It happens each year, right after Thanksgiving:  the post office boxes fill to overflowing with solicitations from worthy charities of all sizes and types, each hoping to tug your heartstring or touch your sense of responsibility during the holiday season.

Americans have historically been a generous people.  Last year alone individual donors contributed over $300 billion dollars to some 1.5 million non-profit organizations representing a wide gamut of issues and causes. Donations are how we show our support and demonstrate our gratitude, a modest way of sharing our blessings for the good of the larger community.

It’s hard to imagine life without those gifts, particularly in Truro.   For most of the year we are a small rural community of limited means.  But thanks to the financial contributions of both year-rounders and summer folks our lives are enriched, our institutions strengthened, and our needy helped.

The challenge comes in knowing which of the multitude of worthy causes we want to support.

Interested in providing extracurricular programs to the children at Truro Central School?  Every dollar sent to the Truro Education Enrichment Alliance adds to the school’s educational life.  More passionate about the arts?  Support the visual arts and arts education with a contribution to Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, or help keep the summer programs of theater and music under the tent alive with a donation to Payomet.  More interested in the mission of Highland Affordable Housing or the Historical Society, the Friends of the Library, the Friends of the Council on Aging, or the Truro Conservation Trust?  They all depend on our year-end gifts to keep their work alive.

The list of the deserving grows exponentially when you start to consider the multitude of regional organizations that contribute to life in Truro, from the Outer Cape Health Services to the Outer Cape Chorale.  It’s no wonder our post office boxes get full. 

For me, though, one organization particularly stands out, its modest but important mission the embodiment of the spirit of community which is Truro’s most important asset.  That organization is the Dexter Keezer Community Fund, which has been stitching together a safety net for Truro residents for the last 11 years. 

The idea behind the Fund is simple: neighbor helping neighbor on a short term basis.  Founded in 1999 by Nan Keezer Read in memory of her father, the distinguished economist and Truro civic leader, it focuses exclusively on Truro townspeople who are experiencing a short term financial crisis.  Staffed only by volunteers, the Fund makes cash grants to Truro residents in urgent need of help with essentials such as oil deliveries, car repair, or utility bills.  The Fund also provides roughly 1/4 of the funding for the Truro Food Pantry located in the community center, a critical resource to seniors and others in need.

Who does the Dexter Keezer Fund help?  Anyone in Truro who hits a rough patch.  The carpenter temporarily disabled by a fall who needs a wheelchair ramp to get in and out of his house. The single mother of two who hasn’t gotten her child support and needs help with an electric bill. The family of three who falls behind with fuel payments when one parent has an emergency illness and is down to the last drops of oil. The family of four with both parents working who need help meeting a mortgage payment after one parent has emergency surgery, halving its income for 3 months.

Most of the grants are small, a one-time infusion of help to get through a hard time.  Taken together, though, the reach of the Fund’s generosity is impressive.  So far this year the Dexter Keezer Fund has distributed over $10,000, some $7,300 to Truro people in crisis, and another $3,150 to the Truro food pantry to buy fresh produce, meat, and poultry.  Additionally, another $2,500 in gift cards will be distributed via the Fund so financially strapped parents can purchase holiday presents for their children.

There is no complicated paper work to fill out, no bureaucratic routine to follow.  People in need can find a helping hand through their place of worship, the Lower Cape Outreach Council, the Homeless Prevention Council, the Truro Council on Aging, or the social worker at Truro Central School.  While the distribution of aid is carefully monitored, as required for the organization’s tax free status, recipients remain anonymous.

There is something wonderfully small town about the work of the Dexter Keezer Fund.  It is an 11 year tradition of care that harkens back to the old belief that we really are our brothers’ keeper, part of the fabric of community that enriches all of us.  I write them a check each year, happily — and give thanks for the hard work of the Fund’s volunteers and the gifts they give us.

The Dexter Keezer Fund is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, so all donations are fully tax deductible.  Contributions can be mailed to the Dexter Keezer Fund, Box 572, Truro, MA 02666 or made online.

Sincerely,

Curtis Hartman
Chair, Board of Selectmen
eMail Curtis
(508) 349-7004