Ymca Offers Spring-Break Camp Experience For Youths

Kids can enjoy the magic and excitement of a camp experience during spring break, April 7-12, at the YMCA’s Camp Reed.

This is the first year the Y extends its tradition of excellence in summer camping into a spring session.

Campers, ages 8-14, will delight in the 560-acre camp situated on Fan Lake. The camp features a waterfront, swimming area, sports complex, arts and crafts area, archery range, adventure ropes course and more.

During the spring and summer camps, campers sleep in heated cabins among evergreens and firs. Hot meals are served in a beautiful dining lodge.

The Camp Reed staff provides a wide spectrum of leadership in all activities. Friendly and caring, many of the counselors were once young campers and understand the needs of youths attending camp for the first time.

Registration is also under way for week-long summer camp sessions that run from June 22 through Aug. 16.

Camp Reed is one of many YMCA programs helping to build strong kids, strong families and strong communities. The camp’s mission is to provide a positive Christian experience in a wilderness environment where spiritual, social and physical challenges help each individual to reach for his or her potential.

For more information about Camp Reed or to receive a registration form, call Brad Rupp, 838-3577.

Community events

The colorful history of Hangman Creek will be presented Thursday during a community program, “How Hangman Creek Got Its Name.”

The program begins at 1 p.m. at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 314 S. Spruce, in Spokane.

Local author and artist Nona Hengen will speak at the event, which is sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Esther Reed Chapter.

The program is open to the public; tickets are $5 per person at the door. For more information, call 838-1502.

Fund-raisers

The latest in spring fashions will be featured at the Poor Clare Benefit Tea and Fashion Show on March 16.

The annual fund-raiser is sponsored by Friends of the Poor Clare Nuns, with proceeds to benefit the Order of St. Clare, a branch of the Franciscan Order.

“Leprechauns and Lace” is the theme of the style show, which presents homedesigned and sewn fashions and accessories.

The gala event will be held at the Downtown Red Lion hotel. Afternoon tea will be served at 1 p.m., with the fashion show beginning at 2.

Entertainment will be provided by the Pages of Harmony barbershop chorus singing traditional American songs plus Irish ballads.

Homemade foods and crafts will be for sale and include items from the “Hearth and Home” booth and the “What Not Shoppe.”

The Poor Clare nuns have no source of regular income and live on private donations and this single yearly fund-raiser. Their mission is to provide prayer, counseling, support and encouragement to community members.

Tickets to the Tea and Fashion Show are $25 at the patron level (which includes admission, plus a listing in the program); $5 general admission; and $3 for seniors.

For information and tickets, call Janet Plett, 324-0806, or Claudia Hall, 448-9740.

Almond caramel clusters and creamy smooth mint patties are two delicious reasons to support the annual candy sale of the Inland Empire Council of Camp Fire Boys and Girls.

Through March 23, Camp Fire boys and girls will be selling their treats for $3.50 a package, with proceeds to benefit their programs, which teach kids self-reliance and good citizenship.

Through the three-week sale, Camp Fire youths learn about goal-setting, planning, marketing and money management. They have the added incentive of earning their way to summer camp.

The candy freezes well, organizers say, so stock up for the year.

For more information on where the candy is being sold, call the Camp Fire office, 747-6191 or (800) 386-2324.

Nonprofit notes

The Children’s Museum of Spokane was recently awarded three community grants that kick off the Museum’s fund-raising efforts to open a permanent museum for children by the end of this year.

In early February, Foundation Northwest granted $10,000 to the non-profit Children’s Museum. Since 1974 the community foundation has awarded more than $8 million in grants to non-profit organizations to improve the quality of life in the Inland Northwest.

At a reception on Feb. 13, the Women Helping Women Fund announced the Children’s Museum of Spokane as a 1997 grant recipient. The size of the grant will be announced at the WHW luncheon May 6.

The Women Helping Women Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering women and children to create healthy families and vibrant communities.

A third grant of $1,000 was awarded to the Museum from the Carl Hansen Foundation, a private fund with interests in art, science, literature and education.

“These awards are our first steps toward a permanent Children’s Museum,” says Mary Douthitt, vice president and funding development chairperson. “Having the endorsement of foundations that choose their recipients with such care is a terrific way to start 1997.”

The Children’s Museum of Spokane made its debut during fall 1996 with a temporary storefront museum introducing the community to the wonder of hands-on learning through interactive exhibits.

The trial museum, which closed at the end of January, successfully met museum planners’ goals of increasing community awareness, adding museum memberships and encouraging donations. More than 10,000 visitors, including 3,000 children on school field trips, enjoyed the storefront museum. Museum memberships jumped to 600.

With the fund-raising campaign successfully under way, the CMS board of directors now is searching for a permanent site of at least 10,000 square feet in downtown Spokane. Until the permanent site opens, the organization becomes a “museum without walls” taking exhibits around the community to provide fun while soliciting support.

For more information on the Children’s Museum of Spokane, call 624-0435.

Tax-deductible donations are also welcome, payable to: Children’s Museum of Spokane, P.O. Box 461, Spokane, WA 99201.

The Salvation Army Auxiliary of Spokane is seeking donations for the annual Golf Classic Auction and Tournament, June 23-24.

Proceeds from the annual fund-raiser benefit Camp Gifford, a summer camp for underprivileged children located on Deer Lake.

Cash contributions are needed for the auction. Also needed are dinner certificates, plants, housewares, vacation getaways and shopping sprees.

“Most people think of the Salvation Army as bell ringers,” says Virginia Dorning, advertising chairperson for the auxiliary. “We are so much more. We work all year long on different projects to raise money for those in need.”

The Salvation Army seeks to meet the physical and spiritual needs of people in our community. To make a donation to the Golf Classic Auction, call Virginia Dorning at (509) 535-8587.

, DataTimes