Wednesday, December 25, 2013 B1 Class project, food drive exemplify Christmas spirit By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA News editor ‘I feel like I’m giving back. I sometimes feel I get so much more than other people and it feels super good to give this feel- ing to other people.’ — Sixth-grader Reed Bauer ■ Giving can be a lesson, and a fun one. Operation: Make A Difference completed its fifth year under teacher Tracy Norton this week. Sixth-graders in Norton’s Hood River Middle School homeroom raised money on their own, pooled it to purchase toys and gifts for needy kids, and then wrapped the presents Thursday for delivery last weekend. “I don’t know how to wrap presents,” one student said. His classmates showed him how. To raise the funds the students did lawn work, bagged horse feed, babysat, shoveled snow, sold wreaths, and helped parents at home or at work, and many other ways, in order to earn the minimum $20 each for “Operation Make A Dif- ference.” See page B2 for details. “We worked hard and set a goal of $1,200 and made a little under that ($1,121),” said one of Norton’s students. Alyssa Molina. “To me it feels like I‘m getting a gift to give to some- body else,” she said. The students divided up into 13 groups purchasing cloth- ing, stockings, personal items, or toys. “It was up to us to find what these people would need or want. We made lists but those were just the basic things we knew we should get, and if we had extra money we would get other things we thought they would like,” said Reed Bauer. Along with the FISH food drive at local schools, the Hood River Christmas Project, and other efforts of altruism, local residents of all ages got into the act of service this holiday season. Christmas Project delivered food and gifts to 411 families and seniors on Friday and Saturday. High school students collected the food and brought it to FISH in what is an annual culmination of the month-long food drive at Hood River Valley High School. (Donations to- ward the drive are still being accepted, and can be made in early January after classes reconvene.) A total of 3,100 cans were delivered Thursday, and the high schoolers came to Mid Valley Elementary (1,200 cans) and May Street (1,490) en route to FISH food bank, where the food will be stored and distributed to families around the valley. “Our donations are down a little this year, but many of our students are from the very families that receive help from FISH,” said Principal Dennis McCauley. “Some of those kids are among those helping raise the food.” Lorinda Hoffman of Hood River FISH said they know that families that receive food often donate from their own sup- plies, or donate back what they might not need. She also noted that FISH has seen a number of families en- roll for help this year that might have accepted food from FISH in 2010 or 2011 but did not do so in the past year or so. HRMS photos by Adam Lapierre Christmas Project photos by Kirby Neumann-Rea HRVHS at FISH photo by Chuck Bugge TAYLOR BEAM and Emma Buckwalter, top, hold a newly wrapped present in the “Operation Make A Difference” project. Above, Abelardo Alvarado, Noe Torrescano and Juan Bibiano wrap a present. Counter-clockwise from left: Les Ziegenbein, Doug Asai and Kevin Asai build boxes and Shari Trout and Bill Winfield sort food at the Christmas Project sorting site; hands wrap presents; Shea Hall, Hunter Chamness and Ben Fick; HRVHS students bring food into the FISH food bank, and Madison Ramakers and Karen Villa-Justo focus on applying tape straight. Please see GIVING, Page B2
Transcript
Wednesday, December 25, 2013 B1
Class project, food drive exemplify Christmas spiritBy KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor‘I feel like I’m giving back. I sometimes feel I get so much
more than other people and it feels super good to give this feel-ing to other people.’
— Sixth-grader Reed Bauer■
Giving can be a lesson, and a fun one.Operation: Make A Difference completed its fifth year
under teacher Tracy Norton this week.Sixth-graders in Norton’s Hood River Middle School
homeroom raised money on their own, pooled it to purchasetoys and gifts for needy kids, and then wrapped the presentsThursday for delivery last weekend.
“I don’t know how to wrap presents,” one student said. Hisclassmates showed him how.
To raise the funds the students did lawn work, baggedhorse feed, babysat, shoveled snow, sold wreaths, and helpedparents at home or at work, and many other ways, in orderto earn the minimum $20 each for “Operation Make A Dif-ference.” See page B2 for details.
