pleblanc@breezenewspapers.com

Beacon of Hope board member Elsie Stearns would like to get the word out that smile.amazon.com has listed the Beacon of Hope Pine Island Inc. as one of the recipients people may choose as a donation whenever they make an Amazon purchase.

Stearns said they do see varying amounts of money each month from people who currently have the Beacon listed as their chosen organization. Although only .05 percent is tacked onto the total of each purchase, Stearns said, of course every little bit helps, as many islanders count on the Beacon for various modes of assistance.

“Right now, the stores have slowed down, due to COVID,” Stearns said. “Everyone seems to be shopping online. We want to get the word out because not a lot of people know that if they go to Smileamazon.com and they put in the Beacon, it becomes an automatic donation each time they shop.”

In its beginnings, Stearns said an organization was not allowed to advertise that they could be utilized on smile.amazon.com, leaving word of mouth the only source in which to promote these online donations. Having done some research since then, she explained that it is now legal to advertise an organization, such as the Beacon, which is in need of continuous financial support. Island organization From Our Hearts is under the Beacon of Hope umbrella, partnered with the United Way, and therefore uses the same Tax ID number for smile.amazon.com.

“If people are aware of this and they make a conscious decision, when they shop online, to go into smileamazon and pick the Beacon as their organization, we can track it and hopefully we’ll see a definite increase in funds coming our way,” Stearns said.