COALTON — The link between People Helping People and the annual Needy Families Fund campaign dates back to the earliest days of both the nonprofit organization and the annual drive and continues to this day. In fact, People Helping People has helped the 22nd annual Needy Families Fund campaign get off to a strong start with a $5,000 donation.

“People Helping People has always been one of our strongest supporters,” said J. Stewart Schneider, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in Bellefonte, who is overseeing the collection of this year’s contributions that will benefit CAReS and the Salvation Army in Boyd County, Helping Hands in Greenup County and Project Merry Christmas in Carter County. “People Helping People has been a major reason for the success of the Needy Families Fund almost from the beginning.”

The late Leon Tackett and John Jenkins launched People Helping People in January 1988, less than a month after the conclusion of the first Needy Families Fund campaign during the Christmas season of 1987.

The Needy Families Fund was launched in 1987 by retired Independent Publisher John DelSanto, and for the first 20 years, the newspaper accepted donations to the fund and oversaw the distribution of contributions. A year ago the four nonprofit agencies that benefit from the campaign assumed responsibility for the organization of the campaign and the collection of donations.

The 22nd campaign began on Thanksgiving. The Independent will again publish the names of individuals and organizations that make donations unless they request to remain anonymous.

Jenkins said Tackett, who died in 2002, approached him in the fall of 1987 about creating an organization that would help needy people in the community. As the longtime operator of the Coalton Country Jubilee, Tackett was constantly being asked to sponsor benefit shows and fundraisers to meet real needs in the community, Jenkins said.

“He wanted to create an organization that could help meet the needs in this area,” Jenkins said. “That’s how People Helping People got started, and by operating on revenue produced by semi-weekly bingo games, it has been self-supporting from the start. That’s how Leon wanted it.”

“Bingo profits used the right way can do a lot of good,” Jenkins said. Both alcohol and foul language is banned at the People Helping People bingo hall and the organization limits excessive gambling. “We want to maintain a family atmosphere here.”

“You can come out here and play for $5,” Jenkins said. “We don’t want anybody losing their paycheck by playing bingo out here. Some people may lose $15 or $20 but that’s about the most anyone is out. We don’t want to get the reputation as a place where people lose a lot of money.”

For Jenkins, operating the bingo games two times a week and serving as treasurer of People Helping People is a full-time job, but he said many others also help with the games.

“I don’t think our board gets enough credit,” Jenkins said. “They do a lot of work that makes us able to stay open, but some people think People Helping People is just me. That’s certainly not true.”

Members of the board of People Helping People include Tom N. Hunter, president, Kimberly Jenkins, vice president, Donald Tussey, secretary, John Jenkins, treasurer, Margaret and Garry Bayless and Paris “Buddy” Salyer.

“These are people who do a lot of work out here and get little credit for it,” said Jenkins of his fellow board members. “They take their jobs seriously and always attend board meetings. They are committed to what we are doing.”

Over the years, organizations like CAReS, Helping Hands, the Salvation Army and the Cannonsburg Food Bank have learned that they can call on People Helping People when they have a need but lack the resources to meet it, Jenkins said. Time and again, People Helping People has been able to come up with the money to help those in need.

The organization also maintains an emergency voucher system through the Catlettsburg Police Department that funds urgent needs that individuals and families sometimes encounter.

People Helping People also relies heavily on CAReS to assure that individuals and families it helps have not received assistance from other organizations.

The organization also funds an annual scholarship of $500 for students in Boyd, Greenup and Carter counties. The money can be used however the recipient chooses.

Jenkins is concerned that changes being considered by the state Department of Charitable Gaming will “destroy pull tabs and without pull tabs we would not be able to operate. At $5, you can’t make enough money from bingo to keep going.”

However, Jenkins is working with other bingo operators in the region and with state legislators in an effort to keep the proposed changes from taking effect.