, the store manager.
All Fresh joins Acme, Redner's, Barnes & Noble and Burlington in accepting the vouchers for food and merchandise provided through the Give A Christmas donations of other area residents. The drive is sponsored in Lower Bucks by the Levittown Bristol Kiwanis Club and the Bucks County Courier Times and in Central and Upper Bucks by the Bucks County Opportunity Council and the Courier's sister news organization, The Intelligencer.
Donate in Lower Bucks: Help Give A Christmas to Bucks County neighbors in need
The Kiwanis have held the drive each year since 1958 and have collected more than $5.3 million to help those in need. This year's goal is $125,000, though Epstein will make his donation if it reaches the $113,372 total from last year. The drive runs into January and donations are tax deductible.
As of Dec. 27, it has collected $88,969.50, including a $15,000 personal check that an anonymous donor from Falls Township sent in late last week with a simple message: "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all."
Donate to GAC in Central Bucks: Help Give A Christmas to Central and Upper Bucks County neighbors in need
GAC contributions tax deductible
In Central and Upper Bucks, the BCOC/Intelligencer drive has collected $102,667 so far this year.
"We are hopeful that as 2023 comes to an end, we will continue to see gifts come in as families make their end of the year giving decisions. Even though the program is called Give a Christmas, BCOC uses the funds all year long to help families in Central and Upper Bucks and Montgomery County with housing issues, utility bills and other emergencies," said BCOC Director of Development Joseph Cuozzo.
The BCOC drive, which started in 1988, has raised more than $3.95 million in contributions so far. Donations to this 501c3 charity are tax deductible.
Cuozzo pointed out that year after year, individual donors and "local companies like Sherman Engineering, Melmark, and groups of employees like staff at Merrill Lynch here in Doylestown with their matching gifts really make a difference to the program.
"We couldn't do this without them," he said.
Donation forms for the Kiwanis drive can be downloaded here, or found in the printed Bucks County Courier Times. Please send to Give A Christmas, P.O. Box 862, Levittown, PA 19058. Donate online here.
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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Give A Christmas still collecting donations; Epstein steps in
