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May
2008
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your support throughout the long cold winter. We received more than the usual amount of sleeping bags and blankets. All of them were distributed to homeless or needy families in Benton County.
We had a very successful Christmas program again this year with the help of countless volunteer. We were able to put more dollars into direct service e this year because of the generous donation of space from Rite Aid and the R C Wilson family.
Our volunteers are gearing up for our Annual Benefit sale in July. Please
mark your calendars for Friday July 11th and Saturday 12th at Community
Center at First United Methodist Church. They have generously donated
this space for us and they are going to provide food throughout the day,
providing pancakes, lunch items and snacks. Note the date has been changed
from previous years; it will be one week earlier. Hopefully this will
help with parking. We have two parking lots reserved one at 11th &
Jackson and the other at 12th & Monroe. We will have antiques, collectibles,
and fun and unusual items available. If you have items you would like
to donate for the sale just bring them to the Center and let us know they
are for the sale.
Please take the time to read the enclosed insert about our FISH program
and the services we are able to provide with it.
Thank again for your support throughout the year.
Christine Duffney
Executive director
| If you have items you would like to donate for the sale just bring them to the Center and let us know they are for the sale. |
2007 Christmas Program
Vina Moses Center
| The 2007 Christmas Program was wonderful. Approximately 1,200 Benton County families received food and/or gift boxes. Two hundred of these families had been adopted by organizations and individuals. The sorting, assembling and distribution of boxes took place in two vacant stores in the Circle 9 Shopping Center. This space, donated by Rite Aid and RCW Properties, was a great place to work. Most boxes were picked up by recipients; however, for those families who could not pick up their boxes, deliveries were made by volunteers. In addition, volunteers delivered boxes to the Alsea Community Health Center and to the Methodist Church in Monroe for pickup by families living in those areas. Gifts were provided for children through age 12 – typically, two gifts per child, plus stocking stuffers. Gifts were provided to handicapped individuals and to seniors when there was a referral. Gifts came from giving trees, toy drives, and individual donations. We went from, “Wow, we are going to have lots of stuff left over,” to “We aren’t going to have enough,” and in the end we came out “just right.” With the food boxes, families received a $10 gift card for use at any Safeway Store. Families with eight or more members received two cards. Three hundred cards were purchased by the Salvation Army and 800 were purchased by the Vina Moses Center. In addition to the food that was donated, the Vina Moses Center purchased an additional $3000 worth of food through the Linn/Benton Food Share. The following list shows the approximate amounts of food used: 22 cases of tuna fish This Christmas program could not exist without the overwhelming
generosity of countless people and organizations in our community.
The donated time, money, and goods surpassed all our expectations.
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