Firms Lauded For Valuing Families Awards Recognize Companies That Allow Employees To Maintain Good Home Lives

Goodale and Barbieri Companies, Empire Health Laboratories and Grove and Morgan, Attorneys at Law, took the top prizes in the Family-a-Fair Workplace Awards.

The awards were established to recognize companies which offer employees an opportunity to advance their careers and still maintain good family lives.

Seven judges, representing community businesses and social services, judged 42 nominations in six categories: pay and benefits, career advancement, child and family care, flexibility, work environment and innovation. Employers were divided into three groups based on the number of employees.

Goodale and Barbieri Companies won for firms staffing 200 employees or more.

Taking second place in that category was Group Health Northwest; third place went to Deaconess Medical Center, while Hewlett-Packard and Spokane Skills Center of School District 81, tied for honorable mention.

Empire Health Laboratories won the top and only award for employers of 51 to 199 employees.

Following the law firm of Grove and Morgan for businesses with one to 50 employees, was First Presbyterian Church in second place. Anderson Moving & Storage Inc., and Other Mothers tied for third; Balboa Elementary received honorable mention.

Award winners will be recognized at a noon luncheon on April 19 at the Ridpath Hotel, featuring Judith Viorst, a contributing editor to Redbook magazine, as guest speaker.

For reservations, call 458-3733.

Speaking of Viorst …

Judith Viorst, author of “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” and “Necessary Losses,” will discuss “Parenting Our Children from Newborn to Thirty-Year-Old and Beyond” during Family-a-Fair’s Spring Lecture at 7 p.m., April 19, at the Ridpath Hotel.

Her speech is billed as “a funny and touching trip through all stages of parenthood.”

The $6 tickets are available at Holy Family Hospital, Children’s Corner Bookshop and Auntie’s Bookstore through April 12, and by mail, by calling 482-2477. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door.

Free child care will be available for the first 50 children of registered parents attending the lecture.

Learning free enterprise

Teaching and inspiring students to value free enterprise, understand business and economics and to be ready for the workforce is the goal of Junior Achievement of the Inland Northwest.

Second-, third- and sixth-grade students at Garfield Elementary will be given hands-on activities to understand the relationship between what they learn in school and the economies of the community, city and world.

Funded by a grant from the Junior League of Spokane, eight seniors from Shadle Park High School will act as volunteer consultants and role models while developing presentation skills and sharing their experiences.

Walk for MS

Hundreds of Spokane-area people are expected to join together April 14 to walk five miles or 10 miles on the Centennial Trail in Riverside State Park for the seventh annual MS Walk for Multiple Sclerosis.

The walk begins at 10 a.m. at Spokane Falls Community College’s Student Union, 3410 W. Fort George Wright Drive.

People in some 425 cities across the nation walk every year to raise money for research to find the cause, prevention and cure of MS, and to fund health-related services for people with the disease and their families.

The Inland Northwest MS chapter serves 15 counties in Washington and 10 counties in Northern Idaho, providing support groups, equipment loans, recreational programs, newly diagnosed services and advocacy. For more information, call 482-2022.

Christmas is coming

Artists from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana may apply for participation in Corbin Art Center’s 21st annual Juried Fine Arts and Crafts Christmas sale, Dec. 7 and 8. Applications must be received by April 26.

For an application, call 625-6677, or write to 507 W. Seventh, Spokane, WA 99204.

Foundation’s a real sweetheart

Children’s Home Society of Washington presented its SweetHearts for Kids Award to the George Frederick Jewett Foundation for outstanding support to children and families.

For 30 years, the Jewett Foundation has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to children and their families through donations to programs in Eastern Washington and San Francisco.

The award was presented to Betsy Coombs for her grandmother, Mary Jewett Gaiser, a foundation trustee, at the organization’s recent annual benefit luncheon. The event raised more than $4,000 to help children and families served by Children’s Home Society of Washington.

The children’s home, the oldest private, nonprofit organization serving children and families in the state, is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Each year, the society serves more than 12,000 children and parents in the state.

Students build teeter-totter

Five Spokane Community College students recruited help from Flaig Steel and First American Title Company to construct a mobile teeter-totter for the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery.

As part of a human relations course offered through SCC’s business department, Melanie Riley, Burt Waggoner, Tony Alum, Suzette Ashby and Shanon Nelson organized the project and built the set. American Title donated money to buy materials, and Flaig Steel fabricated necessary parts.

The teeter-totter was installed March 3 at the nursery, a community-funded, nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect.

Time to renew

DOVIA Directors of Volunteers in Agencies - will offer a half-day workshop on April 11 to help those who work with volunteers to gain fresh perspectives on how to revitalize themselves and their volunteer programs.

Susan Cairy, Spokane Juvenile Court Volunteers Programs coordinator, will discuss “What Part of No Can’t You Pronounce?” Her topic covers how to examine limits, risk others’ opinion of you, and turning down requests for hELP.

Jan Weiber, Dakota Direct’s director of training and quality insurance, will focus on direction and renewing dreams.

The workshop, starting with registration at 8 a.m., concludes at 12:30 p.m., following an interactive session with a panel of counselors: Kathy Habel, Tom Peters, Kathy J. Pitts and Marilyn Walker. They will focus on maintaining a balance in life and preventing burn out.

Registration, due Monday, is $25 for DOVIA members and $30 for non-members, and may be faxed to 458-7472 or mailed to Dora-Faye Hendricks, DOVIA, c/o SCAN, 500 S. Stone, Spokane, WA 99202. For more information, call 458-7445.

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