Veterans Games fundraiser looking to win big at casino

A “Friend Raiser” for the 29th annual National Veterans Wheelchair Games will be Friday at Northern Quest Casino, 100 N. Hayford Road in Airway Heights, from 5 to 9 p.m.

The event will include live music, hors d’oeuvres, raffles and motorcycles on display. Raffle tickets are $1 each. Admission is $5.

Interested bikers can meet at Lone Wolf Harley-Davidson, 722 W. Appleway Ave., in Coeur d’Alene, at 4 p.m. From Lone Wolf, riders will head to the Road House, 1640 E. Schneidmiller Ave., in Post Falls at 4:30 p.m. Riders will leave the Road House and head to Empire Cycle, 7807 E. Sprague Ave., at 4:45 p.m., then head to Northern Quest Casino.

All proceeds will benefit the Veterans Wheelchair Games, July 13 through 18.

For more information, call Carla Lippert at (509) 434-7508 or Mark Lidbeck at (509) 270-2272.

Green Bluff

Easter egg hunt, wagon rides highlight Beck’s annual event

Beck’s Harvest House and Orchard, 9919 E. Green Bluff Road in Colbert, will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt on April 11 and 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Easter fun includes wagon rides with the Easter Bunny, lunch and ice cream.

Cost for the Egg Hunt is $5 for children, which includes a wagon ride, 10 eggs filled with candy, prizes, and a colossal ice cream cone, and $3 for adults, which includes a wagon ride and an ice cream cone.

For more information, call (509) 238-6970.

Spokane County

SCRAPS sweets festival raising funds for strays

The fourth annual Chocolate Festival and Auction that benefits the Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service is scheduled for April 17 at 6:30 p.m. at CenterPlace, 2426 N. Discovery Place. Tickets are $20 and are available in advance through SCRAPS or at the door.

Money raised at the event primarily benefits the Animal Medical Fund, which provides emergency vet care for stray animals brought to the shelter, and the Behavior Program, which provides free dog training classes and animal behavior consultations.

SCRAPS covers unincorporated Spokane County and the cities of Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Millwood and Cheney as well as Fairchild Air Force Base. Call (509) 477-2632 for more information.

Emerson/Garfield

Breakfast gathering capital for Chase Commission

The Breakfast of Champions, a fundraising event to benefit the Chase Youth Commission, will be April 16, from 7 to 8:30 a.m. at the Lincoln Center, 1316 N. Lincoln St.

The breakfast includes keynote speaker Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO of America’s Promise Alliance. The Shadle Park High School Orchestra will perform, along with the presentation of Wheaties Trophies and a celebration of community Champions of Youth. A Red Wagon Silent Auction also will be held.

Tickets are $35 per person. A table for eight can be reserved for $280.

Reservations are available online at www.chaseyouth.org until April 13. Reservations will only be accepted by phone at (509) 625-6440 after April 13.

US Bank, Spokane area Kiwanis, and Sterling Savings Bank are sponsors of the Breakfast of Champions.

Whitworth

Whitworthian named finalist for national newspaper honor

The Whitworthian, the student newspaper at Whitworth University, was recently named a finalist for the Associate Collegiate Press’ Online Pacemaker Award, one of the most esteemed honors in journalism.

Whitworth’s student newspaper competed among 220 schools nationwide, divided into four categories: four-year daily newspaper, four-year nondaily newspaper, two-year newspaper, and nonnewspaper publications. Whitworth was named as finalists in the four-year nondaily newspaper category, competing against universities four times its size.

The Web site, along with its print edition, also has been selected to receive Region 10 Mark of Excellence Awards given by the Society of Professional Journalists. The newspaper’s staff includes 17 editors and 50 reporters, columnists, photographers, graphic designers and copy editors.

East Central

Second Harvest Food Bank seeking volunteers for drive

Second Harvest Food Bank, 1234 E. Front Ave., needs 140 volunteers for the Letter Carriers Food Drive to be held on May 9.

The volunteers will be working at 10 postal stations in the Spokane area, loading donated bags of groceries into totes on trucks. Morning and afternoon shifts are available. Also, driver/runner teams are needed to collect donated bags of groceries from neighborhood porches and deliver them back to the designated postal sites.

In addition, Second Harvest is seeking groups to assist with sorting and boxing food drive and salvage items in preparation for delivery to 20 emergency food outlets.

To volunteer, register at www.2-harvest.org and click on “Volunteer Your Time.” For more information, call Julie at (509) 252-6242 or e-mail jnesbitt@2-harvest.org.

Spokane

Local parks and recreation classes, workshops under way

Spokane Parks and Recreation is offering workshops and classes for kids and adults.

Beginning April 13, running for four weeks, adults 18 and older can learn Beginning Ballroom Dancing. Classes are Mondays, 6 to 6:40 p.m. At the Spokane Dance Company, 902 W. Indiana Ave., participants can learn the foxtrot, waltz, tango, rumba, and cha-cha. Cost is $49.

Ages 6 to 12, can take Sing from the Heart for Kids, at Manito United Methodist Church, 3220 S. Grand Blvd., Thursdays April 16 through June 4 from 4 to 5 p.m.

Kids will work on musical creativity and self-expression. Cost is $126.

From staff reports