Community Extra Applause
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Father-son duo Capt. Bob Magee, 52, and firefighter Brendan Magee, 26, were among 15 Marysville Fire District firefighters who climbed all 69 flights of stairs of the Columbia Tower, the tallest building in Seattle, on March 4.
Participating firefighters raised money for research and patient care through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
For the Magees, the event was a tribute to their mother and grandmother who had died from leukemia. Although this was Bob Magee’s third year doing the stair climb, he admitted his son beat him by five minutes. His goal is to raise $1,000 by the March 30 due date.
Firefighter Keoni Brown did his climb in memory of the late Jeff Thornton, a Marysville firefighter who died in 2001.
Thornton had been one of the original stairclimbers when the event first began with just a handful of firefighters. The climb has grown to include 1,087 participants this year.
Brown and Jeff Tucker were instrumental in organizing the crew of 15 Marysville firefighter participants this year.
Everett Community College’s fire science program donated eight air packs for firefighters to use on the day of the race. Other race participants included Sam Eagle, Matt Campbell, Cal Droke, Chad Hale, Joshua Olsen, Darren Green, Noah Pester, Tim Gunn, Joe Ballif, Ryan Swobody and Dave Kraski.
Girls from Everett and Mukilteo plan to participate in the American Girl Fashion Show Friday and Saturday at the Bellevue Westin Hotel. Proceeds from the show benefit Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center.
Sisters Larissa and Trayana Rogers of Everett are volunteering their time as models for the show. Larissa, 10, and Trayana, 7, are students at View Ridge Elementary School in Everett. Their parents are Lawrence and Sandra Rogers.
Hannah McDonald and Jordyn Wescott of Mukilteo also are giving their time.
Hannah, 9, recently was treated for a brain stem tumor at Children’s Hospital. Now in remission, she is active in her community raising funds for breast cancer and heart care. Hannah is a student at Endeavor Elementary School in Mukilteo. Her parents are Mark and Jeanne McDonald.
Jordyn, 9, is a Hannah’s neighbor and friend. She attends King’s Elementary School in Shoreline. Her parents are Kevin and Gayann Wescott.
The fashion show is hosted by the Star Guild, part of the Children’s Hospital Guild Association, which hopes to raise $50,000 for the hospital.
Tickets for the show are sold out, but those who want to support the event can still go online to starguildfashionshow.org to purchase raffle tickets for a trip for two to the American Girl Place in Chicago, or to make a donation to Children’s.
In celebration of International Women’s Day activities on March 8, the Zonta Club of Everett awarded 14 women with a symbolic yellow rose of thanks for their community achievements and for helping to advance the status of women in Snohomish County.
The Rose Day Award, recognizing women of distinction in the community, was established 23 years ago when the yellow rose became a symbol of Zonta International.
The Rose Day award recipients for 2007 are Paula Beatty, P.J. Ryan, Robin Gaudette, Gail Larson, Paula McManus, Marci Larsen, Mary Jane Miller, Suzanne Poppema, Margaret Bruland, Heidi Rendall, Joanne Gunderson, Cindy Portmann, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.; and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
More information about the Zonta Club of Everett can be obtained on the Web at www.zontaeverett.org or by calling 425-348-3501.
Mark Nesse spent part of his last day on the job as director of the Everett Public Library accepting a check for the purchase of books and materials.
Nesse, a former chairman of the Board of the Greater Everett Community Foundation, had long championed the idea of building endowments, not only for the foundation, but for the library as well.
In 2005, he was instrumental in getting several local donor families to establish endowment funds with the community foundation, funds that would benefit the library.
The check, for $16,466, represented a portion of the earnings on four endowed funds: the Simon and Vada Newland Collection, the Phil Johnson Collection, the Clyde and Judy Pitcher Collection and the Walter and Hazel Sand Collection.
These are just a few of the more than 60 charitable funds managed by the Greater Everett Community Foundation. In February, the foundation awarded $30,233 to local nonprofit organizations. Grants supported a variety of programs and projects.
For example, Coastal Community Bank employees recently presented grant checks totaling $9,657 to several local nonprofit organizations. The grants were given through the bank’s employee giving fund at the foundation.
Organizations receiving the grants included American Legion Post 6, Open Door Theatre, Readiness to Learn, Volunteers of America, Sunshine Physically Handicapped Foundation, Matthew House and St. Vincent de Paul.
