Wayland Steps Up to Replenish Community Fund

In November, with the heating season just around the corner, the Wayland Community Fund saw its coffers rapidly emptying. 

The fund began in 1997 as a means "to provide short-term, emergency financial assistance to Wayland residents," according to the website. When Patch talked with Wayland Community Fund Director Mike Patterson in November, he said that in all his years of directing the fund, he'd seen it grow depleted before, but never at "quite this accelerated” a pace.

The fund was declining so quickly, in fact, that Patterson took the unprecedented step of mailing requests for donations to 5,200 households.

Wayland residents responded in a big way.

Those 5,200 requests led to larger-than-expected returns, Patterson said. He said about 180 donations came in as a result of those mailings. While it doesn't sound like much, Patterson said, anything more than a 1 percent response rate on unsolicited mailings is impressive -- Wayland responded at a rate of more than 3 percent.

"I'm very happy with the results," Patterson said. "I'm very pleased with Wayland's response. They did very well."

In addition to the high percentage of response, Patterson said the "average size of the contributions was larger than I'd hoped." All that generosity means that Patterson anticipates the fund should be able to operate comfortably until next summer when it can once again tap its endowment if necessary.

The fund is generally able to operate with a withdrawal from its endowment fund once each fiscal year and the periodic donations given by generous residents. The recent years of economic strife, however, have led to more people requesting larger sums, which took a toll on the fund, Patterson explained in November, leading to the direct mail request.

Patterson said he was so pleased with the response that he will consider issuing an annual appeal, though he admitted it is a lot of work to pull the mailings together and the Wayland Community Fund is a volunteer organization.

He did much of the legwork for the November mailing, and Patterson also sends letters throughout the year to individuals who have had a community fund donation given in their name.

The work, however, is worth it, Patterson said.

"It is a service to the community," he said. "It's something the community needs."

For more information about the Wayland Community Fund, including how to donate funds or receive assistance, check out the fund's webpage on the Town website.