Holiday Fund blows away goal Holiday Fund blows away goal (January 28, 2005)

Fueled by generous contributions from Voice readers, the Holiday Fund raised nearly $40,000 this year, far eclipsing the goal of $25,000.

With contributions from 72 readers totaling $19,759 and a matching grants provided by the Wakerly Family Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard and William and Flora Hewlett foundations, a total of $39,518 will be shared by five Mountain View area nonprofit organizations.

The Voice kicked off the first annual Holiday Fund campaign last year, raising $13,000 from readers and a total of more than $26,000 that was shared by six nonprofit agencies. The Peninsula Community Foundation partners with the Voice in the drive by receiving and holding the funds until they are dispersed in February.

During December, the Voice supports the drive by publishing a coupon and information about the Holiday Fund, as well as stories about each of the nonprofits that will benefit. This year's drive was boosted by large grants from one reader who donated stock worth several thousand dollars, as well as sizeable gifts from the Mountain View Professional Firefighters, St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, Intrinsyx Technologies Corp., and the Pearson and Hayter families.

The nonprofit agencies that will benefit this year include: The Community Services Agency (CSA) of Mountain View and Los Altos; The Community Health Awareness Council (CHAC); The Mountain View RotaCare Clinic; The Support Network for Battered Women; The Community School of Music and Arts.

Publisher Tom Gibboney said he and the Voice staff were grateful to the readers who contributed and thanked them for their generous gifts. "We had hoped to outdo last year's results, but this year the response was far beyond our expectations," he said.

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