How to shine light of holiday spirit

Press Christmas for All is all about you.

The holiday fundraising program receives no taxpayer funds, no grants or other gifts from governmental agencies. Every penny the program raises comes from individuals, from businesses, from service clubs and from charitable organizations, all sharing the same goal: Wanting to help their less fortunate neighbors. Every single penny goes to Kootenai County residents who fill out detailed applications outlining their families’ needs during the holiday season. There is zero overhead because everyone who “works” for Press Christmas for All — staff at the Coeur d’Alene Press, at Hagadone Headquarters, at Kootenai County Fire & Rescue — donates their time.

Press Christmas for All is a 501(c)3 registered with the IRS through The Hagadone Corporation. Now in its 30th campaign, a milestone is within reach: A successful program over the next 28 days will ensure more than $4 million has been raised and distributed to local families since its official start in 1986.

In the previous 29 years, tens of thousands of Kootenai County families have gotten a hand up, thanks to Christmas for All. These are people who are sick; people who are old; people who are young and can’t find work; and people who work but simply don’t have the money to buy their kids presents or a hearty Christmas Day dinner.

When we say every penny raised goes to needy Kootenai County residents, we’re understating the full impact of the program. Because of the generosity of Super 1 Foods and Shopko, what you donate grows by 10 percent. Shopko and Super 1 will both donate 10 percent, meaning if Press Christmas for All raises $170,000, it will actually be able to purchase and distribute $187,000 worth of gift cards thanks to these generous stores.

Hagadone Corp. pays any expenses, and the program runs efficiently and effectively because of our partners at Kootenai County Fire & Rescue. There, volunteers maintain a database of all Christmas for All applications, providing a buffer against possible fraud or abuse. These wonderful people also distribute the gift cards in the days leading up to Christmas, making the experience as comfortable as possible for recipients, who understandably are not proud of their plight. The recipients use the gift cards to purchase Christmas presents and food for the holidays. The size of gift card depends on the size of the family receiving it. Generally speaking, the larger the family, the larger the gift card.

These are the program basics, but the key ingredient is you. No gift is too small; children have been known to donate pennies, and checks as small as $5 have been gratefully received.

Part of the tradition is that The Press publishes the names of every single donor, and photos of all contributors over $500, unless anonymity is requested. We hope to read your name in the newspaper soon.