12/28/2006

Northern Notes

Donors provide pre-holiday meal for school

By Stephanie Beach
Local columnist

The students and staff at Platte River Elementary School got a head start on the holidays with a wonderful pre-Christmas meal. The free lunch was generously donated by Dale Westcott (Dale Westcott Masonry) and Bob Rosa (Honor Car Wash, Honor Storage and Honor Excavating).

In addition to sending their most sincere thanks to Westcott and Rosa, the students and staff also would like to thank Pat Schneider of Honor Family Market for working so closely with Westcott and Rosa to help make the meal possible. Thanks also go to Barney and Mary Geetings of Sara Lee for providing the dessert.

A number of volunteers also came in to lend a helping hand to make sure things ran smoothly including Marilyn Fries, Deb and Bill Sholten, June Armstrong, Belinda Keyes, Ann Worden, Karen Miller, Belva Whaley, Rich and Carolyn Lung, Cindy Cook and Kevin Ingleston.

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More than 4,000 children in northern Michigan experienced the joy of Christmas thanks to a successful Toys for Tots campaign. Organizers say they collected and distributed more than 13,000 toys to an estimated 4,369 children.

The Northwest Michigan Toys for Tots Program works with all the major family service agencies in the five-county area around Traverse City. Toys are distributed through the Father Fred Foundation, the Salvation Army, the Goodwill Inn and others.

Although organizers say the total count in donations is down from last year, the drop reflects new Toys for Tots programs in Otsego and Wexford counties that splintered from the Northwest Michigan campaign.

"We encouraged them to start up their own programs in order to receive support and additional toys from the national Toys for Tots organization,” said Northwest Michigan Toys for Tots coordinator Jack Sir.

Sir added that the community stepped up again this year to help needy children have a great Christmas.

"Every year we are amazed at the wide range of support we see,” Sir said. "We have children who save their pennies so they can buy toys for the needy, all the way up to a group of men who challenge themselves every year to pack trucks full of bikes so they (can) provide a little joy on Christmas Day.”

Sir said the campaign was given a boost with major cash donations from businesses such as Meijer and Toys R Us. Other corporate sponsors include the Great Wolf Lodge, Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA), JenTees, TV 7&4, and radio stations WKLT, The Fox FM, 106.7 WSRT, and WLDR.

Sir also recognized the men and women at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Traverse City for playing a critical role in the campaign by picking up toys at more than 100 locations throughout the area. The air station also served as the distribution location, adding that the campaign would have been "sunk” without their help.

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Trinity Lutheran Church was the site for a recent ingathering of goods donated by 25 area Lutheran church congregations and other donors. A total of 515 boxes containing quilts, blankets, clothing, soap, and kits containing health, school and sewing supplies were loaded onto a semi-trailer truck and transported to a rail yard in Grand Rapids. There, the boxes were combined with donations from other Michigan churches to be shipped and sorted for distribution by Lutheran World Relief to areas of need worldwide, such as refugee camps, orphanages, hospitals, sites of natural disasters and others.

Mary Robinson of the Board of Christian Care at Trinity Lutheran Church would like to thank all the participating congregations and generous donors. She also sends a special thank you to Cory and John at Star Truck Rental for donating the gas and use of the semi-trailer, Chip Dickinson of Trinity Lutheran Church who drove the truck to Grand Rapids, and everyone who helped load the boxes onto the truck, including Boy Scout Troop #30 leaders Chris Stein and Mike Kirt and Scouts Mike, Bobby, Jim, Caleb, Austin and Devin; and other helpers Tim Ford, Sandy Lakanen and Arlene Tremain.

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Niki Dunwiddie of the Third Level Crisis Center Street Outreach Program wrote to thank Bay Pointe Community Church for supplying and filling survival backpacks for the program. The backpacks provide homeless youth in the area with items such as toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner, snacks, deodorant and other necessary hygiene items.

"Bay Pointe's generosity is greatly appreciated,” Niki wrote.

Items for this column may be sent to Northern Notes, Record-Eagle, P.O. Box 632, Traverse City, MI 49685-0632; e-mail sbeach@record-eagle.com.