Brunswick-based artist Maria Castellano-Usery helps spread joy and light to children in need by donating half the proceeds raised by her 85th Paint-a-Thon to the Press Herald Toy Fund.
Toy fund helps when it’s needed most
The fund has been there through 11 recessions since it was founded in 1949.
By Staff Report
Hundreds of thousands of children have been served by the charity since.
There are always families that need help, even in the best of economic times. Events such as divorces, illnesses, deaths, and accidents don’t follow economic cycles.
But it’s no coincidence the toy fund was launched in that hard winter of 1949. The need has always grown during hard economic times, when unemployment and poverty rise.
The toy fund has been here through 11 economic recessions – some short and shallow; others deep and long. Severe recessions in 1982 and 2008 pushed the national unemployment rate to 10 percent.