Sponsor Wishing Star Family For A Fulfilling Christmas
It’s fun to browse through the many catalogs arriving with each day’s mail, shopping for the perfect gift for those on our Christmas gift lists.
Pleasure comes in thinking about how pleased the recipient of the gift would be.
We all know, however, that many in our community don’t have the resources to purchase gifts for their loved ones. And, for families with children fighting lifethreatening health conditions, it’s not only financial resources which are stretched - they are also taxed physically and emotionally, and trying to handle Christmas shopping may just be the last straw.
These are the kinds of families the Wishing Star Foundation helps each year.
Wishing Star officials are looking for individuals and businesses willing to sponsor a Wish family.
Sponsors shop for the family, buy gifts for everyone - including Mom and Dad. In many cases, sponsors also purchase gift certificates for groceries for the family’s Christmas dinner. If sponsors prefer, they can donate money and Wishing Star volunteers will do the actual shopping.
Sponsoring a Wish Family can be a project for a family, neighborhood, club or business - and Christmas morning will take on extra meaning for those who helped others, knowing that another family is having a good Christmas, too.
To sponsor a family, contact the Wishing Star Foundation, 325-9803.
Last call for art sale
Speaking of shopping, today is the last day of the 13th annual Inland Craft Warnings exhibit and sale of contemporary crafts.
Forty-six professional crafts artists from throughout the Pacific Northwest will have their wares available from noon to 5 p.m. today in The Crescent Court. The juried exhibit features pottery, glass, basketry, jewelry, fiber arts, wood works, metal designs and photography. Admission is $3.50.
Knife and Fork’s menu of speakers
Does an evening dressed in formal attire, enjoying a gourmet meal, indulging in witty conversation, relishing friendships - and topped off by listening a stimulating speaker sound enticing?
That experience is offered six times a year by the Spokane Knife and Fork Club, and it is open to anyone.
This year’s roster of speakers, and the months they will speak, include:
Robin Lawson, author of “The Wit and Wisdom of Winston Churchill” in November.
Dr. Timothy Icenogle, Spokane cardiothoracic surgeon, in January.
The Honorable James Murphy, Spokane Superior Court Judge, in March.
Michael Modzelewski, author of “Inside Passage: Adventures in the Wilderness,” in April.
In mid-October, John Rayburn told of radio’s glory days.
February’s speaker is to be announced.
Spokane holds a unique spot in the international club’s history.
The Knife and Fork Club got off to a rocky start in 1898, in Kansas City, Mo. It lasted only a few years, but, in 1921, was revived for a few more years. It didn’t really take off in earnest, however, until 1936, when Benjamin Franklin of Topeka, Kan., and E.M. Avery of Fort Worth, Texas, once again breathed new life into the disbanded organization.
And, they chose Spokane as the site of its rebirth.
Avery felt Spokane residents would readily accept the dinner club’s concept, based on his experience with chautauqua sessions, in which popular education was presented in the form of lectures, concerts or dramatic performances.
So, on Dec. 7, 1936, the Knife and Club began again - this time in the world-famous Davenport Hotel with Sen. Gerald P. Nye of North Dakota as speaker. The group formed with 168 members. Dues were $10, dinner was $1.50 (club officers were unsuccessful in their attempts to get the hotel to lower the price to $1.25), and Nye charged $200.
Spokane businessman Eric Johnson, who later became a movie industry mogul, was the first president.
With a brief hiatus during World War II (due to a shortage of restaurant personnel), the club has continued to meet with the same format: formal attire with the express purpose to enjoy a good meal, good friends and a good speaker.
Frank Noble is the current president. Membership dues are now $75, plus an initiation fee of $5 per couple.
For more information, call 838-2744.
National Adoption Month
The Adoption Resource Center, a program of the Children’s Home Society of Washington, and the Inland Northwest Adoption Coalition will sponsor four programs in early November as part of National Adoption Month.
A birth mother and son will tell of their joys and challenges during their reunion at the “Search and Reunion Presentation” from noon to 1 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 2, at the Eastern Washington University Women’s Center. Admission is free.
