The Cheer Fund still needs your help. Although Christmas has come and gone, there remains a need for donations. The Cheer Fund will continue to accept donations into the month of January on the way toward the goal of raising $45,000. The fund, which began sometime in the 1930s by the Suffolk News-Herald to provide toys for needy children during the holidays, continues to exist solely on donations.

The Cheer Fund money goes to Toys for Tots to enable them to purchase toys in addition to those toys donated directly to them.

Last year more than 3,300 children received gifts as a result of Suffolk’s outpouring of generosity. These were children who, without the Cheer Fund’s help, wouldn’t have had a merry Christmas.

We are especially grateful for those who have donated their money in past years and this year. So far for the 2008 campaign, we’ve raised more than $32,000.

Suffolk is a giving community, and we are sure that you will come to the rescue of our mission to ensure every child in Suffolk has a great Christmas and receives some Christmas cheer this year and the next.

If you plan to make a donation, let us know. We’d like to take your picture and publish it in the newspaper. Call us at 539-3437 and let us know when and where we can take a picture or you can come by our office.

Please send your checks payable to the Cheer Fund to the Suffolk News-Herald, P.O. Box 1220, Suffolk, VA 23434 or drop them and toy donations off at the office, 130 S. Saratoga St.