Snohomish County NewsEmerson Elementary third-graders are making kits for cancer patients.
Michael Whitney photo
When cancer impacted teacher Kim Moritz’ family, she thought of a way for the community to help others.
All of the third-grade classes at Emerson Elementary are building cancer kits for patients at the Everett Cancer Partnership and can use your help.
Going in the kits are blankets, hats, nuts, sugarless gum and other items. The list of items was developed by Moritz’ class.
The lesson is to pay it forward.
“What it means to us to pay it forward is doing something nice for other people,” Sam Matson, 8, said. He said that after hearing about the needs of the cancer patients, making kits felt like the right thing to do.
The students wrote letters to businesses as part of a lesson on professional writing. Already, Fred Meyer, Kusler’s, Target and Cash and Carry have stepped up.
“If we didn’t know what the stores had, teacher would help us,” Kira Wright, 8, said.
They also are writing positive messages and poetry to go in the kits.
“Nice encouraging things,” Matson said.
The project made the students think about their family members who experienced cancer. The class was excited to hear that someone donated $100 to the cause.
The students also learned cancer patients need high protein foods like beef jerky to keep their strength up.
“They don’t feel like eating when in chemotherapy, but doctors want them to eat high-protein foods because the medicine takes away proteins,” Lyric Crane, 8, said.
They also are putting hats, scarves, mittens and socks in.
“We have so much stuff,” Shance Barnes, 8, said.
Hats keep “the people that are there warm because their hair falls out,” Holli Welcker, 9, said. “The body can get cold.”
Paisley Tallmon, 8, said it is a great project.
It is important people donate because “they’ll be saving a whole bunch of lives,” she said.
Paying it forward has an impact on others.
“If one person makes a good decision, then other people will make good decisions,” Tallmon said.
The students are waiting for donations and then will decorate the kits, Crane said.
The project is fun, Barnes said.
“They’re going to be proud of Emerson, they’re going to like this school and they’re going to feel much better,” he said.
Moritz decided to have her class make kits after her mother passed away from ovarian cancer earlier this year. Her mother fought the cancer for nine years and her daughter, now a high school freshman, years ago thought of making baskets for cancer patients.
“I thought, ‘this would be a great lesson to pay it forward’,” Moritz said.
The people receiving the kits are going to love it, Moritz said.
Donations for the kits are accepted until December.
Donations can be dropped off at Emerson Elementary or call the classroom phone of Kim Moritz at 360-563-7173.
By MICHAEL WHITNEY
Published Nov. 4, 2009
Check Out our online publications
Food banks feeding more, hope donations keep up
SNOHOMISH - As the holiday season approaches, food banks are hoping an increase in donations will allow them to maintain operations next year.
The holiday season is the traditional time food banks get a boost to help sustain services through the spring months.
Today’s economy is bringing more people to the food bank. The Sky Valley Food Bank in Monroe this month will see a more than 20 percent increase in use from last year. At the start of the year, the monthly figures were up more than 50 percent compared to 2008. Each month more than 1,000 families have come to the food bank.
Sky Valley Food Bank director Julie Morris grimaces at the charts she has of the sheer number of families who need food.
“(The economy) just gets worse — more and more families lost their jobs, hours get cut — in some cases people had to close their small businesses,” Morris said.
The economy drives people to the food bank. It was the economy that brought Snohomish newcomers Cherie Marthaller and Brian Ard, who moved from Arlington months ago and came to the Snohomish Food Bank for the first time last week. After Ard was downsized from his job, the food bank will probably be a service the family will use until they get on their feet again.
“It’s all starting to sink in,” Marthaller said.
Even a gallon of milk for their 6-year-old daughter, which rose from $1.99 to $2.99, has pinched their pocketbook.
“That adds up, a few extra bucks a week,” Ard said.
After spending $300 a week on food, they use the food bank to help pay other bills like the power bill.
Many hard-working families have experienced similar situations, Morris said. At the Sky Valley Food Bank, former donors have become clients because of the economy, she said.
New Snohomish Food Bank director Elizabeth Grant hears the stories as well.
“I’ve heard so many stories in just a month — it’s either a way of life, a new way of life or a temporary way of life but in any way it is tough times,” Grant said.
In October, it is estimated that at the Sky Valley Food Bank more than 1,400 families will come for food. That equates to more than 70,000 pounds of food out the door last month.
A food bank provides basic goods, but even that has run low at the Sky Valley Food Bank.
“This year is the first year we ran out of rice, beans, oatmeal — your basic supplies. We were shocked,” Morris said.
The food bank is buying $8,000 worth of food each month to keep the shelves stocked. Financially, the food bank already is behind by $8,000 from what it thought it would have to spend — the equivalent of more than one month of food purchases.
“Financially, we’re not where we projected we would and should be,” Morris said.
The usage figures have generally risen since August 2008.
The Snohomish Food Bank is experiencing a similar crunch. The food bank provides meals for about 500 people a week, and that number is increasing.
“Every week we see more and more families,” Grant said.
Compared to October 2008, this October the food bank saw a 14 percent increase in families. In the past three months, 105 new families have come to the food bank, Grant said.
On Oct. 27, for example, the food bank gave away 4,676 pounds of food to 235 individuals.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, both the Sky Valley Food Bank and Snohomish Food Bank are in need of turkeys, stuffing and hams.
“If anybody thought what they would like to see on their Thanksgiving table, that is what we’re pushing for,” Grant said.
Snohomish residents can contribute by purchasing meals through a Thanksgiving meal fund drive Nov. 11 at McDaniel’s Do-It Center. Look for the yellow Schwan’s truck. Providing a family of five a Thanksgiving dinner is a $40 donation. The company is holding 11 Thanksgiving meal drives across the county including one in Monroe Nov. 16, Schwan’s fundraising coordinator Vicky Jira-Dry said.
Everyone in America deserves a Thanksgiving, Morris said.
Other needs at the Sky Valley Food Bank include baking goods like eggs, butter, flour and dry milk. Such food is rarely available to food bank customers because the food bank needs to spend its money on canned goods and staples.
The Snohomish Food Bank needs tuna, meats, rice, beans and hygiene products.
Food banks are not funded by the government. They rarely get grants. The community is what puts food on the tables of the least wealthy, the directors said.
“We welcome donors or prospective donors to come down and see how big our operation is,” Morris said.
The food banks prefer cash donations because they can buy up to three times more food than what people can buy at supermarkets. Right now the food bank really needs to recoup funds, Morris said.
“We’re hoping that in November and December, people really step up and fill the plate,” Morris said.
“It is OK to feel good about donating because it sure is making a difference,” Morris said.
By MICHAEL WHITNEY
Published Nov. 4, 2009