Local organizations collect toys, gift cards, food and money to help Cape Codders in need during the holiday season every year, but officials have added the urgency of 2020 to their annual appeals. With the pandemic, high unemployment, increased food insecurity and other challenges, the need is greater than ever, they say.
Here are some ways to bring smiles to local children, help families put food on their tables, or otherwise get through the end of a challenging year:
Help the Kook Toy Drive
The annual Kook Toy Drive is taking place in Provincetown again this year, but in a virtual way. The fundraiser, organized by Penny Champagne and the Socially Distant Elves, continues through Christmas Day to help families in need.
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INTERESTED IN SHELLFISH AQUACULTURE? Cape Cod Cooperative Extension, Southeastern Massachusetts Aquaculture Center & Woods Hole Sea Grant are offering a 10-week online Fundamentals of Shellfish Farming course. Topics are shellfish biology, clam and oyster culture techniques, predator control, permitting, safety, and business management. Classes are via Zoom on Thursdays from 7:00 p.m. to - 8:15 p.m. starting Feb. 4. Cost is $75. To register, email Abigail Archer at aarcher@barnstablecounty.org or call 508-375-6702. Registration deadline is Jan. 28. More details visit https://www.capecodextension.org/marine/workshops/
YULE FOR FUEL: Yule for Fuel, a showcase of the Cape’s talent benefiting Lower Cape Outreach Council’s Fuel Assistance Program, is streaming online at what.org.
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This article is part of an ongoing series in the annual holiday season Gifts of Hope fundraising campaign on behalf of the Lower Cape Outreach Council, which serves families and individuals across the Lower and Outer Cape. The LCOC, based in Orleans, provides emergency financial assistance, food pantry operations, clothing, and educational funding to our neighbors. This series of client profiles is meant to inform readers about how the council comes to the aid of those in need, and to inspire contributions.
Linda and her Robert moved to Cape Cod four years ago from western Massachusetts. She was pregnant with her second child and didn’t want to raise her kids in a city that she considered a bad area. Her husband, Frank, already had a full-time job cleaning and maintaining pools on Cape Cod and commuted for two years before they were able to find a rental for their family.
Local musicians can’t play live, but that hasn’t stopped those who typically organize benefit concerts at this time of year from helping neighbors in need.
Both the Cape Cod Christmas Cavalcade and Yule for Fuel featuring dozens of performers among them are back in a virtual way this year. Online compilations of numbers from past shows are available to watch, with hopes that you’ll also donate to help people who are having trouble paying for housing and paying fuel bills. Watch for some live online appearances and 2020 surprises.
Another online concert put together by various acts aims to help buy food for employees in the hospitality industry hit hard by the effect of COVID-19 on travel.
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ORLEANS Kinlin Grover Real Estate, part of The Randall Family of Companies, launched its ‘Season of Giving’ program aimed at providing help to those in need through community support of local food banks, soup kitchens and pantries.
The Randall Companies will donate $40,000 to local food banks, soup kitchens and pantries in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. Kinlin Grover Real Estate will donate to organizations in Massachusetts, and Randall Realtors along with Page Taft Christie’s International Real Estate will donate to those in Rhode Island and Connecticut.
“As we enter the holiday season, so many in our community are struggling and local food banks and pantries are unfortunately serving more families than ever,” said Michael Schlott, president of Kinlin Grover Real Estate and The Randall Family of Companies.