NEWBURYPORT — Mayor Donna Holaday, Fire Chief Chris LeClaire and City Marshal Mark Murray are pleased to share that the City of Newburyport, Newburyport Police Department and Newburyport Fire Department hosted fundraisers to benefit numerous causes in recent months.
The Newburyport Police Department recently raised $2,300 for Home Base No Shave. Through the campaign, members of the department may forgo facial hair restrictions during November and donate or raise money to support Home Base’s mission to help veterans and their families heal from invisible wounds such as post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries. The No Shave fundraiser typically takes place in the month of November, but Marshal Murray allowed officers to keep their beards through the end of December if they donated to the Salvation Army. That effort resulted in $750 being donated by 15 members off the department.
To help local families during the holiday season, Newburyport Youth Services, as well as Newburyport Police and Fire worked with members of the community to collect donations to fill a variety of needs.
The Newburyport Police Department held its 15th annual Fill-a-Cruiser food drive, through which it collected over $7,000 in food, cash and gift card donations to benefit the Salvation Army in Newburyport’s food pantry.
The Newburyport Fire Department collected approximately hundreds ofnew, unwrapped toys for Toys For Tots, a U.S. Marine Corps program that has collected toys for children in need every holiday season since 1947.
In addition, Newburyport Youth Services and the YWCA of Greater Newburyport’s Family to Family Holiday Program collected donated toys, gift cards for essential items, clothing, computers, bicycles and more that went directly to 300 greater Newburyport families this holiday season.
Families were asked to identify a wish and a need for everyone in their household this holiday season, and the Family to Family Holiday Program was then able to make requests like driving lessons, new glasses, dental work, school pictures, beds and more a reality for those families. In all, the program helped 300 families including 616 children and 463 adults. An additional 82 families were able to be included in 2020 compared to 2019, and 500 people volunteered as “elves” to support the program — an increase of 171 over 2019.
“Even amid the difficulty of an ongoing pandemic, members of the Newburyport community stepped up to support those in need this holiday season,” Mayor Holaday said. “I’m so grateful for the generosity of all those who donated, and also for all of those who worked to facilitate these programs in the face of unprecedented challenges.”
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