Spokane Valley Partners cuts holiday toy program

Spokane Valley Partners, 10814 E. Broadway Ave., will not hold its annual Season of Sharing event this year.

Chief Executive Officer Ken Briggs said Valley Partners had to tighten its belt this year. Of the many programs they offer low-income families, the Season of Sharing seemed to be the easiest one to cut, since there are other organizations providing families with toys during the holidays.

“It made it a pretty easy decision on our part,” he said, wanting to focus their resources on its food and clothing banks.

For many years, the Season of Sharing has provided toys to low-income families during the Christmas season.

“There are other great organizations doing similar work, such as the Christmas Bureau, Toys for Tots and Tree of Sharing. It is our hope to reallocate our resources to increased worker retraining services, emergency services and expanding the food bank’s core mission,” he said.

He added that is was sad to see the program go, but in struggling economic times, cuts needed to be made. The program needed a lot of volunteer time, plus capacity to hold everything.

“Every program we have here is somebody’s pet program,” he added.

Spokane Valley Partners will donate toys and gift cards to other nonprofit agencies that support children. Briggs said his organization will continue to work with the HEART program, a collaborative program among Central Valley, East Valley and West Valley school districts which supports the educational needs of students in temporary or transitional housing.

“Central Valley School District has always appreciated the partnership with Spokane Valley Partners,” said Leslie Camden Goold, coordinator of HEART in that district. “We are sad to see the Season of Sharing event discontinued, as it was so helpful to many of our students and families who were struggling during the holidays.

Camden Goold also thanked Valley Partners for its donations of gift cards to the HEART programs.