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Brookline woman gives $1,000 to Santa Fund; donations still being accepted

By Grace Pecci - Staff Writer | Dec 7, 2018

NASHUA – With only days left until Santa makes his way his way down chimneys in the Greater Nashua area and beyond, The Telegraph and The United Way of Greater Nashua are still working to gather gifts for families that might need a little extra assistance at Christmas this year.

The Santa Fund collects toys and donations for three local organizations – the Front Door Agency, the Salvation Army and SHARE Outreach. These organizations have tabulated the needs from families that come in and work with the Santa Fund to try and match the gifts. The Santa Fund has existed for many years, and as in years past, there is a great need in Nashua.

The Santa Fund is nowhere near where it needs to be in order to properly serve all the needy families in the Greater Nashua area. The Santa Fund is looking to raise $40,000 this year. The fund is currently at just under $16,000.

Every donation helps, just like one from a Brookline resident who asked to remain anonymous. In previous years, she had donated to different Christmas-related projects. She found the Santa Fund, saw that it was serving the Greater Nashua area, which includes Brookline, and knew it was something to which she wanted to donate.

She decided to donate and dropped off a package of Target gift cards to the United Way of Greater Nashua. United Way President Mike Apfelberg said he was already excited when he received the gift. Then, he said he turned around the packaging and realized that, yes, there were 10 gift cards, but each gift card had $100, making it a grand total of $1,000.

“The gift was incredibly generous,” Apfelberg said. “I was not expecting it.”

The gift cards will be split up, but a good majority will be going to The Salvation Army, Apfelberg said. He said his enthusiasm was because these cards will make great gifts for families with older children.

“What I was envisioning is that maybe older kids or teenagers, they want to pick out their own things,” the Brookline resident said. “I have an older daughter and I know they are picky.”

She continued, “If someone wants a parka and snow pants, I’m going to get them the same type of parka and snow pants I would choose for my kids.”

She encourages those who can to give.

“I feel like everybody should donate,” she said. “My family and I always try to find something to do. We’re very fortunate and we can afford to donate, so of course, I felt like we should this year.”

Her generous donations will help many families in need this holiday season.

Santa Fund donations are accepted online again this year. Those wishing to make a monetary donation can use their MasterCard, Visa, Discover or American Express card on a secure online portal. The internet address for that portal is http://bit.ly/SantaFund2018

Donations are fully tax deductible, while an online receipt will be provided for each donation.

To make donating even easier, a new text-to-give option has been added. Those wishing to make a contribution can text 2018santa to 41444.

Donations also can be made by check, made out to the United Way of Greater Nashua, with Santa Fund written in the memo line. Cash donations can be dropped off at the United Way office, located at 20 Broad St.

Grace Pecci can be reached at 594-1243, or at gpecci@nashuatelegraph.com.

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