ELIZABETHTOWN — Donations are being accepted and applications can be filled out for the Empty Stocking Fund.
In the first week, donations were $3,500.
Applications can be submitted and donations made through Dec. 13.
The Empty Stocking Fund operates as a community partnership between the Bladen Journal, the Department of Social Services and Leinwand’s on West Broad Street in Elizabethtown. The two businesses are among Bladen County’s oldest — Leinwand’s since 1935, and the newspaper since 1898.
DSS handles all applications, meaning the place where they are picked up and turned in. Applications are available in English and Spanish. The DSS office is at 208 E. McKay St. This is adjacent to the Bladen County Hospital, down the street that is beside the helicopter landing pad.
The Bladen Journal receives all donations, both in person and through the mail.
To mail a donation to the Bladen Journal, be sure the check is made payable to the Empty Stocking Fund. Mail it to Bladen Journal, c/o Empty Stocking Fund, PO Box 70, Elizabethtown, NC 28337. Cash or checks can be brought to the newspaper’s office at 109 N. Pine St. in Elizabethtown.
To reach the newspaper office, enter off West Broad Street between First Bank and the Johnson Law Firm — this is the same entry to the Division of Motor Vehicles office where people can apply for driver’s licenses. Drive to the back as the DMV signs direct, and the newspaper office is under the same roof in Suite D. Enter on the right side of the building, where signs say “Executive Suites” and “Bladen Journal” and the door is marked by the letter “D.”
Donors will be asked their name, but can give anonymously. Those names, or anonymous listing, will appear in the newspaper along with the size of the gift.
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