A crime victim’s family that organizes an annual fund-raiser for the Marysville Community Food Bank in the name of a slain woman is the victim of crime again.
Early on Tuesday, someone stole up to $600 worth of household items that were to be sold this weekend as part of the fund-raising event.
A glass-topped coffee table, a CD player and decorative vases were among the items stolen, said Marge Martin, one Jubie family member assisting with this weekend’s event.
"It’s so pathetic when you’re doing something for a good cause," Martin said.
The event was organized by the Jubie family last year as a tribute to the generous spirit of Gail Jubie, who was murdered in December 2000 during a botched robbery at her Sunnyside Boulevard home.
This year, the Jubie family filled three storage lockers with items donated for the event. The stolen items were stored under a tent near the Marysville Food Bank because the family had run out of storage space.
"We’ve had some really generous donations of things. Unfortunately, someone chose to relieve us of some of those," Martin said. "It’s just discouraging, you know?"
The family has requested that Marysville police step up patrols in the area, lighting will be increased and someone will be at the site 24 hours a day through the weekend, she said.
The three-day sale will go on as scheduled beginning Friday. Some people have stopped by the drop-off site to hand family members cash donations and checks for the food bank.
For last year’s kickoff event, the family set a goal of $6,000 to provide holiday meals for families using the food bank.
It was "kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing," explained Richard Jubie, a plan his family adopted for battling both the emotions caused by the anniversary of their sister’s death and a desire to help others.
The event last year raised $9,500.
"There was a couple of times I put my head in my hands and cried, knowing of this kind of response," Richard Jubie said. "I got to meet all these wonderful, kind people."
"It was amazing," said JoAnn Mulligan, director of the Marysville Community Food bank. Past food bank rummage sales typically raised about $900. "We never would have anticipated they would do that well."
Food drives help stock food bank shelves, but cash donations are welcome, too, Mulligan said. Food dollars can be stretched further because of the bulk-buying power of the countywide food bank distribution system run by Volunteers of America.
The need continues to expand with the area’s continuing high unemployment. Ninety-six new families signed up for help in September, Mulligan said, and in October the number was 98.
In addition, donations to the food bank were unintentionally hampered by the Marysville teachers strike, because annual school fund drives weren’t held during that time.
Tuesday evening, the Marysville Fred Meyer store announced it would sponsor a food drive and will match pound-for-pound all donations.
Not content to simply match last year’s cash donations, the Jubie family has set a goal this year of raising $15,000. "And that’s just the minimum goal," Richard Jubie said.
This time, they’re not thinking just about this year’s goal, but their hope for how it could grow in the future.
"What we’d really like to do is broaden this over the next few years," he said. "Don’t just include Marysville, but Lake Stevens and whoever else is willing to participate with us."
Reporter Sharon Salyer:
425-339-3486 or
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