Valley Center Funding Goal Within Sight

Sat., Jan. 9, 1999

By Carol MacPherson carolm@spokesman.com

The Spokane Valley Center went from zero to $67,000 in three months and the woman doing the driving thinks that’s a pretty good start.

The nonprofit center, which provides services for needy families, had a 1998 fund-raising goal of $85,000 to fund this year’s budget.

But the center’s executive director doesn’t see the shortfall as an insurmountable roadblock.

“We have to look at this as a huge success,” said Mollie Dalpae. “This is still very doable with a few big donors.”

Dalpae said she wanted to thank everyone who donated money, everyone who volunteered time and those who gave clothing and other items.

“We truly feel blessed to be in the Valley with people who believe in what we are and what we do … people who support us,” she said.

Dalpae noted that the fund-raising campaign, which ran from October to December, was up against some tough competition.

“I think there were at least 30 other campaigns going on at the same time,” she said. “I think that highlights how well we did do.”

If the center doesn’t come up with more donations, however, Dalpae said the next step is to meet with staff and the center’s executive board to see what and how much can be cut.

“We will be discussing what to do, how to take the sting out of it,” she said. “We will try to be proactive.”

Meanwhile, the center has more fund-raisers lined up for 1999, such a golf tournament and a special Mother’s Day event.

But organizing these money raisers is time intensive, Dalpae said, and takes away from time that could be spent on the center’s many programs.

To solve that problem, the Valley Center will ask Spokane County for a grant of less than $30,000 to hire someone to run the center’s programs, leaving Dalpae with more time to write grants, make presentations and get the word out to the community about what the center does and needs.

But the center won’t know until late spring if that grant is approved.

And approved or not, that doesn’t help needy children now, Dalpae said. The elderly used to make up the highest proportion of the poor, she said, but now children make up the highest proportion.

When we see a society in which children suffer, “we are seeing a society that is in trouble,” Dalpae said.

Dalpae invites all Valley residents to visit the center and learn about its programs.

“It’s their agency,” she said.

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