Students, Families Need Your Help

NWA Media’s Community Christmas Card gives readers a chance to help needy families in their community through donations to Northwest Arkansas school districts.
NWA Media’s Community Christmas Card gives readers a chance to help needy families in their community through donations to Northwest Arkansas school districts.

At A Glance

Community Christmas Card

How To Give

Donations can be sent to P.O Box 1607 in Fayetteville, AR 72707.

Donations also will be accepted at all NWA Media offices, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday:

• Bentonville: 104 S.W. A St.

• Fayetteville: 212 N. East Ave.

• Rogers: 313 S. Second St.

• Springdale: 2560 N. Lowell Road

Individuals also can donate online at nwaonline.com/christmascard

Source: Staff Report

Community Christmas Card Helps Those In Crisis

Imagine a teenager who is homebound and taking seven medications a day for an injury while friends are playing basketball or looking forward to a ski vacation with family over the winter break from school.

Imagine being hospitalized two weeks before Christmas for an unknown condition and your parents are making huge sacrifices to be at your bedside.

Meanwhile, utility bills pile up or there’s no money for the co-pays you need for your medical doctor or counseling sessions.

In Fayetteville, families turn to the district’s Safety Net for help with utility bills and doctor visit co-pays and other needs.

Safety Net, which also helps Fayetteville students with fees to participate in extracurricular activities, exists because of the generosity of residents who contribute to the fund through the Community Christmas Card. Donations to the Community Christmas Card have reached more than $10,900 this year.

Students in Springdale and other Washington County school districts are provided food, clothing and school supplies through the donations of the Community Christmas Card.

The Community Christmas Card is a way for readers of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers to help neighbors struggling to make ends meet in the face of catastropic events. The card will be published on Christmas Day in the Northwest Arkansas Times, Springdale Morning News, Rogers Morning News and Benton County Daily Record.

The card also will be published in the weekly newspapers the following Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the regular publication schedule. 

Readers can sign the card with a minimum $2 donation to the school district of their choice. The money generated by the Christmas Card is divided among the designated school districts in Northwest Arkansas.

Donations must be received by noon Dec. 24 if you want your name to appear on the Dec. 25 card. However, donations will continue to be accepted through Dec. 31.

On an afternoon earlier this month, Beverly Charleton, a social services worker in the Springdale School District, had four packages of clothing donations on her desk ready to be delivered to students in various Springdale schools.

One package contained jeans, underwear, a sweatshirt and two other shirts, all going to a middle-school girl, Charleton said.

Another package contained shoes and socks for an elementary school boy. A junior high school boy would be getting jeans and a variety of shirts.

Over a seven-day span ending Dec. 4, Charleton estimated the district had provided donations to 15 people.

“We’ve been busier this school year than we were last year,” she said.

School principals, counselors and nurses often contact Charleton and nursing coordinator Kathy Launder to see if they can get donations for certain students they know could use food, clothing or supplies.

“They all know they can call here and see what we can do,” Charleton said.

Last year, the Christmas Card generated $25,212 for 16 school districts, including $12,212 for Springdale.

“Our readers always respond in great numbers when the Christmas Card program rolls around each year. We are pleased to provide them with this opportunity to help local children. I know they will come through again.” said Rusty Turner, editor and publisher of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers.

In Fayetteville, the money goes to the Safety Net fund to assist students and their families with necessities, such as doctor visit co-pays, or fees for participation in enrichment activites, such as cheerleading or sports, said Ananda Rosa, social work coordinator for the Fayetteville School District.

The money and assistance the school districts provide is a year-round problem but it is at Christmas when the problems seem most acute.

Safety Net spends an average of $200 to $400 per family on a case-by-case basis, Rosa said. She estimated she spends about $20,000 a year providing assistance to families in need.

“Any amount makes a big difference,” Rosa said. “We could buy medication for a child with a $15 donation. Small donations really help and they are a lot when you don’t have it.”

Safety Net recipients will also get an extra boost this holiday season when the school social workers distribute 400 baskets of food, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products to needy families. A portion of this project is supported by Safety Net money, Rosa said.

Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 1607 in Fayetteville, AR 72707. Contributions also may be dropped off at news offices in Bentonville, Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers.

NWA Media partners with Springdale’s Endeavor Foundation to collect and distribute the Community Christmas Card donations. Each contribution is tax-deductible. NWA Media pays the processing fees for the donations so 100 percent of the money collected can be distributed to the schools. The Endeavor Foundation is a community foundation dedicated to putting generosity to work for Northwest Arkansas.

Endeavor manages about 80 restricted funds totaling about $140 million, and has awarded more than $65 million in grants in its 14-year history. Contributions are tax deductible.

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