Ribbons Gesture Of Caring For Valley Families ‘One Last Little Warm Fuzzy’ In The Face Of Spokane’s Latest Tragedy

If you see someone wearing an orange and black ribbon this weekend, remember two mourning Spokane families - and know that the ribbon is “one last little warm fuzzy” for Telisha Shaver and Jade Moore.

The ribbons, made by volunteers, represent a groundswell of caring that has risen in the face of Spokane’s latest tragedy, the beating deaths last week of Moore and Shaver. Both were West Valley High School graduates.

The memorial ribbons have curled from lapels, dresses and sweatshirts all week at the high school, where students and officials are talking about other ways to cope with the deaths.

At Rosauers Supermarket on nearby Trent Avenue, bakery manager Annette Kristensen wore a ribbon on her white uniform. She said she remembered Moore.

“Jade used to come in here at lunch, like some of the kids from the high school do. I only knew her by her first name,” Kristensen said. In a plastic bakery box behind her, sat a supply of ribbons.

In a fund-raising drive to help with the families’ medical expenses, students distributed the ribbons all week. The ribbon campaign had collected about $750 by Friday.

Other businesses, including golf courses around Spokane, are expected to start displaying the ribbons. Shaver and her sister, Venus, who survived the beating, had played golf and worked as caddies at The Coeur d’Alene Resort.

The ribbon idea got started when Jan Carter, former adviser of the West Valley dance team, talked with Jackie Zimmerman, a mother of two West Valley graduates. Telisha Shaver and Moore had been members of the dance team.

Carter knew Monday - when she was so distraught over the deaths she stayed home from school - that a gesture of caring would help her and the students. But what, exactly? She called her “ace card,” Zimmerman, a past president of the dance team parents’ group.

Zimmerman was ready with an idea. Ribbons would be easy to make, she reasoned, and would create a symbol of support.

Lisa Herrmann, captain of the dance team, called the ribbons “an easy, silent way to get involved, without forcing anyone else who doesn’t want to.”

The dance team mothers at West Valley traditionally send their dancers off to big competitions with little love-gifts - “warm fuzzies.”

“This is like one last little warm fuzzy for Telisha,” Carter said. She took ribbons to family members Friday at Moore’s funeral. “They were so touched.”

By Friday, a groggy group that included “six mothers, a grandmother, a sister-in-law and a total stranger” had turned out 1,500 of the ribbons, Zimmerman said. A group at the high school is making more this morning.

Donations to the victims’ families also can be made through local banks.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Donations Washington Trust Bank is handling a memorial account set up by Ambassador Programs, Inc. Donations can be made at any Washington Trust branch or may be sent to the Washington Trust Bank, P.O. Box 2127, Spokane WA 99210-2127. Checks should be made out to the Shaver and Moore Family Trust. Also, donations can be made through any Spokane branch of the U.S. Bank.