Politicians are fond of saying that
you can't solve a problem by throwing money at it, but in the real world
there's a lot of human suffering that could be easily fixed by the timely
infusion of a little cash.
Such as a single mom whose budget
is already stretched to the limit putting food on the table for her kids, leaving
nothing left for their Christmas presents.
Or a Berkeley High senior who would
have been the first in her family to go to college, except for one hitch: She couldn't
afford the college application fees.
They were just two of the almost
1,000 people who got a very welcome surprise last December when an envelope
containing a check mysteriously appeared in their mailbox.
The checks weren't large, ranging
from $30 to $100. But for the recipients, they made all the difference.
And there were no strings attached.
No guidelines, no conditions, no sermons to hear first.
What's more, this has been going on
for 100 years.
It all started in 1912 when Jo
Mills, a prominent figure in early Berkeley, founded the Berkeley Christmas
Committee. The committee produced a large-scale pageant every December to raise
money to provide gifts of food, clothing, blankets and toys for needy families.
The pageant eventually grew into a colorful spectacle with 800 children and 200
adults.
The pageant was cancelled during
World War II. But the work of the Christmas Committee never stopped.
It became a non-profit
organization, changed its name to the Berkeley Christmas Fund, and switched from
giving gifts in kind to mailing checks directly to the recipients.
In 1992 the name was changed again
to Berkeley Holiday Fund. But nothing else has changed.
Virtually 100 percent of the money
goes directly to the recipients. There's no overhead – no office, no paid
staffers, just a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers.
And most of the logistical support
is donated. The postage is paid by the Berkeley Mayor's office, and the
Mechanics' Bank cashes the checks free of charge.
The Fund doesn't choose the
recipients. It gets the names from local social service agencies, including
Children's Hospital, Berkeley Food and Housing Project, Bananas, Berkeley Head
Start, and the Salvation Army.
"We take the social workers'
word for it," says Andrew Williams, who co-chairs the Fund with his wife,
Linda (who, by the way, writes detective novels under the pen name Linda
Grant). "That's their job. Our job is to write checks."
The social workers appreciate the
lack of red tape, a rare luxury in the bureaucratic world they work in. One
wrote, "I especially appreciate that you are not condescending in your
generosity."
Next weekend, about ten volunteers
will sit around the kitchen table in the Williams's home and stuff envelopes
with this year's checks. It's that down-home.
If you'd like to support this effort,
please mail a tax-deductible check to The Berkeley Holiday Fund, P.O. Box 9779, Berkeley, CA 94707 or visit www.berkeleyholidayfund.org.
A few donations have been as large
as $1,000, but most are in the $5 to $100 range.
"I think it's the $5 and
$10 donations we treasure the most," says Linda. "We know many of
these people are on fixed incomes, so even $5 is a tremendous sacrifice."
Merry Christmas.
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