A local businessman is making a generous proposal to local residents and businesses: donate to the Salvation Army’s Christmas gift drive and he’ll match it dollar for dollar.
“There’s nearly 1,000 children in the community that face the prospect of no Christmas, so to speak,” said Jim Moore of John Wesley Village, which provides affordable housing for seniors.
Moore is partnering with Lt. Kelly Ross of the Riverhead Salvation Army Chapter to raise the money and shop for toys requested by local families in need. His organization will match donations to a maximum of $10,000.
Ross said tags with children’s names and requests are still coming in, and she expects an uptick when the agency gives out Thanksgiving meals next week. She said Moore’s offer could potentially provide the assistance necessary to serve all the families who are looking for holiday help.
“Before I spoke with Jim I was a bit nervous, with the amount of families we had versus the amount of partnerships we had,” Ross said.
She said her office received a surge in interest from the community following RiverheadLOCAL’s Nov. 2 story on the shortfall. They saw a number of children and several full families get adopted, even getting inquiries from as far away as Nebraska and Washington (who were directed to their local chapter.)
The generosity still failed to meet demand, however, so when Moore, who had also learned of the extent of the demand from the story, contacted Ross and saw the stack of tags bearing the names of as yet unserved children, he decided to up the ante.
“We’ve never done anything on this scale,” he said of his organization’s charity.
He encouraged any donations, which can be made via the fundraising website Fundly, where John Wesley employee Tom Farruggia has established and is managing a fundraising campaign the company dubbed “Be an Angel this Christmas!”
“No amount is too small. It’s getting doubled and it will add up,” said Moore.
A Christmas tree in the chapel of Ross’s Osborn Avenue building is decorated with tags. The toy wishes described on them are modest – cars, trucks and trains for boys; for girls, Barbies, a My Little Pony and a weaving loom for children, among others. Moore said he was moved by the humility of the requests.
“That’s just heartbreaking to me,” he said.
Ross pointed out that the Salvation Army is not the only local organization providing help to those in need this Christmas. Others include the Family Service League, the Long Island Council of Churches and Riverhead Rotary.
For more information, contact Ross at 631-727-3338 or email her at Kelly.Ross@use.salvationarmy.org.
RiverheadLOCAL photo by Micah Danney
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