Santa brightened Christmas for 558 kids

Thanks to the Hillyard Santa, Clyde Decker, Christmas was made merrier for a lot of area children this year – 558 of them, to be exact. “Not bad for a one-man operation,” Decker said.

A total of 218 families were helped through the Kids Christmas in Hillyard program. Adults got a sweet surprise when they came to the Bank of America lobby to choose gifts for their kids. “I ordered 10 pounds of chocolates from Halletts,” Decker said. By the time the toy giveaway concluded on Dec. 23, he only had two chocolates left.

Decker said the community responded by donating over $500 to the program. “I’m pretty tired,” he said with a laugh. “But I’m pleased with how it went.” The savvy Santa is already stockpiling toys for next year’s giveaway.

Cindy Hval

Country Homes

Whitworth presents DeVuono exhibit

Whitworth University, 300 W. Hawthorne Road, will present an art exhibit, “Histories & Histrionics: Current Works by Lanny DeVuono,” Wednesday through Feb. 7 in the Bryan Oliver Gallery, room 201, in the Ernst F. Lied Center for the Visual Arts of the school campus.

The exhibit is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

There will be an opening night reception Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m. and the artist, a professor of art, drawing and contemporary art theory at Eastern Washington University, will present a lecture at 7.

For more information, call 777-3258.

Lisa Leinberger

Crossley to speak at Whitworth

Callie Crossley, a radio and television commentator and producer of the documentary, “Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years,” will present the lecture, “For Better AND Worse: The Shotgun Marriage of New and Old Media and Its Impact on Election ‘08” at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Robinson Teaching Theatre in Weyerhaeuser Hall on the Whitworth University campus, 300 W. Hawthorne.

Admission to the lecture is free.

For more information, call 777-4263.

Lisa Leinberger