In brief: Students collecting for food bank

SPOKANE VALLEY/LIBERTY LAKE – Central Valley middle school students, joined by adult and high school volunteers, will be at five grocery stores today from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. collecting food for the Spokane Valley Partners Food Bank in the annual “Fill the Bus” campaign.

The students are hoping to collect turkeys, gravy mixes, cake mixes, frostings, Jell-O, brown sugar and canned cranberries, fruit, pumpkin, corn, beans, evaporated milk, potatoes, chicken broth and olives – that will be given out in Thanksgiving food baskets next week.

More than 900 families are expected to request help this year.

Central Valley students are hoping to surpass last year’s results, when they raised $1,700 and collected 12,000 pounds of food and 87 frozen turkeys.

Central Valley school buses and students will be positioned outside these grocery stores:

Bowdish Middle School – Fred Meyer, Sprague and Sullivan.

Evergreen Middle School – Safeway, Sprague and Evergreen.

Greenacres Middle School – Albertsons, Liberty Lake.

Horizon Middle School – Albertsons, 32nd and Highway 27.

North Pines Middle School – Yoke’s, Sprague and Progress.

New fire board member sworn in

SPOKANE COUNTY – Fire District 8 commissioners voted to appoint Dennis Ross to the board of commissioners during a special meeting Monday. Ross, a district volunteer firefighter and vice president for retail operations at Aslin-Finch, was sworn in at the district’s regular meeting on Thursday.

Ross was selected after commissioners interviewed the candidates, including Daniel Glover, owner of Complete Heating and Sheetmetal Inc.; businessman James Joss; and Chuck Vyverberg, who has a background in information technology and has been involved in the Inland Empire Utility Coordination Council.

The commissioner position was vacated Aug. 31 by the resignation of Jonathan Ferraiuolo.

Riverfront Park gift pack available

RIVERSIDE – The IMAX at Riverfront Park is selling “The Light Before Christmas” holiday gift packag.

The $10 package includes one ticket to the new IMAX feature “The Light Before Christmas,” one skate admission and rental, one round of miniature golf, and one ride of the Looff Carrousel. The package will be available through Jan. 3.

For more information, call (509) 456-4386 or visit www.spokane riverfrontpark.com.