The ELF Fund (Era’s Less Fortunate), the community’s Christmas
program for the needy, is about to undergo the first major change
in its 22-year history.

This Christmas season, The Salvation Army will assume primary
responsibility for providing food to needy individuals and The
Bradford Era’s volunteers will provide holiday gifts for children
and senior citizens.

The split of the program was required by concerns about client
confidentiality which would prevent the necessary sharing of
information between the two organizations.

“When all is said and done, I think the community will see that
this division of duties will benefit both The Army and the ELF
Fund, allowing each to evolve in new and improved ways,” said Art
Steinhauer, chairman of the ELF Fund board of directors.

Capt. Deb Weigner of The Army added, “The Salvation Army is
ready to serve the community with food this Christmas and all of
our social service programs throughout the new year, as always. We
want to ‘do the most good’ to help those in need. However, we will
need your help since we no longer are getting ELF funds for food.
We need community support more than ever.”

The Era’s Less Fortunate Fund began as a joint effort of The
Salvation Army and The Era in 1983, an attempt to provide food and
gifts to individuals and families in need at Christmas.

While The Army has largely been responsible for food and The
Era’s non-profit ELF Fund Committee, for gifts, the efforts have
overlapped for many years in the solicitation of contributions and
distribution of holiday items.

In a letter to supporters, Steinhauer explains the changes in
hopes of avoiding confusion between the two efforts.

“The Salvation Army divisional commander recently notified the
ELF Fund that due to an updated client confidentiality policy, The
Salvation Army can no longer share their client information with
the ELF Fund,” Steinhauer explained about the program changes.

“Under this new policy, the program will be divided this year
requiring a separate application and distribution process for each
non-profit entity,” he said.

For its part, the ELF Fund will focus on providing gifts for
children and senior citizens. And, in a new direction this year,
the ELF Fund plans to team up with Project CARE, an outreach
program that will allow the ELF Fund its first opportunity to
assist elderly shut-ins that need its help the most.

Along with its food baskets at Christmas time, The Army will
continue to administer the Adopt-A-Family Program. The Army also
provides food, clothing, disaster services and many other social
services programs throughout the year.

ELF fund applications will be taken this month at the Bradford
Public Library. Senior citizens will continue to apply at the
Bradford Senior Center as they have in the past.

The Salvation Army is expected to announce its separate
application dates in the near future.

ELF Tree Tags will be distributed throughout the community for
individual participation, and the seniors will continue to enjoy
the bus tour of the holiday lights.

To insure that special diets are maintained, the ELF Fund will
offer all senior applicants the choice of a $30 food purchase card
or they may apply for a food basket from The Salvation Army.

The ELF Fund will conduct a separate distribution day for gift
pickup and will assist senior citizens and elderly shut-ins with
home delivery.

Another component of the ELF Fund is a program at the Bradford
Senior Center that provides 10 food/prescription purchase cards
worth $30 to local senior citizens each month.