“We worked hard and set a goal of $1,200 and made a littleunder that ($1,121),” said one of Norton’s students. AlyssaMolina. “To me it feels like I‘m getting a gift to give to some-body else,” she said.
The students divided up into 13 groups purchasing cloth-ing, stockings, personal items, or toys.
“It was up to us to find what these people would need orwant. We made lists but those were just the basic things weknew we should get, and if we had extra money we would getother things we thought they would like,” said Reed Bauer.
Along with the FISH food drive at local schools, the HoodRiver Christmas Project, and other efforts of altruism, localresidents of all ages got into the act of service this holidayseason.
Christmas Project delivered food and gifts to 411 familiesand seniors on Friday and Saturday.
High school students collected the food and brought it toFISH in what is an annual culmination of the month-longfood drive at Hood River Valley High School. (Donations to-ward the drive are still being accepted, and can be made inearly January after classes reconvene.)
A total of 3,100 cans were delivered Thursday, and the highschoolers came to Mid Valley Elementary (1,200 cans) andMay Street (1,490) en route to FISH food bank, where the foodwill be stored and distributed to families around the valley.
“Our donations are down a little this year, but many of ourstudents are from the very families that receive help fromFISH,” said Principal Dennis McCauley. “Some of those kidsare among those helping raise the food.”
Lorinda Hoffman of Hood River FISH said they know thatfamilies that receive food often donate from their own sup-plies, or donate back what they might not need.
She also noted that FISH has seen a number of families en-roll for help this year that might have accepted food fromFISH in 2010 or 2011 but did not do so in the past year or so.
HRMS photos by Adam LapierreChristmas Project photos by Kirby Neumann-Rea
HRVHS at FISH photo by Chuck Bugge
TAYLOR BEAM and Emma Buckwalter, top, hold a newly wrappedpresent in the “Operation Make A Difference” project. Above, Abelardo Alvarado, Noe Torrescano and Juan Bibiano wrapa present. Counter-clockwise from left: Les Ziegenbein, Doug Asaiand Kevin Asai build boxes and Shari Trout and Bill Winfield sortfood at the Christmas Project sorting site; hands wrap presents;Shea Hall, Hunter Chamness and Ben Fick; HRVHS students bringfood into the FISH food bank, and Madison Ramakers and KarenVilla-Justo focus on applying tape straight.
Please see GIVING, Page B2
B2 Hood River News, Wednesday, December 25, 2013
• Tickets can be purchased online at: www.gorgeheroesclub.blogspot.com or through a GHC member.Contact e-mail is: [email protected] • Drawing will take place within 7 days of selling all tickets available(500) and will be witnessed by 4 people, two of which will be GHC Board members. • The first winnerdrawn will receive his/her choice of either the Pistol OR the Rifle. The second winner chosen will receivethe remaining gun. • If the winner is unable to pass the background check, they will forfeit the prize thesecond winner drawn will receive first choice and a third winner will be drawn, receive remaining gun,and so. The raffle is non-transferable. • Winner must be a minimum of 21 years of age to receive theHAND GUN and 18 years of age to receive the RIFLE. • Winner will be notified by phone and will be an-nounced on our website at: gorgeheroesclub.blogspot.com and on our Facebook page at: fb.com/gorge-heroes-club • Background check/transfer is donated by: Cliff Mansfield, Inc
Further detailed information about the gun raffle items can be found at:www.gorgeheroesclub.blogspot.com
[$10/ea or $50/6] TICKETS ON SALE atHOOD RIVER NEWS & THE DALLES CHRONICLE
Gifts • SouvenirsSpecialty Foods • Wine
Mon-Sat 10-6 • Sun 10-5
During December!
20% OFFAll Sweatshirts!
541-386-9234 • www.hoodrivergifthouse.com204 Oak St. • Downtown Hood River
3015 Lower Mill Drive, Hood River, OR 97031541-354-3015 • www.Glassometry.com
Open Wed-Sun 11-5 p.m. or by apt.
