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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gift suitcases carry pride

For Linda Norris, the image was heartbreaking: Some children in Stevens County were leaving their troubled homes with their belongings stuffed into plastic garbage bags.

But now, like clockwork, 50 children’s suitcases filled with blankets, pillows, and small gifts are donated to foster children every six months.

“This way, they feel at least appreciated and special,” said Norris, the program manager at Kids First Children’s Advocacy Center in Colville, Wash., which serves Stevens County. “They feel like citizens instead of castoffs.”

Two years ago, the center teamed up with the Northeast Washington Association of Realtors, which offered to provide the suitcases.

The Eastern Washington Realtors group, with a $2,000 budget for the program this year, also buys toys, pillows, overnight kits, and other gifts for the suitcases. The program was an offshoot of a national effort started by a 10-year-old girl in North Carolina in 1995. The Realtors also provide 30 backpacks for teenagers facing homelessness.

“We put goodies in them that they might need,” said Bunny St. Clair, executive officer of the Realtors association.

The suitcases belong to the children, who often move through several homes, Norris said.

“They take it with them wherever they go,” she said. “I would imagine that it would be something they would remember all their life.”

Norris said the suitcases are an example of how community members can get involved in children’s programs in a creative and relatively easy way.

The real estate agents also work with the state Department of Children and Family Services to disburse the suitcases, Norris said. “We have just gotten rid of them as quickly as they come in.”