Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In this difficult year, we must admit that we feared that the amount of money raised by the Cheer Fund would be among the many things that just wasn’t the same.

The Cheer Fund typically raises about $40,000 each year and turns that money over to the Salvation Army to purchase toys for thousands of children in needy families right here in Suffolk. This has been an effort of the Suffolk News-Herald and the local community for more than 80 years, and we’re not planning on stopping just because a pandemic gets in the way.

However, we did fear that it wouldn’t be the same this year. And it seems we were right, only in a good way.

We are already more than halfway toward our $40,000 goal, which is pretty early in the season for us to hit that mark. We could not be more pleased by the response of the Suffolk community realizing that so many people are struggling right now.

However, we can’t get the rest of the way without your help.

To donate to the Cheer Fund, send a check to P.O. Box 1220, Suffolk, VA 23439 or bring it to the newspaper’s temporary office, 157 N. Main St., from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. We will list your donation in the newspaper, but it can be marked “anonymous” if you like. Donations may be made in honor of or in memory of someone. If you bring the check to our office, we’ll even take your picture as you hand it to one of our staff.

Online giving is available through the link on the Suffolk Cheer Fund Facebook page.

For more information on the Cheer Fund, call 757-539-3437.