A chance to give to those who have contributed to the community for decades

The holidays are a time of giving and sometimes that means more than shopping at the mall.

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The Enterprise got a call last month from Kathleen Speck, director of the Hilltowns Community Resource Center, asking for our help. In past years, the Times Union helped raise funds for the elderly. Each senior identified by the resource center received $50. This year, instead, the recipients of the daily newspaper’s holiday fund drive will be needy children. "We will have 60 to 70 very disappointed seniors," said Speck. "A lot of them are on their own, living on Social Security. Fifty bucks is a big deal to them."

So the resource center has launched its own fund drive. With the help of the Helderberg Kiwanis and St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Delmar, it plans to give a food basket to about 70 Hilltown and Altamont senior citizens and would like to continue to give a cash gift as well.

Speck asked
Speck asked if The Enterprise could write about some of the Hilltown elders. We were happy to oblige and have devoted our special holiday section to the cause. Hilltown reporter Tyler Schuling visited three households, interviewing Leah and Leo Bartell, Jean Pearson, and Gene Smith. What he discovered and wrote about are people who have given much to their community over the years and who continue to give. We hope, as we state in our editorial this week, that our readers will join in the giving.
Speck would like to raise $3,500. Anyone who wants to contribute to the Hilltown Fund for the Elderly may write a check payable to HCRC with a notation in the memo line, "Senior Fund." Dollars will be redistributed to eligible seniors through Catholic Charities. Checks may be mailed to the Hilltowns Community Resource Center, Post Office Box 147, 15 Route 1, Westerlo, NY 12193.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer, editor