Create Your Own
Glass GiftsthisSeason
Enjoy
Gallery Wide Sale
Up to 70% offThrough the End of the Year
ELKSGIVEAbout 20 Elks volun-teers put together giftboxes and baskets – orwent “shopping” for aneedy family – in theElks ballroom and ath-letic area Thursday.Robert and RuthWymore and their son,Robo, an Oregon StateUniversity student, filla basket, at far right.At right, Mary Hoke or-ganizes bags of toys:stuffies, books, dolls,cars, and more. A total of 35 familiesreceived gifts courtesyof Elks and communitydonors. John Buckley,who has organized thedrive for 28 years, saidElks works with Com-munity Project to meetthe needs of families inHood River, Parkdaleand Odell.
Photos by Kirby Neumann-Rea
Eidler and McCrea wed in AustriaTamara Chiara Eidler
and Clayton Lee McCrea,both of Hood River, weremarried Sept. 14, 2013, inSalzburg, Austria.
The bride is the daughterof Heidi Eidler, of Hermis-ton, and Franz Eidler, ofWiener Neustadt, Austria.The groom is the son ofDave and Alberta McCrea,formerly of Hood River.
The ceremony was heldin the Marble Room at theMirabel l Palace inSalzburg, Austria, whichdates back to 1606.
Kim Robichaud, friend ofthe bride, was honor atten-dant, and Justina McCrea,daughter of the groom, wasbridesmaid.
Best man was Tyler Mc-Crea, son of the groom.Marc Eidler, brother of thebride, was groomsman.
The couple celebratedwith close f amily andfriends following the cere-mony in Salzburg. Aftertheir return to Hood River,the couple celebrated with areception in Hood RiverSept. 28.
The bride is a 1996 gradu-ate of Bundesrealgymnasi-um Zehnergasse in WienerNeustadt, Austria, and re-ceived her associate degreein applied science in 2010.She works as a firefighter atPortland Fire and Rescue.
The groom is a 1987 grad-uate of Hood River ValleyHigh School. He works as acaptain/paramedic at HoodRiver Fire and EMS.
The couple will honey-moon in Jamaica in Janu-ary and will continue to livein Hood River. Submitted photo
Tamara Eidler and Clayton McCrea
Fairgrounds offers storageThe Hood River County
Fairground buildings arenow closed until mid-Janu-ary for yearly maintenance,re por ts Mana g er ClaraRice.
However, there are stillsome storage spaces avail-able; call James Glen at 541-490-5293 for more informa-tion or to make arrange-ments.
Sumako Kobayashicelebrates 99 years
Sumako (Akiyama)Kobayashi recently cele-brated her 99th birthday.She was born on BinnsHill in Hood River onNov. 30, 1914.
F l o r e n c eAkiyama, whoowns Nobi’sgas station onTucker Roadwith her hus-band, Nobi,writes:
“I had aparty for Sumabecause her fa-ther and Nobi’s fatherwere brothers. Her dadwas five years older thanNobi’s dad and those twobrothers were recruitedby the railroad buildersto bring the rail lines tothe West Coast from theeastern part of the USA.
“When they got here,her dad was used imme-diately in the desolatelands to install railwaylines, as he was age 17.They told Nobi’s dad hewas too young, beingonly 12, so he stayed inPortland with relatives
until he was deemed oldenough to help build thetracks.
“In their spare time,the boys settled in Hood
River moun-tains wherethey plantedfruit trees e e d l i n g sbrought in theirpacks fromJapan, some ofwhich are nownice orchardsin Oak Grovearea, Hood
River Valley.“At age 99, Suma still
keeps busy by keepingher house very clean,raking leaves in the yard,food preparation, andarts and crafts. She isvery creative with mak-ing origami and otherhandiwork; lucky frogs,decorative umbrellasfrom pretty canned foodlabels, etc.
“Suma has a good out-look on life, goodwill forothers, and makes thebest of all situations, asthey come up.”
