AmeriCorps members ‘Make A Difference’

Members of the Northwest Washington Reading Corps AmeriCorps team participated in the national Make A Difference Day, held Saturday, Oct. 25, by working on several service projects in Island, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom counties.

One Skagit County team worked at the Citipoint Food Bank and cleaned Skagit County Community Action Agency’s Mobile Food Express Truck.

A second Skagit County team ran food drives at Fidalgo, Mount Erie, Island View and Whitney elementary schools throughout the month of October to benefit the St. Vincent de Paul and Anacortes 100 food banks. Team members also ran a food drive at Coupeville Elementary School during October to benefit Gifts from the Heart Food Bank.

The Whatcom County team, joined by another Skagit County group, partnered with Growing Washington to work on the Whatcom Food Bank Farm near Lynden. And a Snohomish County crew organized a food drive to benefit the Marysville Food Bank.

Sponsored by the Skagit County Community Action Agency, the Northwest Washington Reading Corps is a team of nearly 60 AmeriCorps State and VISTA members who tutor struggling readers in 19 elementary schools in Island, Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom counties. To learn more about NWRC service projects, visit http://www.northwestwrc.org.

Local grocery bagger competes at state

Pedro (Junior) Garcia, 17, of Burlington represented the Burlington Cost Cutter store at the annual Best Bagger Competition on Thursday, Oct. 16, in Seattle.

The Washington Food Industry, an association representing the state’s independent grocers, sponsors the contest in which contestants statewide are graded on speed, technique and weight distribution.

Garcia competed against eight other baggers, but did not place. He took the place of Bradley Navejus from the Mount Vernon Food Pavilion, who was unable to attend the competition at the last minute.

Garcia did well in spite of not having an opportunity to practice, said Holly Peterson, human resources assistant at The Markets LLC in Bellingham. Formerly known as Brown and Cole, The Markets owns the Cost Cutter and Food Pavilion stores.

Evan Harlan from Redmond Ridge QFC won the competition. He received $500 and an all-expenses-paid trip for two to participate in the National Best Bagger competition in February 2009 in Las Vegas during the National Grocers Association’s annual convention. 

CEO Jan Gee of Washington Food Industry said Harlan also successfully competed against celebrity John Curley, TV host of the KING 5 Evening Magazine, and will be featured on TV using reusable bags to celebrate the kickoff of Washington Food’s “Choose to Re-Use” shopping bag campaign.

Conservationists are honored

Skagit Conservation District Manager Carolyn Kelly and Whidbey Island Conservation District supervisors Karen Krug and Duke LeBaron were honored Oct. 22 by the Washington State Conservation Commission in the Discovery Garden at the Washington State University research center near Mount Vernon.

Kelly was named Northwest Area Conservation District Manager of the Year. She was commended for creating diverse district programs addressing new and emerging clients, such as the Firewise Communities Program, which helps landowners take steps to protect their properties from wildfires.

Whidbey Island Conservation District received the Northwest Area Conservation District of the Year award for exploring new ideas and building new programs to address community needs. The Whidbey district has helped communities with stormwater management and low-impact development, efforts that are recognized both statewide and regionally as a model program.

Grant to help Barr Creek project

Mount Vernon-based Skagit Land Trust has received a $5,000 grant from the Puget Sound Energy Foundation for its Barr Creek project on Sauk Mountain.

Molly Doran of Skagit Land Trust said the Barr Creek property was purchased in July with assistance from the Washington Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, and nearly 200 individual donations.

The 45-acre parcel, now called the Barr Creek Conservation Area, encompasses the beginning of the historic east-flank Sauk Mountain trail, and connects critical low-elevation wildlife habitat to higher-elevation public lands and forests.

The trust stewards the property as wildlife habitat and plans to allow low-impact day use and guided tours. Doran said the PSE grant will assist in ongoing protection, maintenance and stewardship costs.

Quilters mark milestone gift

The Fidalgo Island Quilters Guild of Anacortes recently donated its 2,000th quilt to the Skagit Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services shelter in Mount Vernon.

Guild member Judy McHarg said longtime member and senior citizen Jeanne Olsen of Anacortes is credited with finishing the milestone quilt. She said Olsen has been a major contributor since the Community Quilts Service Project was started in 1998.

While the guild tracks the total number of quilts donated to the shelter, several members contribute as the project progresses, making it difficult to tally how many quilts each member works on, McHarg said.

Quilt construction is broken down into steps: cutting, piecing (sewing the pieces together), pinning, quilting and binding. Members can choose which step they want to be involved with.

“Some do only one part, some do all,” McHarg said. “Jeanne was credited with the quilt because she did the piecing and quilting and turned the quilt in finished.”

McHarg said the quilters, led by co-chairs Marcia Berg and Carol Chapman, try to ensure that every child who goes through the women’s shelter receives a quilt. She said population growth and a downturn in the economy have made the need greater than ever. Last year, guild members supplied 297 quilts for the 310 children housed by the shelter.

The nonprofit Fidalgo Island Quilters group began in 1982 and now has 224 members — women and men — who come from throughout Skagit Valley, the San Juan Islands and beyond.

Equestrian honored for horse activities

Linda Hunger of Sedro-Woolley recently received an award for logging 50 hours in the American Quarter Horse Association Horseback Riding Program.

The program recognizes and rewards AQHA members for time spent with the horses in activities such as trail rides, working cattle, pleasure driving and simply riding.

Subsequent awards are presented at 100- to 5,000-hour levels, and range from merchandise gift certificates to a trophy belt buckle at the highest level.