Donations support local community programs
With just one week to go, the Weekly's annual Holiday Fund appears to be falling some distance short of its $300,000 goal -- possibly reflecting the one-two punch of an economic slowdown and "donor fatigue" after hurricane and earthquake disaster-relief efforts in recent months.
The fund as of Wednesday had received $130,144 from 563 donors, which brings the total with matching funds from local foundations to $222,144, according to Amy Renalds, the Weekly's assistant to the publisher, who coordinates the annual drive.
The funds each year are awarded in modest-sized grants to local nonprofit organizations for specific programs or projects that benefit children and families in the Palo Alto area. Some funds are held in reserve for emergency grants during the year and for a scholarship for a deserving young person bound for college.
A special reception is held each April, at which the grants are announced.
"Without these funds, many child-oriented programs would simply not exist, or would serve fewer people," Weekly Publisher Bill Johnson said of the fund, now in its 12th year.
"While we understand that this is a difficult year for raising funds, many of our nonprofit organizations are already hurting -- and falling short with the Holiday Fund will hurt them even more," Johnson said.
The Weekly covers all overhead costs of the fundraising effort each year, so 100 percent of donations are delivered to the grant recipients, Johnson noted.
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