13 charities benefited from generous readers

For the 28th year in a row, the community showed its tremendous generosity, donating $547,803 to The Seattle Times Fund For The Needy.

Begun in 1979, the fund has, over the years, raised nearly $12 million for local charities. All of the money goes directly to the charities; The Seattle Times charges no overhead.

This year, the funds went to 13 agencies that serve children, families and seniors: Childhaven, the Salvation Army, Senior Services, Hopelink, Family Services, Atlantic Street Center, Youth Eastside Services, Treehouse, Asian Counseling and Referral Services, Kindering Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Kent Family Services, and ASTAR, which helps children with autism.

Donors came from all corners of the community, and many of them have made annual gifts for decades. One woman has for years written a monthly $10 check to the fund, bumping the amount up to $20 at holiday time.

One couple has for the second year in a row cashed out retirement accounts and given the proceeds to the fund. This year, that donation totaled $37,000.

Argosy Cruises routinely donates a portion of the proceeds from its annual Christmas Ship cruises to the fund. This year, it gave $35,000.

Another local woman was so moved by an article about a Bothell woman struggling to pay her rent and support her great-grandson that she told her husband the best Christmas present he could give her was to help that woman keep her home. They separately arranged to pay the rent each month.

"I am very pleased that we were able to raise almost $550,000," said Alan Fisco, Times vice president for circulation and marketing, who took over this season from the retired William Blethen as the fund's president. "It is another reminder of the generosity and support that our community, and Times readers in particular, have for those in need."

Marjorie Davis, the 79-year-old secretary of a Seattle ladies bowling team, reckons her little group has been giving since the fund began. The team formed in 1959 — back when, as Davis recalled, a local bowling alley was offering free lessons. She and some friends signed up.

Thus was born the Village Pin Ups. The group members, most of are now in their 70s and 80s, have been bowling and having lunch each Tuesday ever since.

Davis, of Seattle, remembers the first time she saw a Fund For The Needy story in The Times. It was about Childhaven, an agency that offers day care and emergency child care for troubled families, and Davis was utterly taken by it. She brought the paper to the group with an idea: Let's pool our money and donate in the name of the Pin Ups.

"They just thought it was a wonderful idea," she recalled. A jar was placed in the middle of the lunch table, and the ladies emptied their wallets.

Their dedication to The Fund For The Needy, especially Childhaven, has remained strong, Davis said.

"They really enjoy doing this at Christmastime for the kids," she said.

Over the years, as the women have aged, the Pin Ups' numbers have dwindled. The group that once included around 40 now ranges each Tuesday from six to 10 women, "depending on whose arthritis is bad in the morning," she said.

But are they still pinups, in every sense of the word?

"Yes," she exclaimed. "Certainly!"

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com