Volunteers Savor Golden Rule Award At Soup Supper

First-year helpers and veteran volunteers joined in a meal of soup and appreciation this week.

It was the second annual soup supper for volunteers of the Valley Center of Sharing. The event also recognized the center’s volunteers for recently winning the United Way/ J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award for Volunteers of the Year in the public service category.

“You are instrumental in making the Spokane Valley a better place to live,” said Barbara Olson, executive director of the center.

“I am floored there are so many people here who volunteer in that little tiny place,” said Peggy Rudolph, board chairwoman for the Valley Food Bank, which is housed at the Valley Center. About 120 people comfortably filled the gymnasium at the United Methodist Church.

Retirees predominated. The men mostly wore cardigan sweaters or open-necked shirts, not suits and ties.

During 1996, volunteers worked 21,130 hours at the center, Olson told the group. That’s roughly 2,500 hours more than in 1995.

The center gave emergency assistance to 534 households in 1996, over the 397 households served in 1995. That was done using fewer dollars: $15,246 in 1996, compared to $17,420 in 1995, Olson said.

The food bank served 23,393 people in total last year and the clothing bank served a total 8,658 people.

Meals on Wheels director Ruth Fearn told the audience that at least 200 people a day are served by that organization, making it possible for them to live in their own homes. Meals on Wheels was housed in the Valley Center until 1996.

Chuck Stocker, who wrote a letter nominating the center’s volunteers for the Golden Rule award, pointed out that the center has provided an ever-increasing list of services to assist the no- and low-income families within the Valley, all without taxpayer dollars.

“The Spokane Valley Center is more than worthy of the Gold Rule Award. I cannot think of an organization which is more deserving,” Stocker wrote.

, DataTimes