By Town Crier Staff

“Four kids who were in my first clubs 15 years ago, today own their own homes in the Bay Area,” said Andy Hartwell.

No big deal perhaps, except those kids lived in low income families in East Palo Alto. And Hartwell back then was a full-time student at Stanford who got interesting in helping children in East Palo Alto break out of the pattern of poverty, welfare and youth delinquency.

Hartwell’s early clubs grew into a full-time organization now known as Bayshore Christian Ministries (BCM). As executive director, he overseas a new building, a small paid staff and many volunteers. Their task is to provide afterschool and evening tutoring for children of all ages as well as run a summer program for hundreds of children.

BCM is one of nine agencies supported by the Town Crier Holiday Fund. Already community support has been surprising with total receipts so far reaching $62,000. A total of 220 donors have participated including nine matching fund challenge grants. A lead grant of $8,000 from the Packard Foundation set the stage for others to join the matching fund list: Chuck and Nan Geschke, Michele and Steve Kirsch, Rambus Inc., ZAP Ventures, Paul and Liz Nyberg, Bank of Los Altos and the Homer Family Fund.

In the Holiday Fund’s first year, 2000, the fund total exceeded $60,000 by mid-January. Last year the total was $80,000. “It is probably too much to dream of hitting $100,000 this year,” said Publisher Paul Nyberg. “But we find the high level of need this year causes us to raise the bar. We believe the community will agree.”

To contribute, write checks payable to the Town Crier Holiday Fund. They can be mailed or delivered to 138 Main St., Los Altos 94022. Credit card donors can call Avinell Johnson at 948-9000. All donations of $25 or more will be listed in the newspaper as a way of saying thanks. All contributions are 100 percent tax-deductible.