46TH ANNUAL HERMISTON FARM FAIR
December 4-6 at Eastern Oregon Trade & Event Center » INSIDE
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2019
HermistonHerald.com
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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