Susan English

The Christmas Fund has closed for the year with donations totaling $562,804, exceeding the goal by nearly $68,000. The donations ensure the fund will cover bills for the Christmas Bureau, which provided toys and food vouchers to 9,662 needy families, including 15,601 children. Food vouchers totaled $284,294 this year.

The Christmas Fund is within reach of its goal of $495,000 thanks to generous donations from the community. A donation of $7,652 from Lee & Hayes, PLLC, of Spokane, and $5,720 from Downtown Toyota, Downtown Honda and Downtown Lexus of Spokane brought new donations to $43,814. That puts the fund about $5,000 shy of its goal.

Although the Christmas Bureau closed for the year on Saturday, the work of Catholic Charities and Volunteers of America is not done. After the two-day closure of the bureau during last week’s snows, Catholic Charities and VOA directors decided to issue food vouchers today only at their offices downtown.

A $30,000 donation from Travis Pattern & Foundry Inc. this weekend boosted the Christmas Fund within reach of its goal. “The owners and employees of Travis Pattern and Foundry again wish to donate the funds that we would have spent on a Christmas party to your fund,” wrote president Travis W. Garske. “We hope we can help make Christmas a little brighter for some Spokane families. We wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a great new year in 2009,” he wrote.

Thousands of community members, including businesses, individuals and families, church groups, and social clubs donate to The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund as part of the effort to provide a brighter Christmas for low-income families. The Christmas Bureau will reopen for its final day today after being closed Thursday and Friday because of weather conditions.

Christmas Bureau volunteer Carmela Conroy gets the prize for coming the longest way to volunteer at the charity. Conroy is visiting her parents in Spokane during a short leave from Kabul, Afghanistan, where she works for the U.S. State Department as a regional refugee coordinator. She also donated $1,500 to the Christmas Fund, which pays for the toys and food vouchers distributed at the bureau. She spent Wednesday volunteering at the bureau with her parents, Bob and Judi Conroy.

Christmas Bureau volunteers say the toys are flying out of the charity at a record pace this year. The numbers show a 21 percent increase from last year through the first four days of operation at the Spokane fairgrounds.

The working poor are expected to represent a large portion of the families who will come today to the Christmas Bureau. This is the second year that the charity, which provides toys and grocery vouchers for the holidays, is open Saturdays to serve those who work during the week. Recognizing the need for extended hours, bureau organizers scheduled two Saturdays in the 10-day schedule. The weekend operation also allows working volunteers to participate in the charity’s efforts.

Donations to the Christmas Fund pay for food vouchers and toys distributed at the Christmas Bureau. Donors have boosted the fund to $183,811 with $38,097 in new donations. Following are the names of the donors and the amounts:

Donations to The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund set a record on Christmas Day. Donations totaling $9,833 received since Christmas bumped the fund to $566,343 when it closed for the year Friday. Donations received too late to be deposited Friday will be applied to the 2008 Christmas Fund and will be reported in the newspaper after Thanksgiving.

The generosity of the local community resulted in a record year for The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund, as donations totaling nearly $43,000 pushed the fund past $555,580 on Christmas Eve. Donations to the fund in 2000 reached $543,385, the previous record.

A generous community gave more than 30,000 needy people the gift of Christmas cheer this year. Donors to The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund have given more than $512,000 so the area's poor families could get toys for their children and food for a holiday dinner. People who went to the Christmas Bureau for holiday fixings often express gratitude to the volunteers, and many send notes.

With the Christmas Bureau closed for the year, bureau organizers are tallying the bills for the fixings of Christmas given to area poor families. More than 32,400 poor people in 10,000 families – a record for the charity – went to the bureau at the fairgrounds for help with their holiday celebrations. More than 16,000 children will get a toy for Christmas, thanks to donors who have given generously to the Christmas Fund. The fund pays for the toys and food vouchers given out at the bureau.

The Christmas Bureau closes this afternoon. That means there will be big bills to pay, which is where The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund comes in. The fund pays for the grocery vouchers and toys given to families who come to the bureau for help with their holiday celebrations. Thursday, volunteers gave food vouchers totaling $17,020 to 655 families, and 725 children got toys for Christmas.

With two days remaining in the Christmas Bureau operation, bureau organizers are keeping a close eye on the toy and candy inventory. Volunteer toy buyers shopped on Monday to replace the depleted teen gifts and added 300 watches, sleeping bags, CD players and electronic Sudoku games to the toy room on Tuesday. By Wednesday afternoon, most of those gifts were also gone.

Thousands of needy children get new toys at the Christmas Bureau, thanks to the generosity of the local community, but they also go home from the charity at the fairgrounds with new books. The Volunteers of America, which partners with Catholic Charities to operate the bureau, donates 20,000 new children's books to the effort.

Travis Pattern & Foundry Inc., a consistently generous donor to the Christmas Fund, has again chosen to support the holiday charity in a big way. The Spokane business donated $30,000, which boosted the fund to more than $349,000. "The owners and employees of Travis Pattern & Foundry again wish to donate the funds that we would have spent on a Christmas party to your fund," wrote President Travis Garske. "We are very pleased to enclose a check in the amount of $30,000. We hope we can help make Christmas a little brighter for some Spokane families. We wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a great new year in 2008."

Volunteers get a breather today before the Christmas Bureau reopens Monday for the last week of operation at the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center. While bureau organizers prepared for record numbers of poor families coming Saturday for help with their Christmas, the crowds that overwhelmed the bureau a week ago did not materialize.

Christmas Bureau organizers are prepared for another record-setting day today, after a week of seeing more needy families than ever coming to the charity at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center. Nearly 780 grocery vouchers totaling $22,515 were distributed Friday, about 80 vouchers more than on the same day last year. Toys were given to nearly 2,000 children, also about 80 more than last year.

The community continues to demonstrate its generosity in many ways during this Christmas season. A $10,000 donation from the physicians at Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists, of Spokane, gave the Christmas Fund a big boost. "Happy holidays and warm greetings as we kick off the season of giving," wrote Dr. Douglas Norquist. "With this $10,000 contribution, the physicians at Northwest Orthopaedic Specialists would like to take this opportunity to support the endeavors of the staff at the Christmas Fund, and express our best wishes to the entire Spokane community. We believe that the Christmas Fund represents the true spirit of what a community is all about – giving back to those in need. We thank you for helping others and inspiring community sharing that we believe make the holidays most enjoyable."

Christmas Bureau volunteer Deb Prouty worked her last shift of the year Wednesday at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center. It was her first year as a volunteer at the charity. "After working four days here, I want to remind my friends, my family and other donors that at this charity, the money goes back to the people of Spokane," she said.