Santa's Helping Hands Discusses 2019 Results And Letter of Thanks

Mark Wardlow Speaks To Community

Darren Doyle, story:​
Santa’s Helping Hands, INC. discussed local amounts and impacts for 2019 with The Edmonson Voice and took some time to reflect on another record breaking year. Founding member Mark Wardlow said credit goes to the Edmonson County community.

"We credit our local community for attending at our annual golf tournament and for the huge crowd that gathered at our 15th SHH annual auction," he said. "Combine this with the benefit at Check’s Pool Room and some unexpected large donations from outside the county, and we had our best year ever. We want to be very transparent and let everyone know where this money goes."

Wardlow wanted to discuss the details of this year's charity.

"Most people think this is a Christmas-time charity only but that is far from the case. We are here to assist those in need throughout the year. We only have a couple of big rules: first, you have to live in Edmonson County, and second, we never give out cash to assist anyone. Starting Jan 1st to Dec 31st we spent $3,041.85 assisting families with house fires, sickness and long term hospital travel, & food. We spent this money on clothes, shoes, and toys for house fire victims, and gas cards, restaurant cards, and food gift certificates for others. The biggest part of our budget was spent during the holiday season." 

"The total amount spent during the holidays was $46,286.27 for a yearly total of $49,328.12. The people and programs we assist are as follows: FRC at all our schools, Lifeskills, Community Action, Edmonson Health Center, Active Day and our Head Start Program. We assisted over 300 children and 75 elderly this year. There are a lot of very good non-profit charities in this country, but I doubt you will find very many where the board members don’t receive some type of compensation for their time, gas, food, etc… we never have and we never will. When we have board meeting at restaurants we pay for our own food, not one cent comes out of the charity funds unless its is for the charity."

Wardlow said he's always happy to let the community know what's going on with the charity.

"Please know that our books are always open. SHH has lasted 15 years because of this community, the local support and volunteers, without this help we wouldn’t have last but a few years. We are hoping that 2020 brings us the same good fortune that 2019 did. We cannot thank everyone enough for their continued support and involvement with Santa’s Helping Hands. We plan to help our community members in need for many years to come."

To find out more about Santa's Helping Hands, contact Mark Wardlow at 270-991-2972.