Bureau closes, but vouchers available Monday

A $30,000 donation from Travis Pattern & Foundry Inc. this weekend boosted the Christmas Fund within reach of its goal.

“The owners and employees of Travis Pattern and Foundry again wish to donate the funds that we would have spent on a Christmas party to your fund,” wrote president Travis W. Garske. “We hope we can help make Christmas a little brighter for some Spokane families. We wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a great new year in 2009,” he wrote.

The Christmas Fund goal is $495,000, which will be used to pay for the toys and food vouchers distributed at the Christmas Bureau. The bureau closed on Saturday. The 10-day run was cut short when organizers closed it Thursday and Friday after the heavy snowfall.

Catholic Charities and the Volunteers of America, which run the bureau, will distribute food vouchers on Monday. Needy families unable to get to the bureau at the Spokane fairgrounds can get a voucher for the fixings of a holiday dinner from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Catholic Charities, 1023 W. Riverside Ave., and the VOA, 525 W. Second Ave. Toys and children’s books will not be available Monday.

In the eight days, the bureau distributed food vouchers totaling nearly $237,000 to more than 8,000 poor families and gave out 15,318 toys.

Usually the bureau volunteers pack up the tables, chairs, computers and any leftover toys and truck them to storage right after the bureau closes. That won’t be done until Monday, however.

“We can’t get to the storage units today,” said Catholic Charities special events coordinator Theresa Dryden on Saturday. “The storage units and the trucks we use are still snowed in. We’ll pack up everything and come back and pick it up on Monday.”

Volunteers inventoried the remaining toys as the last dozen parents were making their selections Saturday afternoon. “We’ll have about 2,000 toys to store this year because of the two days we didn’t open,” said volunteer toy buyer Janelle Kortlever. “That just means we’ll be able to reduce our toy order next year by that amount.”

The bills for the toys and food vouchers won’t be tallied until the last of the vouchers are distributed on Monday.

Following are additional donors and the amounts of their donations:

Pacific Steel & Recycling owners and employees, of Spokane, sent $2,500. “We appreciate the efforts that are made by the volunteers and staff of the Christmas Fund and Bureau during this holiday season,” wrote vice president Doug Stewart.

An anonymous donor, of Spokane, donated $2,000.

Taylor Engineering Inc., of Spokane, sent $1,500 and a note: “The men and women of Taylor Engineering, Inc., are pleased to participate in your good work, once again. We recognize that this year is particularly challenging for many and hope this can help make a difference,” wrote president Ronald Pace, on behalf of all of the partners.

Bernardo-Wills Architects, of Spokane, sent $1,090 and a note: “It is a privilege to be donating to this wonderful cause again. As in years past, we asked our employees what they would like to do for the company gift exchange, and they agreed to donate the money to the Christmas Fund. We asked each person to decide their donation and amount and the company matched it,” they wrote.

Anesthesia Associates of Deaconess Medical Center and Valley Medical Center donated $1,000.

Helen and Robert Shanewise, of Spokane, gave $500.

Eugene Young, of Spokane, donated $400.

Don and Judy Stewart and family, of Spokane, donated $310.

Daniel and Marilyn Hoffman, of Spokane, donated $300, as did the Laborers’ Union of North America, Local No. 238, and an anonymous donor, all of Spokane.

Wray Farmin Jr., of Spokane, sent $300 in memory of his parents and sister, Molly Miles Farmin.

Daniel and Theresa Lennon, of Spokane, sent $250.

Glenn Traeger donated $242.45 via PayPal.

Dr. Gerald Phipps, Dr. Steven Lemery and Dr. Steven Gregg, of Spokane Orthodontics, donated $220.

Kevin and Carol Person, of Liberty Lake, donated $200, as did Keith Walker, Carl and Anna Rabe, William and Carol Barber, and an anonymous donor, all of Spokane.

Frank and Noreen Groh, of Odessa, Wash., donated $200 in memory of their parents, Frank and Pauline Groh, and C.H. and Lydia Scrupps. An anonymous donor, of Spokane, gave $200 in honor of their grandchildren, Katie, Emily, Mackenzie and Jamie.

Albert Materi, of Spokane, donated $200 “in honor of family members and friends who have gone to their final resting place, Heaven.”

The Holy Family Hospital ASC Unit staff donated $150 in lieu of a gift exchange.

The nurses of Option Care, of Spokane, donated $150 and challenged all homecare nurses to make donations. The McIlroys of Pueblo, Colo., donated $150.

The Sunny Creek Community of Spokane sent $120 in memory of their community neighbors and friends, Pat Ryan and his wife, Judy. “We always knew when spring was here, we’d be having a potluck brunch at Pat and Judy’s yard. We miss them,” they wrote.

Prasti Vinje Purdum, of Lakewood, Ohio, Astrid Vinje, of Alexandria, Va., and Michelle Vinje, of Seattle, donated $105.

Tim Halpin, of Colbert, donated $100, as did the Spokane Italian Car Club, John and Sandra Miller, Mary Kay and E. Eddy, Carol and Jim Kershner, Harold and Ruth Clark, Noreen and Gene Sivertson, and three anonymous donors, all of Spokane.

Lester Kile, of Spokane, donated $100, as did Gregory and Heather Gores, Laverne and Eisie Linder, the members of Our Lady of Fatima Parish, all of Spokane; and an anonymous donor, of Spokane Valley.

Joe and Carolyn Schauble, of Spokane, sent $100 in memory of their parents, Carl and Edna Magee and Robert and Mary Schauble. An anonymous donor, of Spokane, gave $100 in memory of his parents.

Mike and Melinda Hirst, of Spokane, gave $100 in honor of their two new grandsons, Will and Sonny. “Children make Christmas wonderful. We hope this makes another family’s holiday joyful,” they wrote.

Mildred Hamilton donated $96.80 via PayPal.

An anonymous donor, of Spokane, donated $75.

Jim and Essie Crowder, of Newport, Wash., donated $50, as did Jim and Helen Skindlov, of Spokane Valley; George Schroeder, Loren Gothberg, Williard and Edna Karjalahti, Vern and Janice Anderson, L. Chambers, and an anonymous donor, all of Spokane. An anonymous donor, of Spokane Valley, sent $50, as did an anonymous donor, of Cheney.

Margaret Pansie, of Spokane, gave $50 in memory of her husband, Richard Pansie.

Foster Hall, D.D.S., of Spokane, donated $40, as did an anonymous donor, also of Spokane.

Erin O’Halloran-Foerg donated $33.68 via PayPal.

Jan Hunt of Oldtown, Idaho, sent $32 in memory of her daughter, Dawn Hunt, who would have been 32 this year, and her cousin, Carolyn Timboe, who died in April.

J.P.Langenheim, of Spokane, donated $30.09.

Geneva Donahue, of Spokane, donated $30, in memory of Ted Donahue.

Shirley Nelson, of Spokane, donated $25, as did Patricia and Robert Harland, Roy Finck, Loretta Thompson, and an anonymous donor, all of Spokane; an anonymous donor, of Spokane Valley; and an anonymous donor, of Greenacres.

Melanie Endicott donated $23.97 via PayPal.

J.N. and R.L. Messinger, of Spokane, donated on behalf of Tim and Lorie Smetang, Shelly and Steve Richards and Mac and Kathy McCaffrey.