Lakes Region Santa Fund Board: Grateful to community support this winter

To The Daily Sun,

First and foremost, the Lakes Region Santa Fund would like to extend our deepest thanks for such generous gifts from the community. 

Donations help cover increasing costs of outerwear which we provide brand new every October and November to hundreds of underprivileged children within our community. This allows children to enjoy the outdoors and keeps them warm during their walk back and forth to school.

The community's generosity also allows us to allocate additional funds to our emergency fund. Lakes Region Santa Fund is often called upon for some of the toughest situations. Our emergency funds are a safety net that covers costs that other agencies simply do not cover such as funeral expenses and travel expenses associated with taking children back and forth to Dartmouth or Boston for medical care. 

In December we were overwhelmed with requests for help. We were able to help many struggling families by offering financial assistance and gift certificates through November and December. One of them had lost her husband, got behind on her mortgage and utilities so we were able to help her sign up with the Community Action Program and also provided gift certificates to Vista Foods and Walmart to help take the burden of groceries and necessities off her plate. We also provided assistance to a family who lost their father to COVID. The only mother the children have is their father’s fiance who is currently seeking guardianship. One child is medically fragile needing full-time care. We also helped a family whose son suffered a seizure while on vacation by providing $1,500 towards their medical and a $500 gift certificate for food. In April we provided $1,000 to a family in Laconia who lost their home to a fire. These are just a few examples of how we use our emergency funds. We ended up having to tap into other resources such as Step Up Parents and the Police Relief Funds in December due to the overwhelming request for support.

Although we are often called upon in emergency situations, we also spread joy in our community by providing camper scholarships to a variety of camps and we also support different programs that involve enrichment and sports.

Your support and kindness will never be forgotten and will help so many in need.

From all of our hearts, thank you.

Andrea Condodemetraky, Co-Chair

Elizabeth Brothers, Co-Chair

Kathy Crane, Treasurer

Marlee Guilmett, Secretary

Lisa Cornish

Kim Lacasse

Marnelle Dilorenzo

Dennis Phelps

Janet Brough

Chris McCarthy

Stacy Peverly

Honorable James Carroll

Board Members, Lakes Region Santa Fund