Shut-ins get fund’s first wave of help
Food vouchers to be mailed to those unable to travel
More than 350 people will get the means to buy holiday dinners next week, thanks to generous donors to The Spokesman-Review Christmas Fund and its partnership with Catholic Charities.
Food vouchers ranging from $18 for recipients who live alone to $40 for a family of four or more will be mailed by Catholic Charities to poor people who are physically unable to go to the Christmas Bureau after it opens Dec. 10.
“We get the names of shut-ins from social service agencies and we’ll send out food vouchers before Dec. 5,” said Theresa Dryden, Catholic Charities’ Christmas Bureau coordinator. Most of those recipients live alone and have caregivers who will buy the food.
The Christmas Fund opened Friday with a goal of raising $495,000. Donations pay for Christmas toys and groceries given to needy people at the Christmas Bureau at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center.
Donations of all amounts are welcome. The names of donors and the amount donated will be listed in daily stories in The Spokesman-Review. Donors who prefer to remain anonymous should indicate that in a note accompanying the donation.
Those who go to the bureau will receive food vouchers, a bag of Christmas candy, and, for children, toys and books.
Families unable to get to the fairgrounds will be mailed only the food vouchers. The mailed vouchers will total about $6,300; the $18 individual vouchers reflect a $3 increase from 2007.
“The cost of food has gone up, and $15 doesn’t go a long way,” Dryden said. “In past years the single recipients who came to the bureau got a gift bag with a few goodies as well as a bag of candy and the $15 voucher. We didn’t assemble the gift bags this year so all they will get is the voucher and candy.”
Previously, volunteers filled about 3,000 bags with donated pens, note tablets and winter gloves. The logistics of finding companies to donate those items drove the decision to discontinue that part of the operation.
Families can use the food vouchers at any area Safeway, Yoke’s, Trading Company Store, Rosauers, Albertsons or Fred Meyer store. Last year the Christmas Bureau gave needy families more than $282,000 in food vouchers. Recipients spent nearly $140,500 of those vouchers at Fred Meyer, the primary store in Spokane’s East Central neighborhood.
The vouchers, which are printed with the recipient’s name, cannot be used for alcohol or tobacco products. Recipients must show photo ID to use the vouchers.
Dryden said the vouchers are mailed before the bureau opens because volunteers and staffers will work full time at the bureau beginning Dec. 8. The names and addresses of those who receive vouchers will be recorded in a computer database to observe the one-voucher-per-address rule.
Vouchers may be redeemed through January.