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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 2019)
46TH ANNUAL HERMISTON FARM FAIR December 4-6 at Eastern Oregon Trade & Event Center » INSIDE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2019 HermistonHerald.com $1.50 INSIDE UEC GROWTH Big industrial power users such as Amazon are driving growth for Umatilla Electric Coopera- tive. A3 KEY PLAYER Kendall Dowdy was recognized for her hard work and strong skills on the court after this year’s volleyball season. A8 TURKEY TROT Hermiston and Pendleton Warming Stations reaped the rewards after runners took to the streets of Echo on Thanks- giving Day. A9 A guide to holiday giving BY THE WAY Sunday is Family Day for Festival of Trees Although tickets quickly sold out for the Hermiston Festival of Trees gala dinner and auc- tion, the community is invited to attend Sunday’s Family Day. The festive event runs from noon to 4 p.m. at the Hermiston Community Center. In addition to admiring the beautifully decorated trees, the fun-fi lled after- noon features a variety of holiday-related activi- ties, pictures with Santa and performances by local students.. Sponsored by Soropti- mist International of the Greater Hermiston Area, the suggested donation is $5 per family. Money raised from the event helps provides funding for the service organiza- tion’s “Live Your Dream” award, which provides educational and training opportunities for women. For more information about Family Day or the Soroptimist group, call 541-567-9409 or search Facebook. HH fi le photo Volunteer Doug Alvarez loads a box of food into the back of a vehicle for last year’s Christmas Express in Hermiston. Community programs provide opportunities to help those in need during December HERMISTON HERALD STAFF ‘T is the season for giving, and Hermiston residents have plenty of options to choose from if they want to make the holidays brighter for someone in need. One of the community’s big- gest giving endeavors is the Christ- mas Express, which expects to deliver about 500 boxes of food and gifts to local families this month. The annual program, which will cel- ebrate its 50th anniversary this year, is run by Hermiston Police Department. Ric Sherman, who helps with Christmas Express each year, said the police department gets recommenda- tions of people in need from schools, service organizations, churches and social service agencies. Recipients range from families with small chil- dren to senior citizens living alone. “It’s easy to overlook our senior citizens, but our senior citizens have been in the community for a long time and have contributed a lot, and they have as much right as anyone else to respectful assistance,” Sherman said. The police department gets help from various organizations locally, including local farms that donate boxes and transportation, service clubs that raise seed money, city staff who help put together boxes and the Agape House, which helps with distribution. Community members can help by donating nonperishable food items at Hermiston schools, which collect thousands of pounds of food each year. They can also drop off toys appropri- ate for children ages 11 and younger (no toy guns) at Hermiston Police Department or Hermiston City Hall, or drop off cash donations at the police department. In Umatilla and Stanfi eld, Sher- man said people can drop off toys and food to Umatilla Rural Fire Protection See Giving, Page A14 See BTW, Page A1 Community Fellowship meal delivered with love By JESSICA POLLARD STAFF WRITER Staff photo by Kathy Aney 8 08805 93294 2 Kohen Kreuger, 7, serves as a waiter during Thursday’s Community Thanksgiving Dinner at Hermiston High School. Each year, between 100 and 150 people volunteer at the Commu- nity Fellowship Dinner Thanks- giving meal in Hermiston. Some of them cook and some wait on tables, but Terri-Lynn and Rob- ert Gardner have been hand-de- livering Thanksgiving to the front doors of local residents for nearly a decade. “Our family is scattered all over the place,” Terri-Lynn said. “So we have the day to ourselves. We get to visit people and maybe cheer them up. Without something like this, people could be forgotten on holidays.” The Gardners estimate that each year, they deliver anywhere from 15 to 45 meals to people in Irri- gon, Stanfi eld and everywhere in between the two towns. The action starts just after 10:30 a.m. each Thanksgiving, when pairs of volunteers haul a fi rst round of insulated delivery bags to their cars, brimming with slices of pies and mashed potatoes. Each bag comes equipped with a half-sheet of paper explaining how many meals each household ordered, when and where. “Moving in pairs is good,” Ter- ri-Lynn said. “That way, one per- son can drive and the other person can run out and knock on doors.” This Thanksgiving, Terri-Lynn is driving. And maybe that’s because, as a retired truck driver, Robert’s put in more than a million miles across the United States. See Meal, Page A14
