West End Food Pantry needs more volunteers

News from Naselle:

Sports calendar for the Naselle Comet teams this week: Tomorrow (Friday), high school girls and boys basketball at Three Rivers Christian at 5:30 p.m .; Saturday, JV girls and boys C Team at Knappa at 10 a.m .; Monday, middle school boys basketball in Naselle with Raymond at 5:45 p.m .; Wednesday, middle school boys basketball at North Beach at 5:45 p.m. Go Comets!

District IV 1B playoff games: high school boys basketball on Tuesday, 6 p.m., and girls basketball on Wednesday, 6 p.m. with the higher seed team hosting. Contact the school for more info.

The Naselle Knowledge Bowl team, Monte and the Pythons, will compete at ESD 113 on Friday at 9 a.m. for a shot to go to state. This is quite an accomplishment for these kids with many, many hours of work between them, for the honor of competing at the state level. Way to go, Monte and the Pythons! Good luck.

The Booster Club now has their annual calendars for sale. The price is $6 and you can pick one up at Okies or from a booster club member.

Westend news:

Last Saturday I attended the annual Crab and Oyster Feed sponsored by the American Legion Deep River Post #111 at the Rosburg Hall. It was an absolutely wonderful evening, delicious food as usual, and it was so good to see so many folks from both ends of the county and out of town.

Many thanks to the Legion members who do such an outstanding job of cooking, prepping, setting up and providing an amazing evening for the whole family. The young people who were helping out were also appreciated. The King Brothers Band played great music and gave the dancers a wonderful opportunity to get out on the floor. The raffle was once again full of good prizes and included two rifles this year as well as a diamond ring. Lots of lucky, happy winners including myself. See you all next year.

Okay, folks. The West End Food Pantry would like to invite anyone with a few hours of extra time on their hands on Thursdays to join them in the pantry as a volunteer. They need someone who can give them help on a regular basis, taking in donations, stocking shelves, assisting clients with food choices and carrying the products to their cars if necessary.

If you are interested, please contact Shonda at the Pantry during the open hours 1-5 p.m. on Thursdays, or by calling her at 465-2722, or Suzie at 465-2312. Students are always welcome and appreciated, as younger, stronger arms make the work go much easier. Any hours worked are counted as community service hours.

There are openings on their board of directors, and if you would like to help out in a way other than volunteering on Thursdays, this would be it. They meet once a month and make decisions regarding what is going on with the pantry on a daily basis.

Last week I mentioned that the pantry gives out birthday boxes for children who are clients. This is a great way to make a special day extra special. Some suggestions to donate to the food pantry might include cake mixes, frostings, birthday candles, party favors or anything birthday related.

Just a reminder: The Grays River Fire and Ambulance Foundation, a 501(c)3 appreciates any donations made to them, and those donations are tax deductible. with all monies collected used locally. The foundation came about several years ago to assist Fire District #3 in providing better first aid and firefighting capabilities to our local families. Sometimes public funds can’t be utilized due to state laws that prohibit how tax dollars can be spent. This foundation offers the opportunity to set up a special fund for a family coping with a devastating fire or do fund raisers as well.

The foundation is a completely separate entity from the fire district, and can do so much more for the community. If you would like to contribute as an expression of gratitude or in memory of someone, or just to assist in their benevolence toward others in need or just to help out the fire protection and EMS people, then this is the place to make your donation.

If you would like more information, you can contact one of the board members: Jon Gudmundsen, Amber Davis, Ed Hunt, Freida Footh or Kim DeJesus. Tax deductible donations can be made directly to any branch of the Bank of the Pacific or mailed to Grays River Fire and Ambulance Foundation, PO Box 5, Grays River, WA. 98621.

Happy birthday to the following: Hannah Footh, Jeannine Helvey, Cassie VanDusen, Alan Erickson and Marco Colombo. Wishing you a perfect day.

Happy aniversary to Bob and Angelee Torppa and Bud and Wendy Strange. Here’s to many more celebrations togather.

A very special happy birthday to my good friend, Ramona Collver. You are an amazing, wonderful person and I so appreciate you always being only a phone call away. We have been through some similar circumstances over the past couple of years, and I think that being here for each other has made for an incredible friendship. Enjoy your special day. May it be filled with love from family and friends, as well as the spiritual love I know you cherish, and give you the strength to look forward to better things in life. Love you, my friend.