In any language, bureau fills need
The Christmas Bureau has long been a multicultural experience for volunteers who distribute the fixings of Christmas to needy families.
In the 1980s, hundreds of immigrants from Southeast Asia settled in Spokane and went to the charity for help with holiday celebrations. The bureau enlisted the aid of translators to help those from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam with the identification process so they could get toys and food vouchers.
In the 1990s, soon after a wave of immigrants from Eastern Europe began arriving in Spokane, the bureau needed translators who spoke Russian and Ukrainian. Now, two Slavic language translators from Catholic Charities are available.
The Christmas Bureau opens Saturday. The Christmas Fund, which pays for the food vouchers and toys given to the area’s needy people, received donations totaling $1,975, which brings the fund to $43,685. This year’s goal is $485,000, the amount needed to make Christmas brighter for 10,000 families.
Bureau organizers expect people to begin lining up before dawn on Saturday. Typically, translators are busiest during the first days of the bureau’s operation.
“We used to provide a lot of services for the immigrants, but now they are becoming part of the community,” said Rob McCann, executive director of Catholic Charities, which operates the Christmas Bureau. “We are starting to get the second generation, and they are in school and learning English.”
But because the younger generation is in school, it’s still their parents and grandparents who go to the Christmas Bureau, he said.
“They bring shopping bags full of identification and they will pull out a handful of Social Security cards to show you,” said Carol Speltz, the volunteer director of the bureau. “They don’t understand that the Social Security cards won’t work as ID, we need picture ID. And the translators are constantly saying, ‘Put the cards in a safe place, don’t bring them here, don’t carry them with you.’ “
People without proper identification and proof of need must return with the proper documents to receive food vouchers, toys or other gifts.
Catholic Charities posts fliers with pertinent Christmas Bureau information in community centers, schools, public health clinics and social service agencies. But churches are the gathering places for Russian and Ukrainian immigrants, said Speltz.
To better serve these families, this year Speltz enlisted the help of a former Christmas Bureau translator. Nellie Kovalenko translated the Christmas Bureau fliers into Russian and posted them at churches. “I also put them at Russian hair salons and four Russian stores,” said Kovalenko, who emigrated from Latvia eight years ago. She works for Catholic Charities’ immigrant and refugee settlement services.
The Christmas Bureau will be open daily Dec. 8-21, except Sundays. The Christmas Fund will solicit donations through Dec. 27. Donations of all amounts are welcome.
Following are the donations and their donors:
Ron and Carol Gifford, of Spokane, donated $500.
Frank and Tricia Goodman, of Spokane, gave $250, as did Bob and Debbie Glaza, of Spokane Valley.
Gary and Sharon Randall, of Colbert, gave $225 in memory of their parents, Pres and Margaret Cleveland, and Les and Clara Randall.
Orval and Anita Janssen, of Spokane, donated $200.
Richard and Lauretta Byrd, of Spokane, sent $150 and a note: “May this help make a merrier Christmas for some of those in need in our community.”
Barbara Crawford and Tom Highland, of Spokane, gave $100, as did an anonymous donor, also of Spokane. Betty Johnston, of Spokane Valley, donated $100 in memory of her husband. “He always wanted to donate to the fund,” she wrote.
Mark and Pip Witner, of Mead, sent $50, as did Don and Carolyn VanLeuven, of Spokane.