Washington Voices

Attendant Care Registry – Free service matching disabled adults and children with personal-care providers; sponsored by Coalition of Responsible Disabled; (509) 326-6355. Change Point/Displaced Homemaker Center – Ideal for women and men who are making the transition from the home to the work force because of a separation, divorce, loss of a spouse or partner, or because a spouse or partner is unable to work. Free training is provided in computers, resume preparation, job and communication skills, and conflict resolution techniques. The Change Point/Displaced Homemaker Center program is sponsored by the Institute for Extended Learning. Call Denise McKinnon at (509) 279-6065 for more information or visit www.iel.spokane.edu, click on “Improve Your Life” and “Change Point.”

Tuesday Spokane Valley Fire – 4 p.m. at Station 8, 2110 N. Wilbur Road.

SPOKANE VALLEY – Spokane Valley City Hall offices will be closed Monday in observance of Presidents Day. City offices will reopen with regular business hours Tuesday. For more information, call (509) 720-5411.

For 02-13-2010

For the week of Feb. 15-19 Monday – Option 1: Chicken and dumplings, broccoli, fresh fruit, dinner roll, gingerbread with topping. Option 2: Tuna salad sandwich, broccoli, fresh fruit, dinner roll, gingerbread with topping.

The goal of Somebody Needs You is to match donors with the specific requests of needy Spokane residents. The list of requests is coordinated by the Volunteers of America in cooperation with recognized social service agencies in Spokane. If you have an item to donate, please contact the social service agency directly. Donors who can deliver items are especially appreciated. If someone you know needs help, contact a local social service agency provider.

To paraphrase the real estate adage; it’s all about microclimate, microclimate, microclimate. Experts aren’t willing to say this is a record warm winter, but there are signs that the plants think it’s March in some places. Several people in the lower elevations of Spokane’s Peaceful Valley and the Spokane Valley are reporting crocuses and daffodils poking out of the ground. A couple of miles away or a few feet higher in elevation gardeners aren’t seeing a thing.

For 02-13-2010

I’m kind of lukewarm about the Super Bowl, World Series and even Gonzaga University basketball (I know, I know – blasphemy), but when it comes to the Winter Olympics, the world stops for me. This (and I consider it a singular happening) is my favorite sporting event of all. Sadly, it comes only once every four years. Happily, it begins Friday.

Eight lucky students from Audubon Elementary had the opportunity of a lifetime on Jan. 24 when Page Ahead Children’s Literacy Program donated 10 tickets to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships finale. The children were not only able to see the finale, they were also able to meet and have their picture taken with gold medalist Rachael Flatt, a spokesperson for the national children’s literacy organization Reading is Fundamental. She made the students’ visit extra special, autographing championship memorabilia for each student.

The earthquake that rocked Haiti on Jan. 12 sent emotional shockwaves around the world and into a living room on Spokane’s South Hill. When 7-year-old Ella Magnuson watched the news with her dad and saw the devastation she said, “I got sad. I started thinking maybe they might need water or food.” Meanwhile her brother Mack, 11, did his own research at school. “I found out pretty much everybody was homeless, even the president,” he said. “I saw pictures of people, like, stuck in buildings with their hands extended.” He too wanted to help.