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Vol. 6 No. 11
The Santa Foundation Finds the True Meaning of Christmas
A Decade of Food Elves! By J.D. O’Gara What started in 2006 with two kids, Melissa and Cameron Piana, gathering food for the Franklin Food Pantry from neighbors with their wagon has burgeoned into an annual operation that has, over the last nine years, brought in 10 tons and nearly $26K ($25,700) in donations. The Franklin Food Elves, which now number close to 100 civic-minded Franklin elementary, middle and high school students, partnered with 14 local businesses and collected three tons of donations and over $8,500 for the Franklin Food Pantry just last year. This will be the 10th year of collection. In fact, the Food Elves’ “12 Days of Donating” drive filled the Franklin Food Pantry last year that Erin Lynch, director, had to find an additional location to store the food. “The Pantry has some lean months after the holidays, when end-of-year giving subsides and food drives happen less frequently,” says Erin Lynch, executive director of the Franklin Food Pantry, which serves 600 families. “We count on the Food
Organization Expects to Help 900 Local Families this Year Then and Now Shown on the left are Cameron and Melissa Piana, a brother and sister who wanted to collect a few items for the Franklin Food Pantry with their wagon. They called themselves “the food elves,” and the idea caught on. In the 10th year, there are now nearly 100 Franklin Food Elves and over the past years they have collected 10 tons of food and donations nearing $26K for hungry residents. On the right are just a few 2015 Franklin Food Elves. For names see page 4.
Elves to bring in the donations that help carry us through the winter months, a time when families who are struggling to put food on their tables face even harder times because of higher energy costs. We are so grateful for the hard work of the Food Elves and the gifts they bring to us,” she adds. This will be the fifth year the elves have partnered with local businesses. Participating Franklin
Downtown Partnership member businesses all across town will have red collection bins at their locations. If the Food Elves meet their goal of collecting more than 1,200 pounds of goods, each business has pledged to donate at least $200. A list of businesses hosting red bins will be posted on the Food Elves Facebook page and the FDP website
FOOD ELVES continued on page 4
By J.D. O’Gara After 29 years, the Santa Foundation has grown to serve exactly that many towns – 29. The Franklin based nonprofit organization, The Santa Foundation, founded by Bob Sullivan, and run with his partner, Richard Timmons and the help of about 15 part-time volunteers, isn’t just gifts for the holidays. Although the group provides gifts during Christmastime (providing $25,516 worth of gifts last year), it offers emergency aid for essentials such as rent/mortgage ($14,863 last year), heating costs, electric bills and other family support ($12,461 in family support and $11,005 in other family needs last year. In fact, total funds disbursed in 2014 by The Santa Foundation were $64,845. Needy families, says Sullivan, “come to see me and I talk to them.
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I talk to them all year long. They need oil, rent, electric. We do it for Christmas, giving presents, not money,” he says. “Our big thing is, if on Christmas Day they have gifts and a meal from the food pantry like every other family, they have hope to go forward.” Most of the 811 families that the Santa Foundation helped in 2014 hailed from Franklin (161), but another 65 families from Norfolk sought help, along with Bellingham (50), Milford (48), Blackstone (47), Plainville (44), Medway (44), Millis (29), Wrentham (27), and Worcester (20). Other calls for help came from scattered (93) and miscellaneous sites (36), while the Santa Foundation helped 17 families from the
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