The Honolulu Advertiser Christmas Fund

Advertiser Staff

HOW TO DONATE • Send checks payable to "The Advertiser Christmas Fund" to Helping Hands Hawai'i, P.O. Box 17780, Honolulu, Hawaii 96817. • For those interested in making credit card donations, please call Helen at 440-3831 with your name, address, credit card number, expiration date and amount of donation. • Cash and check donations may be dropped off at The Advertiser's information desk. • Material goods can be taken to the Community Clearinghouse at 2100 N. Nimitz Highway, near Pu'uhale Road. For more information, call 440-3804. • Monetary donations to the fund help run the Community Clearinghouse programs year-round. Donations can also be made to particular families for Christmas, but the families must be specified. The money will be given to families in the form of a Wal-Mart, K-Mart or Long's Drug store gift certificate.

Or when kids want new clothes and shoes instead of toys.

For another year, Helping Hands Hawai'i and the Advertiser are teaming up to distribute in-kind donations and thousands of dollars to families in need. The Advertiser Christmas Fund has been around for more than half a century, brightening up the holidays for so many children and their parents.

The Advertiser will run stories over the next several weeks to profile families in need. The families represent only a fraction of those helped through the fund.

For each of the last five years, the drive has raised more than $100,000 from readers who wanted to make the holidays merrier for a struggling family. In 2005, the fund raised a record $218,149.44, almost $34,000 more than the previous year.

One generous Hawai'i resident, who has been dubbed the fund's "Secret Santa," has matched the first $25 of each donation for more than a decade. Last year, he donated $36,000.

Besides individuals, companies, community groups and schools have also contributed to the fund.

See the stories below to read about some of the people who need your help this year.