To the Editor:www.thenewtownfund.org) or send checks payable to The Newtown Fund to PO Box 641, Newtown, CT 06470. We need your help.

Let's face it. Nonprofit organizations are finding it harder and harder to meet their funding requirements. We (the Newtown Fund) are the emergency fund for Newtown Social Services. The requests from Social Services during the year are fewer in number, but larger in amount. With the help of the community, we also provide qualifying families with food and presents for the holidays. The total number of Newtown residents provided for during the holiday season seems to remain basically the same. It is harder and harder to find people and organizations to "adopt" the families. Providing food and presents for even a single person can run into the hundreds of dollars. Families with children require a much larger outlay. The fund's greatest need for monetary donations is during the holiday season.

We like to call ourselves "The Original Newtown Fund" because since the Sandy Hook School tragedy many new Newtown charities have been created - all vying for the same pool of dollars and volunteers.

In years past the Newtown Fund had over $60,000 in our general fund for emergencies. We are now down to $23,000. The average request for help runs between $500 and $1,500. You can see that it won't take many to deplete the fund.

We are a small organization. There are no more than eight core members. We lost a cherished board member just this month. Pastor Jim Solomon has moved south with his family. His lovely wife and daughters also provided help whenever we needed it. We desperately need to replace him. We would like to add more board members, too. It is not a large commitment. We meet two or three times each year. Our busiest time is in mid-December, culminating with "Depot Day," which is on a Saturday.

I call this my "begging" letter. I usually send it off in the beginning of November. With the decrease in volunteers and the decrease in donations I thought it might be a good idea to get it published now.

Please do some soul-searching and help Newtown stay a wonderful place to live for everyone.

You can reach me at 203-270-9312. Please volunteer, join the board, and donate whatever you can (

Linda Bates, President

The Newtown Fund

PO Box 641, Newtown                                    August 22, 2016