Ashland Emergency Fund

Quietly providing hope to those in need.

Since 1987 the AEF has been Ashland’s behind-the-scenes, private place to which those in need have been able to turn for help.

Charity launching fund-raiser

By Theresa Freeman/ Daily News Staff

Friday, July 28, 2006

ASHLAND -- The Ashland Emergency Fund is recovering, but its coffers are not as full as they used to be, according to this year's second-quarter financial results, to be announced soon.

The charity has a singular mission -- to provide temporary, emergency money to the town's residents.

Last year the Emergency Fund was losing money until it more stringently reviewed all cases that came in, said Chairman John Ellsworth. "We've managed to halt the bleeding of funds by controlling the amount of assistance we're giving," said Ellsworth. "It's not enough to sustain what we're doing, but we're healthy again."

The fund's balance is just more than $83,000, according to the latest financial information. Six months ago, the balance was about $82,000, and a year ago it had dipped below $79,000. Two years ago, the Emergency Fund had a balance of about $119,000, and three years ago it was $155,000, Ellsworth said. "The giving just isn't there," said Ellsworth. "We've got to get the numbers up, and bingo just isn't going to do it." A weekly bingo game Friday nights at 7 in a hall at the east rear entrance of the Gamewell building on Pleasant Street is the group's main fund-raiser.

Other sources of revenue are needed, Ellsworth said. This month, members of the Emergency Fund are launching a new campaign -- "A Dollar a Door." If every household in town donated a dollar a month, together they could raise $72,000 a year.

"The message is very simple," said Ellsworth. What began 19 years ago when former Department of Public Works Director Ben Montenegro and then Selectman Rick Ghilani, now deceased, collected $150 in a coffee can at Sunnyside Cafe has grown into a formidable force. Since then, neighbors have been given hundreds of thousands of dollars for their medical, heat, electric, rent and food needs. "If more members become actively involved, more ideas will result from their participation and more money will flow as a consequence," said Ellsworth.

Its Web site, www.ashlandemergencyfund.org gives people the option of donating money via a secure online transfer.

For more information on volunteering or donating, contact John Ellsworth at 508-881-3404 or Youth and Family Services Director Susan Gauvin at 508-881-0109 ext. 18.

Donations can also be sent directly to The Ashland Emergency Fund, P.O. Box 112, Ashland, MA 01721.

(The author, Theresa Freeman, can be reached at 508-626-3919 or tfreeman@cnc.com.)