Laundry Business and Commercial Financing Leader Eastern Funding Kicks off Operation Santa 2014

As part of Eastern Funding LLC's social responsibility programs, the company kicked off its eighth year of support for the United States Post Office's Operation Santa Claus. This year’s theme of "Angels in Disguise" brought Eastern Funding staff into action by collecting, wrapping, and delivering hundreds of gifts to the United States Post Office for distribution to deserving moms, dads, and children during the holiday season.

As Robert Fagan, Vice President/Collections, mentioned, “With more than a quarter-million 'Dear Santa' letters received by the USPS, Eastern Funding commits the people and the resources to help fulfill the hope expressed in those letters by less fortunate families. We’ve posted a few Santa letters on our company blog. While Eastern pays for all of the costs for storage, boxes, wrapping, tape, and delivery trucks, it’s really our employees who are amazing in their effort and commitment to reach out to those in need."

Now in its 101st year, Operation Santa began in 1912, when Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and the public to respond to the letters. Last year, the post office in New York received more than 500,000 Dear Santa letters, and nationwide, the Postal Service expects more than a million letters. The Operation Santa Program starts the first week of December and ends just before Christmas. As of 2014, the US Postal Service in 17 major US cities offers the program.

Other notable Eastern Funding corporate social initiatives in 2014 included Eastern hosting a fall educational conference for laundry owners, with more than $10,000 in proceeds from the event going to LaundryCares Foundation. Established in 2006 by the Coin Laundry Association, LaundryCares is a charitable foundation whose mission is to provide economic, equipment, and supply support from the laundry industry to America's less fortunate.

Headquartered in New York City and founded by commercial banking and lending veteran Michael Fanger, Eastern Funding has become a leader in financing for the laundry business by providing more than $1 billion in funding since its inception in 1997. In 2012, Monitor Magazine ranked Eastern Funding as the 36th-largest bank-owned leasing and financing company in the United States. The company makes small business lending available to facilitate new and used equipment purchases, acquisitions and refinancing of retail stores and real estate purchases, and provides fixed- and floating-rate loans. Eastern Funding LLC is a subsidiary of Brookline Bancorp, Boston, MA. For more information about the company and its services visit easternfunding.com