STANWOOD — One person asked for a garden hose.
Another’s wish list included a $10 grocery store gift certificate.
Most are small requests, written on tags and attached to a little Christmas tree at Susanna “Z” Mantis’ Stanwood shop and studio.
Christmas in July is the goal of a campaign by Mantis, who wants to help Stanwood-area people who are struggling to make ends meet this summer.
Recently more than 300 families received a note tucked into food bags distributed at the Stanwood Food Bank. In the note, Mantis encouraged food bank clients to make requests for midsummer Christmas gifts. Most were handwritten and slipped under the shop door.
“My husband’s hours have been cut for the last six months. We feel lucky he hasn’t been laid off yet, as many of his co-workers have been,” one woman wrote. “Our landlord of eight years has been nice enough not to kick us out and we are behind a month in rent.”
The woman asked for dish soap, toilet paper, laundry soap and bleach.
A victim of domestic violence — a single mother of two teenagers — wrote to request ice cube trays, household cleaners, dog food, muffin tins and casserole dishes.
“God bless you as well as the many people who contribute to causes like this,” she wrote to Mantis.
Food bank director Jeanie Ovenell expects the Stanwood-Camano Island community to respond well to the Christmas in July idea.
“I’ve always said, people want to give. They just need a way to do it,” Ovenell said. “This is a wonderful project.”
Earlier this year, Mantis declared February global shoe month in Stanwood and set a goal to collect 1,000 pairs of shoes for an organization called Soles4Souls, which distributes shoes in the United States and abroad to those who have nothing on their feet.
The response was overwhelming, said Mantis, who eventually shipped off more than 1,500 pairs of shoes.
During the shoe drive, Mantis got help from her artist husband, R. Allen Jensen, to put up a shoe-drive thermometer outside her business, Z’s All Things Good. They decorated the entrance to the shop with lots of old footwear — saddle shoes, cowboy boots and patent-leather flats — in walking positions and headed to the donation box on the shop’s porch.
Now Z’s is decorated with little Christmas trees, reminding people who want to help that they can come in and donate to the Christmas in July effort.
“Most of us know that we’re all just a few steps from needing a little help,” Mantis said.
Wrapped gifts should be dropped off soon at Z’s, because gift distribution is set for Aug. 7. Everybody who donates to Christmas in July is eligible for a free yoga lesson from Mantis.
“I hope more people will come in and check out the requests on the Christmas tree,” she said. “Now is the time to help people in need.”
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427, gfiege@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
