December 28,2006
By SYDNEY SCHWARTZ
The Patriot Ledger

It went down to the wire, but Marshfield Community Christmas met its
fundraising goal.

The local charity delivered food and gifts to 354 needy families with
a total of 807 children – five more children than last year.

Volunteers started making deliveries on Dec. 16 and worked up to the
last minute, making about nine stops on Christmas Eve alone.

The organization received some Christmas presents of its own during
the weekend: the hundreds of donated dollars it needed to pay its
credit-card bill.

"Everything went off well," said George Earle, the charity's
president. "A lot of children had a nice Christmas. If we missed
anybody, it's because we don't know about them."

The organization raised about $77,000, or about $220 per family, and
there's still more coming in.

"It'll come in until the first of the year," Earle said. "I've got
people sending checks saying they're sorry they're late."

The organization has been providing Christmas gifts and food to local
families since 1979, when it was founded by residents Dale Stilton,
Bud Nangle, Joseph Linskey and 11 others.

Those in need fill out an application. Families receive bags of
unwrapped gifts and a $25 gift certificate for food for their holiday
dinner.

Last year, the organization reached 371 families and 802 children,
spending a total of $94,000, or about $255 per family.

This year, donations were coming in so slowly that volunteer shoppers
charged about $25,000 to their credit cards.

As of last week, the organization still had more than $5,000 to pay back.

But as Christmas neared, donors arrived with checks and gifts.

"Everybody had a nice Christmas that we know of," Earle said. "I was
really worried about the credit thing."

Marshfield Community Christmas, which has its headquarters at the
Marshfield Fair fairgrounds, remains in operation this week,
distributing canned goods and other non-perishable food items to
people in need.

Earle said yesterday that he had more than 600 non-perishable items on
the table, enough for numerous families' meals for a week.

About a dozen people have come in for food since Christmas, he said.

Volunteers usually collect a few additional truckloads of food items
at the Rexhame Rangers' New Year's Day swim at Rexhame Beach, Earle
said.

After that, organizers will start fundraising for next year, just to
make sure they don't have to worry about credit-card bills again.

"Everyone read about how we went out on the limb," Earle said. "How
else could we buy the gifts when we don't have the money here? But
that's OK. People brought gifts in.

"It was just great. Neighbor helping neighbor. It's a great town."

Donations can be mailed to Marshfield Community Christmas, P.O. Box
713, Marshfield 02050, or dropped off at the fairgrounds, on Route 3A.

For more information or to apply for help, call 781-837-8405 or go to
marshfieldcommunitychristmas.com.

Sydney Schwartz may be reached at sschwartz@ledger.com.