Community Christmas Card Helps Those in Need

Natalie Counce, right, a junior at Fayetteville High School, and sophomore Nico Suarez, center, help unload canned food items Nov. 16 at the Jefferson Center after a food drive at Holcomb Elementary and Owl Creek schools to support The Outback’s annual holiday basket project in Fayetteville.
Natalie Counce, right, a junior at Fayetteville High School, and sophomore Nico Suarez, center, help unload canned food items Nov. 16 at the Jefferson Center after a food drive at Holcomb Elementary and Owl Creek schools to support The Outback’s annual holiday basket project in Fayetteville.

It’s tough for a single mom and three children when there is no child support and the only income is from a minimum wage job.

It’s a hardship when families double up because of the economy.

Situations like these in the Fayetteville and Springdale school districts occur throughout the year, but it’s at Christmas when the problems seem most acute.

That’s why the NWA Media asks readers to open their hearts and their wallets by signing the Community Christmas Card. The card will be published on Christmas Day in the Northwest Arkansas Times, the Springdale Morning News, the Rogers Morning News and the 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. 

A minimum $2 donation to the school district of your choice is requested to sign the card. The money generated by the Christmas Card is divided among the designated school districts in Northwest Arkansas.

The Christmas Card generated $25,212.84 last year for 16 school districts, including $12,212 for Springdale.

The readers who sign the card can designate the school district to receive their donation.

Kathy Launder, district nursing coordinator for Springdale, said the money goes toward school supplies, clothes, food, medications and medical examinations for the children.

“Everything goes strictly toward the kids,” Launder said.

Launder and Beverly Charleton, a social services employee, work in the basement of the Springdale district’s Jefferson Building. During a week-long period around the beginning of this school year, Launder said, they gave away school supplies and other needed items to 287 students.

“The beginning of the year is crazy,” Launder said. “Now the big rush is clothes, mostly coats.”

The increase in people seeking donations is noticeable, Charleton said.

“Every day it’s clothing, and every day it’s food,” she said.

On a recent Monday, Charleton noted a box she had just prepared to be delivered to a middle school student. The box contained mostly clothes — a pair of jeans, shoes, socks and a couple of sweatshirts.

Launder said the economy has forced some families to double up in houses.

“So then you’ve got more mouths to feed in that particular home,” Launder said.

She said the district relies on Christmas Card donations to assist families throughout the year.

In Fayetteville, the money goes to the Safety Net fund to assist students and their families with necessities like doctor visit co-pays or fees for participation in enrichment activities, such as cheerleading or sports.

Ananda Rosa, social work coordinator for Fayetteville schools, profiled a typical family to benefit from Safety Net funds: A single mother with three children, who for unknown reasons loses $300 a month in child support. She makes ends meet working in a fast food restaurant. She has no car and must rely on a neighbor to provide she and the family transportation, which she pays for. The children are in counseling.

Safety Net funds have helped the family with food, a utility bill, a tank of gas for the neighbor’s car and co-payments for the children’s well child check-ups, which are required to continue the therapeutic services.

Safety Net spends an average of $200 to $400 per family on a case by case basis, Rosa said.

“Any amount makes a big difference,” she 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.”

“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.

NWAMedia 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. 

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