This past holiday season, more than 400 donors contributed to the annual Times Free Press Neediest Cases fund. The fund is a hardy perennial in Chattanooga and the surrounding area, a tradition nurtured by the contributions of succeeding generations of readers. It has been that way since the World War I era, when Adolph S. Ochs, then the publisher of The Chattanooga Times, started the campaign to provide assistance to those in need.
Ever since, readers of that newspaper and its successor, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, have answered the call to help those among us whose needs might otherwise go unmet. Their contributions are direct expressions of love and of giving, and they embody the very heart and soul of the just-concluded holiday season. The willingness to give and the desire to make the community where we live a caring and gentler place in every season clearly continues to find resonance.
That’s especially so this year. After reading that the Neediest Cases Fund had raised more than $48,000 in its seasonal campaign, an anonymous donor more than doubled the amount. The $50,000 donation raised the total to $98,713.
That’s truly a gift from the heart and in the spirit of the season. The donors words reflect that. “Chattanooga is known as a community that comes together to find solutions, a community with a can-do spirit,” the donor wrote. “As Chattanoogans, like many others, struggled with the pressures from an economic downturn, the spirit and willingness to give to others who are less fortunate did not wane. I am proud and fortunate to share in the benefits of living here where the community offers a hand up to those in need.”
The Neediest Cases Fund is administered by the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults, and the money is used judiciously throughout the year to help those who have nowhere else to seek assistance. Thanks to the generosity of readers and the heartfelt desire of the anonymous donor to honor them and the community, the PFCA will be able to meet those needs in coming months.