Letters

Thu., Dec. 29, 2005

The Spokesman-Review

Community provided inspirational day

Today (Dec. 22) was one of the most inspirational days of my 70 years of life.

I have volunteered at Valley Food Band for eight years. I have worked every Wednesday at VFB and both days at all of the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays since 1997. In all of this time, I have never experienced the situation that we had Thursday at the Valley Food Bank.

When we left the food bank on Wednesday night, we had one turkey in the freezer. The shelves and the freezer were empty. The Spokesman-Review’s front page call for help on Thursday morning brought a response that was beyond belief. When the director of Valley Food Bank, Barbara Bennett, came to work on Thursday at 8 a.m., there was a line of people at the door. They were not people wanting food, they were the people with donations of turkeys, food of all kinds and donations of money. There was a line of cars waiting to give donations for a big part of the day.

Because of this response, we were able to serve all of the 300 to 400 families who came to Valley Food Bank on Thursday. All the volunteers at the Valley Food Bank work very hard but it is worth it to all of us. We are a dedicated, loving and caring group.

I would like to personally thank Ron’s Drive-In for providing hamburgers for the volunteer workers both days. It was a big help in keeping our help happy and healthy.

I must say that I have had goosebumps all day long as the results of this, one of the most inspirational days of my life. We, and all of the families we were able to serve, are forever grateful to all of the many people and businesses who brought donations of all kinds to the Valley Food Bank. A special thank you goes out to Snyder’s Bakery for donating hundreds of loaves of bread and packages of rolls both days. We are forever in your debt.

God bless you all!

Deloris Christopher

Spokane Valley

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