BELLE GLADE — Tammy Jackson-Moore was spreading the word around Thanksgiving for a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy friend of hers who was looking for people to assist if they wanted to help …
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BELLE GLADE — Tammy Jackson-Moore was spreading the word around Thanksgiving for a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy friend of hers who was looking for people to assist if they wanted to help the elderly in Belle Glade this holiday season. “Consider supporting this effort where Christmas stockings will be stuffed and given to the elderly residents in the community,” Ms. Moore posted the day before the holiday (Nov. 27). She referred her Facebook followers to friend Joann Ro-Re, who works for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office in the Glades.
Ms. Ro-Re had started a campaign to raise $1,000 on GoFundMe.com to accomplish just that. It’s called “Christmas Socks of Cheer,” and she already had exceeded her fundraising goal within a few days
Special to the Lake Okeechobee News/Courtesy of Joann Ro-ReShe posted this on the fundraiser page Nov. 27:
“I know the holidays are tough for a lot of people. I am reaching out to my friends asking for donations, even if it’s a dollar. I am putting together Christmas Stockings with necessities for adults out here this season. Many are homeless, with no basic essentials, and that’s where I want to help.”
From just 11 donors, and after 109 shares on other social media, Ms. Ro-Re not only reached but exceeded her goal.
She posted Nov. 30, “Now, instead of 25 stockings, I estimate I’ll be doing about 60. I’ll also be able to put Winn Dixie gift cards in the stockings, which I was not going to be able to do before. You guys are all amazing, and I can’t thank you enough.”
Ms. Ro-Re said the total received after fees from GoFundMe was $793. Last Monday, Dec. 2, she again posted to thank her helpers: “All of you have helped me help the citizens in Belle Glade, and my heart is all kinds of full!” PBSO Public Information Officer Teri Barbera said, “I have a few deputies take on a sock fundraiser.”