Operation: Make A DifferenceThis is an abridged version of
the letter from sixth-graderTracy Norton to parents, ex-plaining Operation Make A Dif-ference:
This holiday season wewould like to teach our stu-dents the importance of “givingback.” What better way to dothis than to have the kids par-ticipate in a project where theyhave the opportunity to learnfirsthand what it feels like togive to someone else. Here isthe plan:
Each student will be requiredto earn a minimum of $20 byperforming community servicearound the house, working forfriends, neighbors, etc. Onceeach student has earned his/hermoney, he/she will contribute itto our pot. We will then compileour earnings, and as a class, goshopping for needy fami-ly/families at Walmart. We will
compile a list of items the fam-ily needs/wants and the stu-dents will create a budget todetermine what we can afford.Each student will be in chargeof purchasing specific items.
Our class will purchase itemsfor the entire family and we willwrap the items once they arepurchased. I will deliver theitems at the end of the project(due to privacy issues, the nameof the family/families will re-main anonymous).
I believe this will be a veryworthwhile project for the stu-dents. Not only will they learnacademic skills, but valuablelife skills as well. Most impor-tantly, the students will walkaway learning the importanceof “giving” to others andknowing they were part ofsomething bigger than them-selves!
Suma Kobayashi
“Most people, if they don’tneed it, they don’t ask for it,”she said.
Currently 400 families areserved, countywide; any eli-gible recipient may come toany food bank in a givenweek.
“This really, really helpsus. It’s at least a couplemonths’ worth of food,” saidHoffman.
Kym Zanmiller of theHood River County Christ-mas Project said “It’s gone
really well this year. We hadample donations and plentyof volunteers — includingsome young people homefrom college,” pointing tobrother and sister Kyle andSara Donahue, and sistersCarol and Lauren Holmson,whose father, Bruce, is theChristmas Project coordina-tor, a job he has done for thepast five years.
Meanwhile, at Elks Lodge,Robo Wymore came homefrom Oregon State Universi-ty for winter break andhelped his parents preparegift baskets at Elks Lodge forfamilies that receive basketsfrom the lodge.
GIVINGContinued from Page B1
Reward offered in Diamond fireReward offered in
Diamond fireWy’East Fire District and
local, state and federalinvestigators are workingdiligently to bring theDiamond Fruit Growersfruit bin fire case to a closeand are asking for the pub-lic’s help in gaining moreinformation about the Nov.25, blaze, according toWy’east Fire Chief GregBorton.
A total of 10,000 plasticfruit bins, valued at about$1.3 million, weredestroyed. No one wasinjured in the fire, whichwas fought by every firedepartment in the HoodRiver valley. Neighboringhomes and vehicles weredamaged.
“Diamond Fruit Growers
as well as many other com-munity members suffered agreat loss as a result of thislarge fire and many neigh-bors suffered damages totheir residences and per-sonal belongings as a resultof the intense heat,” Bortonsaid.
Because of this, a rewardof up to $5,000 is beingoffered for informationleading to the arrest andconviction of any person orpersons involved with theDiamond Fruit GrowersBin Pile Fire.
If you have any informa-tion call the fire tip hotlineat 1-800-452-7888, 24 hoursper day, or call the HoodRiver County Sheriff ’sOffice at 541-387-7077 andleave a message.
The Hood River Soiland Water ConservationDistrict says that in thisseason of giving, don’tforget about your garden.It may be buried in snowright now, but in just afew short months youryard will be ready for anew look.
SWCD is taking ordersnow for its annual nativetree and plant sale. TheSWCD promises a greatselection of native plantspecies at “fantasticprices.”
Community membersmay choose from a vari-ety of native conifers, de-ciduous trees and shrubs.These bare-root seedlingsare one to two years old
and will be delivered tothe SWCD in early April2014.
Visit hoodriversw-cd.org to download yourorder form and gather in-formation on plant de-scriptions and site suit-ability.
Tree and shrub orderscan be placed now bymail or phone (541-386-4588). You can also stopby the SWCD office at3007 Experiment StationRoad in Hood River, formore infor mation orguidance when makingyour selection.
Purchases will beavailable for pickup onFriday and Saturday,April 4 and 5.
