Our Burlington County Times Give A Christmas campaign was started by the Ellis family in 1968 and has raised more than $3 million over the course of its existence, including more than $57,000 last year.
We are extraordinarily proud to have made that tangible an impact in this community for more than 50 years, in working with the Willingboro Rotary Club.
Our previous owners, the Calkins family, also built successful campaigns at our sister papers in Pennsylvania, at the Bucks County Courier Times, The Intelligencer in Doylestown and the Beaver County Times, which collectively have raised more than $10 million since 1958.
So why mess with a good thing? We believe we can have even greater impact and include more people in need in Burlington County beyond the Christmas season.
Managing Editor Audrey Harvin deserves a tremendous amount of credit for us taking a critical look at our GAC program. “Shane, I know we can do more. I know we can. We have to do more,” she said to me on more than one occasion.
We sought the help, and frankly, the blessing of Stan Ellis, former publisher and owner of the BCT, whose mother, Shirley, was passionate about the Give A Christmas program. Ellis liked our overall vision of trying to help more people in more ways. “Let me get back with you,” he said in his quiet, unassuming way.
Stan connected Audrey and me with John Emge, president of Trusted Path Consulting and a local and respected leader in the Burlington County nonprofit world. “Let me get back with you,” he said in his quiet, unassuming way.
Emge’s first idea for us made complete sense. He suggested partnering with NJ 2-1-1, a statewide information and referral service that connects people in need to resources that help with food, housing and utility assistance, mental health services, transportation, senior services and more.
NJ 2-1-1 has the infrastructure to vet Give A Christmas recipients to ensure donations are going to those truly in need. It also has a database of more than 10,000 programs and services that could help families find solutions to the other challenges they face, empowering them to find a more sustainable future.
NJ 2-1-1 Executive Director Melissa Acree has been a godsend in helping us get set up, including expanding the ways people can seek help. We will use their text message platform to register GAC applicants and inform them of the live and online assistance that is available 24/7.
We weren’t quite done. We needed to find a partner to handle the money and the accountability for the money, and to distribute donations.
One area we felt could be improved was getting out of the check-writing business, which is how we previously distributed funds through the Willlingboro Rotary Club. We decided utilizing gift cards was a more secure and modern way to distribute funds.
So Emge connected us with a local foundation that has the infrastructure and accountability arm to check that last box we needed. We are respecting the foundation’s wishes not to be identified to avoid the perception that its affiliate may unfairly benefit from any connection with the Give A Christmas program.
The Ellis Family Charitable Foundation has made a significant donation to offset the additional cost incurred by NJ 2-1-1 for the seasonal help needed to conduct this program. And the Bucks County Opportunity Council has been invaluable in helping by sharing its best practices for our program with The Intelligencer. We also want to thank the Willingboro Rotary Club for its tremendous support to the Give A Christmas program over the decades.
Give A Christmas will launch next Monday, Nov. 4, and the Burlington County Times will continue its tradition of bringing you stories, updates and listings of donors. We will write soon with more details about the revamped program and how readers can contribute as they have for more than 50 years.
Shane Fitzgerald is an Atlantic Sub-Regional Executive Editor for GateHouse Media, including the Burlington County Times and 20 other publications in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia and Maryland. Contact him at sfitzgerald@thebct.com.