Bluebills Create a Brighter Christmas for their SnoKing Neighbors
| Christmas House Welcomes 2383 Families, Some Laid Off from Boeing |
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| SnoKing Bluebills rounded out 2003 by donating more than 25,00 hours in volunteer services. December is always a big month, says new chair, Rose Johnson with many helping Bluebill hands working for two county-wide projects, Christmas House and the Salvation Army food bank.
Christmas House served 2,383 families who came to the facility to shop and select gifts. More than 6,800 children received presents. Saturdays were a double shift during the 12-day event, with more than 320 families served. The event was especially meaningful this year as many laid off Boeing families were welcome.
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| BELOW: Bluebill Ilse Spang coordinated activities while guests shopped at Christmas House |
BELOW: Bluebill Jean Deering (foreground) helps a family put its Christmas House selections into a shopping carts. |
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| Holidays at the Salvation Army - "Our Best Performance Ever!" |
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What a crew SnoKing Bluebills had at the Salvation Army this year -- more than ever before-- chalking up 650 volunteer hours! We helped register more than 300 families for Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets, a time-consuming process which included interviewing families, some of which had as many as 16 children. Translators were needed because 85 percent spoke little English. All the activity culminated in the last two days before Christmas, when Bluebill "ladies" were called in to help with the toy selection process. Hours of sorting through the barrels at the food bank, Bluebills made order out of chaos, packing and distributing almost 500 boxes . Ed Bartels says the activity was the" best performance of a bunch of old guys -- ever."
Photo (left):
Stu Brown sorts and packs for the Salvation Army food bank. The Bluebill project coordinator was Bob Colyer.
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