8
community
january2
2014
Vernonians Care
Vernonians – individuals, businesses and civic
groups - once again showed their concern for others
during this holiday season by generously donating to
the annual Vernonia Cares Holiday Food Box drive.
Cares continued its tradition of providing clients with
the ingredients for a complete holiday meal. On
December 19 fifteen volunteers assembled the two
hundred boxes; Vernonia Cares Food Bank gave 180
holiday food boxes to the community on December
20. Those boxes provided over 600 people with the
groceries for their Christmas meal, all thanks to
Vernonia’s community support of this special project.
This year’s campaign was augmented by a
competition between local businesses and school
groups. Pam Weller, Cares board member and manager
of the Vernonia and Clatskanie branches of Wauna
Federal Credit Union, started the special drive to
gather components of the holiday box by challenging
her staff and credit union members to donate mandarin
oranges and hot cocoa packets. The Vernonia Post
Office responded by collecting cranberry sauce; True
Value Hardware gathered gelatin and US Bank’s
Vernonia Branch sought boxed stuffing and coffee.
Vernonia Middle School collected pudding mix and the
Leadership Class red gelatin. In addition Grace Family
Fellowship, the Groshong Family, Lynn Shaw’s second
grade class, Boy Scout Troops 201 and 860, Vernonia
Community Preschool and Tobie Finzel also helped
gather donations. All the extra donations reduced
Vernonia Cares’ need to purchase these items.
The campaign garnered an unexpected bounty
of food box items:
Stuffing – 88 boxes
Cocoa mix – 61 boxes containing nearly 600 individual
servings
Cranberries – 53 cans
Mandarin oranges – 122 cans
Pudding – 170 boxes
Gelatin – 204 boxes
Coffee – enough to provide 1 cup of ground
coffee for each holiday box
Amalgamated Sugar of Portland once
again donated a sufficient quantity of five pound
bags of white sugar and two pound packages of
brown sugar to sweeten each holiday box. Cash
donations from individuals, and groups and
businesses enabled the purchase of turkeys and
other canned goods. Holiday Sponsors this year
were: Sentry (check stand giving), Vernonia
Lions Club, Natal Grange, Jake Wolfe and
Trucking, Banks Pharmacy, Vernonia Muzzle Loaders,
Vernonia Realty, Vernonia American Legion Post 119,
R & R Motors, Bridge Street Mini Mart, Vernonia
Ridge Riders, Holce Logging, Vernonia PEO, Fall
Creek Woodworking, Hancock Forest Management,
Vernonia Volunteer Fire Association, and Meyer Auto
Body.
A special thanks goes out to Casey and Josette
Mitchell and family for driving to Portland to pick up
the sugar and to Winco to pick up the turkeys.
Vernonia Cares is deeply grateful to all who
contributed to this community endeavor.
Clockwise: Students at the Vernonia Community Preschool delivered food they gathered. Isabel and Jim Klipfeld
received their turkey for their holiday food box from Cares volunteer Tobie Finzel. Members of Boy Scout Troop 860
collected and delivered food donations. Cares Director Sandy Welch accepted a $500 donation from Toni Barton repre-
senting Bridge Street Mini Mart. Boy Scout Troop 201 also collected food donations.
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