LYNNWOOD — Hannah and Abigail Lake are known for their positive attitudes and sweet smiles on their three newspaper routes through Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace. This reason and more is why readers voted them the Lynnwood Enterprise Carriers of the Year for 2003.
“These girls hand me the newspaper every Friday with a big smile, they are very upbeat and polite,” said Lynnwood resident Rena Leone. “They’re the best carriers I’ve had in the 15 years I’ve lived here.”
The girls, who happen to be Mountlake Terrace residents, just started delivering the Enterprise about eight months ago and already have three routes, said Monica Moyer, Enterprise circulation manager.
“They’re doing a great job and they’re customer oriented.” The girls also pay close attention to when people start or stop their papers, which is especially important,” Moyer said.
Their mom, Anne-Marie Lake, said Hannah, 10, and Abigail, 9 have taken up the route with a great deal of enthusiasm.
“They love to deliver the paper more than they like to collect which I think is funny,” Anne-Marie Lake said. “They’re really doing it for the service.”
For example, she said, the girls love to deliver to the Pathways For Women shelter on 208th Street SW in Lynnwood.
“The girls know they’re not being paid by all of them but they know they need to have the paper and it’s one of their favorite spots to deliver,” she said.
In general, she said, she along with her husband, Stan Lake, really like the learning experience the girls are getting by having the routes.
“It teaches them how to go to adults and do a business transaction in a business way,” she said, “… the training is valuable.”
Folks at Pathways For Women also think the girls are special.
MaryAnne Dillon, the housing director for Pathways in Lynnwood said “they come in with such spirits and so proud of their Enterprise— ‘We’re here with our delivery,’ they say. Those girls have such pride in everything they do.”
Luanne Kunz, the community resource coordinator for Pathways greets the girls at the door every week and has noticed the two are quite a team.
“The first day they showed up they asked if it was ok they dropped it off,” Kunz said. Since then they announce which one will be dropping off the paper and which one would be collecting.
“They have their lines drawn … they’re little business people. They’re so cute you have to laugh when you see them,” she said. Adding, “and they’re very polite and sweet, we love to see them.”
When Hannah, a fifth grader at Evergreen Elementary, found out she and her sister were voted number one she said “I just don’t know what to say— we heard someone was going to nominate us but we didn’t think we’d win.”
Hannah, who is almost 11, said she thinks the readers appreciate their good work because she and her sister work as a team.
“We have a good system,” she said.
Hannah said her favorite part about being a carrier is meeting a lot of new people.
“We’ve met nice people and mean people,” she said. “This one time we had this guy, we were collecting and he came to the door and I said I was collecting and he slammed the door in my face— he was rude. But nobody has been so mean to throw the paper in my face.”
Some other parts are funny though, she said, and her least favorite part about being a carrier is when new people move in “cause we have to explain everything to them all over again,” she said, “but thankfully it’s not very often.”
When Abigail, a third grader at Evergreen Elementary heard from her Mom she and her sister were nominated as Lynnwood’s Carriers of the Year she said “you’re kidding mom—you cannot be correct. My mom said ‘your work has paid off,’ I’m like ‘what do you mean?’ and she said ‘you guys are Carriers of the Year’ and I was like ‘sweet, that’s cool,’ and I was also like ‘that’s weird how can that be?’”
Abigail said her favorite part about doing the paper route is that sometimes she gets to bring her bike and deliver papers from it and she likes delivering the paper to the “nice people,” she said.
Abigail said she and her sister use their earnings for a savings account, church and to by more Polly Pockets toys.
“We collect them,” Abigail said. She added, they also like to buy candy, doughnuts and they are saving spending money for a planned trip next year to Washington, D.C.
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