“Exploring Search and Reunion Workshop” will be offered for adopted persons, birth parents and adoptive parents from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 4, at the Children’s Home Society of Washington, 4325 S. Scott. The workshop will explore emotional issues related to reunion, adoption fantasies, myths and identity issues. Cost is $30, and registration is required; call 747-4174.
On Monday, Nov. 6, “Intercultural Adoption: The Joys and Challenges of Being an Interracial Family,” will be presented at the Children’s Home Society from 6 to 9 p.m. Topics will cover discovering your child’s world view, helping him or her develop a healthy identity, and the challenges of multicultural families. Cost is $15 per person, $25 per couple. To register, call 747-4174.
A “Special Needs Parenting and Recruitment Forum” on Thursday, Nov. 9, is designed for those exploring the option of adopting, or who are already caring for children with special needs. The forum will be in Room 1A of the Spokane Public Library, 906 W. Main, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Admission is free.
Although there is a fee to some sessions, no one will be access because of financial reasons.
Trimming the tree
Kickoff for raffle ticket sales for Christmas Tree Elegance will be part of the Spokane Symphony Associates meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at the Manito Country Club, according to Theo Egan, associate president.
A continental breakfast will be served at 9:30, followed by speakers David L. Broom, president of Spokane Symphony Society Board of Trustees; Jonathan Martin, executive director of Spokane Symphony Orchestra; and Joan Winston, head of Christmas Tree Elegance 1995.
For reservation call Karen Synder, 924-2012.
A walk across America
Linda Lawrence Hunt, associate professor of English at Whitworth College, has a story to tell of the adventures of Helga Estby, a Norwegian immigrant, who, with her 18-year-old daughter, Clara, walked unescorted across the United States to earn a $10,000 wager and save the family farm at Mica Peak.
Hunt is the second guest of the Senior Lecture Series meeting at the Cheney Cowles Museum at 11 a.m., Wednesday.
Hunt will tell of recently discovered details about the trek, including the loss of the $10,000, the tragedies that occurred at their home while the two women were gone and how the story was silenced when they returned.
Following the lecture, Frank DuBree of West One Bank will give the Financial Tip of the Month for Seniors.
Other museum events
Bernard Perlin, a World War II correspondent and illustrator, will speak at the Cheney Cowles Museum auditorium at 7:30 Wednesday evening.
Perlin was an illustrator and poster artist at the Office of War Information, Graphics Division, in Washington, D.C. when WWII erupted.
He left that position to become a war correspondent for Life Magazine, covering the Middle East from 1943 to 1944, and wrote of the Pacific and the Orient throughout 1945 for Fortune Magazine.
Several of his war posters are included in the museum’s current exhibit, “Behind the Red, White, and Blue: Posters, Propaganda, and Pride.”
Dave Ballard, a social studies teacher at Lakeside Middle School, will discuss “Duck and Cover and Other Unworkable Strategies” at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 8 at the museum.
He will relate the history of Washington state’s efforts to prepare for nuclear war from 1949 to 1963, discussing various strategies tried and civil defense drills implemented - especially Spokane’s Operation Walkout in 1954.
The lecture is part of the museum’s Wednesday Night Program Series and is open to the public free of charge, with donations welcomed.
How-to etiquette dining
Students worried about which fork to use when at a formal dinner can learn the ins and outs of proper dining during a how-to etiquette dinner and impact forum sponsored by Gonzaga University’s Career Resources Center.
Helping to prepare students to enter the business world, the center will serve a sixcourse dinner to teach the basics of dining etiquette in GU’s Cataldo Dining Hall from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Nov. 3.
Then, six high-profile business professionals will discuss career fields, give tips on job searching, and relate their perspectives of the “real world” during the forum at 7 p.m., Nov. 7, in the Jepson Auditorium.
For more information, contact Marlin Clark, Career Resources directors 328-4220, ext. 4231.
Music at Whitworth
The Whitworth College Wind Ensemble will perform in concert at 4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 12, at Whitworth College’s newly renovated Cowles Memorial Auditorium.
Directed by Scott Adkins, assistant professor of music, the ensemble will perform works by Aaron Copeland, Norma Dello Joio, Dave Holsinger, Gustav Holst, Ronald Lo Presti, Ron Nelson, Walter Piston and Dmitri Shostakovich.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Betsy Carosella The Spokesman-Review