The Greater Everett Community Foundation works with donors to strengthen communities in Snohomish County by building permanent endowments, connecting donors to the charitable causes they care about, making grants and providing leadership to address community issues.
For more information about becoming a foundation donor, call 425-257-8385.
Thirty students from Henry M. Jackson High School’s Honor Society and Key Club participated Saturday in the school’s fifth annual Walk to Seattle.
The event, which began at the high school and ended at the Space Needle, was created by a group of Jackson students.
The students raised nearly $800 for the American Cancer Society and Jackson’s Relay for Life team.
The annual Relay For Life of South Snohomish County is set for May 19 at Lynnwood High School. For more information or to donate, call 425-322-1123 or go to www.cancer.org.
Children in the Everett Family YMCA child care program at Lowell Elementary School recently made a quilt and donated it to the Everett Gospel Mission’s women’s shelter.
The shelter had been helpful to friends of one of the parents in the program, so the children thought the quilt would be a nice way to return the favor, a YMCA spokesman said.
Involved were students Bryah Wynne, Jordan Miller, Anna Gold, Angel Rivera, Amber Forest, Lindsay Oppelt, Yacine Seck, Shance Barnes, Serenah Rivera, Cambrie Green, Anastacia Warthan, Jax Tolle, Ashley Doty, Andrew Hilton and Emily Godfrey.
Fifth-grade teacher Anne Klein gave an assignment to everyone in her class at Maplewood Co-op School in Edmonds to “find the threads through time that connect at least three generations of your family.”
Kendall DeVries took the opportunity to let her teacher, classmates and their families know more about the disease that plagues her family.
Kendall’s family carries genes for polycystic kidney disease, which causes kidney failure. The only options for survival are dialysis or a kidney transplant. There is no treatment or cure for the disease.
Kendall inherited PKD from her father. Matt DeVries had a kidney transplant in 2005. While researching this project, Kendall found that her entire family, through the generations had a story to tell about the disease.
Kendall takes an active part in trying to raise awareness of the disease and raise money for research. She’s part of the Seattle Chapter of the PKD Foundation. Each September, Kendall and her family form a team for the Walk for PKD. The 2006 Seattle Walk for PKD raised more than $63,000 for research.
For more information about the disease and the foundation, go to www.pkdcure.org or call 800-PKD-CURE.
Tom Carr of Snohomish recently received the St. Michael parish’s St. Vincent de Paul award for “meritorious service to the poor.” Carr has been a member of the St. Vincent de Paul conference in Snohomish for more than 20 years.
Big Brothers Big Sisters is celebrating 20 years of service to young people in Snohomish County.
The youth-mentoring program run by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Snohomish County creates and monitors safe, nurturing relationships between adult volunteers, “the Bigs,” and youths, “the Littles,” between the ages of 6 and 18.
Most children and teenagers involved come from single-parent families and more than 80 percent of them live below the federal poverty line. There is no charge to the youth or families who participate in the program.
Individuals such as Bob Drewel, Kathy Carol, Paul Seely and Gerry Andal were instrumental in helping to establish the organization, which was officially incorporated as a nonprofit organization on March 16, 1987.
The agency provided six child-volunteer matches that first year.
In April 2001, BBBS supported 175 matches and merged with the YMCA of Snohomish County.
In 2006, two new programs, the Edmonds School District High School “Bigs” Clubs and three after-school site-based programs were added. In 2007, the agency will support 550 child-volunteer matches.
The 20-year anniversary will be celebrated with several events including the annual volunteer appreciation dinner on April 20, Bowl for Kids’ Sake on May 5 and 6 and the Dream Builders Auction on Oct. 13.
The organization is hoping to hear from those who participated as volunteers or were little brothers or sisters during the past 20 years and who are willing to share their stories.
Go online to www.bbbs-snoco.org to share stories or learn more about Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Snohomish resident Cameron Castle was named a semifinalist in HumorPress.com’s most recent “America’s Funniest Humor!” writing contest.
For his accomplishment, Castle earned publication online and in print. His entry, “Feeding Carter,” is about the ongoing learning process of being a stay-at-home dad.
“Feeding Carter” will be on HumorPress.com through March. The entry also will appear in an upcoming print edition of “America’s Funniest Humor!”
