How to boost your Give A Christmas giving in Central, Upper Bucks County

With Christmas right around your corner, its more important than ever to do what you can to help make the holidays a little brighter. And thanks to one very generous Bucks County couple, your Give A Christmas donations can now stretch even further.

From this point on, for every $25,000 raised for Give A Christmas, longtime county residents Gene and Marlene Epstein will donate an additional $5,000 to the fundraiser. And if the campaign reaches $150,000, they'll donate an additional $30,000 to the cause.

"It upsets me seeing that we have such a prosperous country," Gene Epstein said. "The whole world is envious of us and we have so many people that are so wealthy and too many people that have a difficult time paying their bills and putting food on the table. That shouldn't be."

This type of giving is in Epstein's blood, he said. At his father's funeral when he was just a boy, Epstein recounts that countless strangers approached his mother and expressed their gratitude for her husband's kindness over the years. Unbeknownst to her, he had been quietly giving money to his neighbors in need, silently helping to keep bellies full and roofs over heads.

"Dozens and dozens of people," Epstein said, thinking back. He has spent his life trying to carry on that legacy of giving, passing it on to his children in the process.

"If we have enough money to pay our bills and put food on the table, we have the responsibility to help those that need it," he said.

But with Christmas less than a week away, we're still more than $100,000 away from our $165,000 goal for the 37th annual  Give A Christmas  campaign.

The yearly Give A Christmas fundraiser from the Intelligencer and the Bucks County Opportunity Council helps hundreds of Upper and Central Bucks families meet holiday and housing expenses and bills, childcare, transportation, education needs and more.

While a gift helps with recipient's holiday or household budgets this season, the nonprofit BCOC also works to help meet some of their underlying needs, whether it be housing, job training, educational or food assistance, to name a few.

Last year, the organization helped 520 families with more than 600 kids through this fundraiser. The average assistance given through Give A Christmas was $163, including more than 300 holiday gift cards, rental assistance for 37 families, and heating oil, gas or electric for 40 others.

"Its such an incredibly great feeling helping somebody that's in need that I feel that I'm selfish," Epstein said. "I think I get a better feeling helping people that are in need than the people get."

"Do everything that you can to help anybody that's in need," he said. "You can never do too much, you can only do too little."

To donate for Central and Upper Bucks and help BCOC

The  Give A Christmas fund  is administered by the Bucks County Opportunity Council. Members of this nonprofit work on behalf of the Give A Christmas campaign to identify individuals and families in need of financial assistance during the holidays.

The fund provides for a variety of assistance, from traditional help buying gifts and groceries, to rental assistance, medical bills or utility needs. After the program satisfies eligible requests for assistance during the holidays, the remaining fund balance may be used by the agencies to provide similar types of assistance needed at other times of the year.

Visit  givebutter.com/GAC2025  to donate to Give A Christmas.

Lacey Latch is the development reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer. She can be reached at LLatch@usatodayco.co m .

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Give A Christmas: donation challenge can boost your giving in Central, Upper Bucks