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DEPUTY ELVES

Community helps Concrete families feel Christmas cheer

Story By MARTA MURDOCH

Staff WriterSkagit Valley Herald

Volunteer elves Heather Tropic, 16, (left) and Reba West, 16, serve cookies Thursday at the Concrete Senior Center at a Christmas dinner for needy families in eastern Skagit County. After the dinner, children and parents rode a trolley to the Concrete Theatre for a movie and a visit with Santa.

Matt Wallis

Photographer

Skagit Valley Herald

CONCRETE — With four children to raise and an income that just covers her monthly bills, Judy Keener didn’t think she’d be able to give her family a Christmas.

Santa’s helpers — deputies from the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, owners of the Concrete Theatre and Marines from the Toys for Tots program — stepped in.

On Thursday, they provided Keener and a number of families living in eastern Skagit County with a turkey dinner and an afternoon at the movies, capped off by a visit from Santa, including presents for the children.

“If it wasn’t for this, my kids wouldn’t be having a Christmas,” said Keener, 29, of Cape Horn.

Keener’s four children, ages 3 to 12, and roughly 60 adults and children munched on turkey, potatoes and pie at the Concrete Senior Center. They then went to the Concrete Theatre to watch “Deck the Halls, ” a new comedy starring Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick. Some of the children got to ride the town’s trolley.

Johnson, one of the theater’s owners, said she approached the deputies about offering a movie to the families as a way of giving back to the community’s children.

“Kids are a big part of the theater,” Johnson said.

Deputies who work the eastern part of the county have been organizing Christmas gifts for needy families in the area on and off since about 2000.

The first year came about when then-Deputy Bill Wise, now a sergeant, and Sgt. Greg Adams were looking for a way to spend the small profit they generated from soda and candy sales at the sheriff’s east detachment office, said Chief Criminal Deputy Will Reichardt. Wise and Adams decided to buy Christmas gifts for a needy family.

Since then, more families have been included. One year, the dinner was held in Marblemount.

Deputy Johnie Rose said deputies contact local school counselors to get the names of needy families, then call the parents. There are about 11 deputies involved with planning the event and buying gifts. Besides toys, many of the children also receive clothing, Rose said.

“There are a lot of folks up here who get left out,” Rose said. “We all work up here and meet a lot of the needy families up here.”

This year, the deputies started out with six families, and then Johnson from the theater referred more people to them, said Deputy John Hendrickson. With the list growing, they asked the U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program for help.

Hendrickson said that the deputies are just a conduit for other volunteers such as Johnson, the Marines, senior center coordinator Sara Pritchard, ,and businesses such Albert’s Red Apple Market and Bickford Ford-Mercury, which donated either food or gifts. Gifts were also purchased with a donation from the Sheriff’s Office Benevolent Fund.

One of Keener’s sons, Jacob Smith, 7, said he looked forward to Santa’s visit. Jacob asked for “lots of stuff.” But Jacob’s wish list is just between him and the jolly old elf.

“I can’t tell you,” Jacob said. “It’s a secret.

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Last modified: Friday October 17, 2008.

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