Globe Santa's Friends donated $1,413,667.99 to the 2010 GlobeSanta Fund drive - the second-highest total ever contributed tothe annual fund-raising campaign in the 55 years it has been held.
The most ever raised in one year during the long history of theGlobe Santa Fund was $1,457,508 in 2000.
In announcing the successful fund-raising results, Globe Santasaid the effort certainly represented not only "an outstandingresponse by the community" but also produced an incredible story ofpeople coming to the aid of families that would have been unable tobuy gifts for their youngsters.
Globe Santa and his Friends on Christmas morning provided giftsfor 56,190 children. The total number of families receiving giftswas 31,263. The total number of communities in Eastern Massachusettsin which Globe Santa and the men and women of UPS delivered giftswas 186.
In nine Boston inner-city neighborhoods, a total of 9,441families received gifts from Globe Santa while in the threeMerrimack Valley cities of Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill, whichhave been particularly hard hit by the recession, children in 3,735families had gifts from Globe Santa to open.
The town by town gift-distribution breakdown also showed thatfamilies in towns like Weston, Hingham, and Brookline - consideredby many to be affluent communities - were not immune to thestruggles that beset thousands of inner-city families.
Meanwhile, typical of the notes of thanks received by Globe Santaafter Christmas was one from a parent which read "Thank you for thebag of gifts you gave my son for Christmas. He loves his stuffedelephant and hasn't put it down since. He is also enjoying playingwith the other toys. I appreciate it very, very much being that myincome barely allows us to pay our monthly bills. Thank you . . .The Boston Globe Santa program."
Over the 54 years prior to this past Christmas, Globe Santa,thanks to his friends, has raised $40,000,016 and has been able toprovide 13.3 million presents for some 2,655,945 children in morethan 1 million Eastern Massachusetts families.
Playing a major role in recent years in the fund-raising campaignhas been the participation of many prominent sports, political,television, and business figures.
Meanwhile, the Internet has become more and more a part of thefund-raising efforts. Last year $432,448.46 was contributed online.
The 2010 Fund drive ended last Friday. However, as in past years,contributions can be made to the Globe Santa Fund year-round.
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