Model of volunteerism
Kiwanis honor Rose Dimico’s decades of service
Longtime Spokane Valley Partners volunteer Rose Dimico was honored recently with an Everyday Hero award by the Spokane Valley Kiwanis at the Mirabeau Park Hotel.
For 20 years, Dimico has volunteered for the Best Foot Forward program, overseeing the operation and expansion of the clothing bank that serves more than 20,000 people each year.
Dimico developed an automated tracking system for clients years ago, the precursor to the system used today. She has supervised the receiving, sorting, displaying and distribution of about 150,000 pounds of clothes a year. The record one-year total is 250,000 pounds.
“Rose exemplifies volunteerism,” said Sharon Jayne of the Valley Kiwanis. “She is truly an everyday hero.”
She has spent most of her life in the Spokane Valley, growing up on her family’s apple orchard on Trent Avenue near Kaiser Aluminum. All of her children went through East Valley schools.
She worked for Tidyman’s for almost 19 years and began volunteering at Spokane Valley Partners, previously known as Spokane Valley Community Center, in 1991.
In a Valley Voice interview in 2008, Dimico said she never forgot a time long ago when she received much-needed help from community groups.
“When I was a young, single mother raising four children on my own, there were agencies that helped me, so I always thought when I could, I’d give back.”