A new year has started and we can be pleased with the work we’ve done in supporting the Totes to Go program throughout 2024. Totes provides food for weekends when school meals aren’t available to students. We know that hungry kids can’t learn well, so we help to ensure weekend nutrition for kids who are at risk of missing meals. We deliver items each month throughout the school year.
We have a number of “scheduled” donors who have signed up to bring the same items each month. Sometime after the 15th of the month, I send out a message listing the items we still need. Want to help? Watch for those e-mails and pick up some items we need. Or you might choose to make a financial contribution (WUUC with Totes on the memo line or envelope). Also, usually on the last Sunday of the month, I can use help loading everything into my car.
Questions or comments? See me, Grace Simons or John Hartman, co-coordinators.
WUUC has donated to the Maltby Food Bank for many years, and there is a grocery cart in the church lobby for your donations. Please do what you can to support the less fortunate folk in the largely underserved area of South Snohomish region.
Winter is a time of higher need for many, particularly those who are in outdoor work – construction, landscaping, house paining etc. as well as for folks struggling for warmth in cold weather, and all the additional costs of the Winter and the winter holidays. Many people in poverty experience their hardest times during these times.
Maltby Food Bank also experiences a decrease in donations in Jan/Feb, after holiday food drives and outreach have played out. In January the needs go up, and donations go down. Let’s do what we can!
High Needs always include:
Hearty, easy main dish options (boxes/cans)
Peanut Butter AND JAM.
Tuna and other canned meats & legumes
Canned veggies
Pasta sauces of any type
Specialty food for allergies/intolerances like gluten-free, sugar-free, peanut free etc.
Crackers, cookies, easy treats
Toddler Sized Diapers
Feminine Hygiene Products
Personal toiletries; soap, shampoo, shaving needs etc
Household cleaning products; Laundry products, cleaners etc.
One of my personal ongoing efforts is to buy and donate items on buy-one, get-one deals of products I’m already getting for my own use. Or donate portions of the Costco multi-pack items I use.
WUUC also has a thriving donation program with Totes to Go! There are many ways to help others each in our own way, at our own level, and pace.
THANK YOU from all the folks who benefit from our support, large and small.
PS – I’m delighted to report I’ve had very good response to my request for new volunteers for WUUC food bank efforts. By next month we will have a new name as contact for this work.
If you shop at Fred Meyer, you can support donations to WUUC through their Community Rewards Program. To participate in the program, you need to register your Fred Meyer loyalty card and designate WUUC as your non-profit of choice. You must re-designate WUUC as your community rewards partner every June to keep participating.
Fred Meyer doesn’t donate a particular percentage of what you spend. Instead, the company has set aside a set amount per quarter, to be divided amongst registered non-profits in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, according to how much supporters have spent.
To participate, go to www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards. You’ll be asked to create an account with your e-mail address and a password, and to register your loyalty card and associated phone number. Then you select WUUC as your non-profit by entering either our number, 93846, or the name of the church.
Then you just shop as usual, presenting your card or entering your phone number. You’ll continue earning your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Rebates.
Your BAG committee has been using your reserve account to good use this summer and fall. Come in the back door and you’ll see a new concrete walkway. No more repairs and staining the worn cedar there. To your left, atop Portable 1 is a new one piece rubber roof. Turns out the slope of the roof lets conventional shingles leak. P2 is steeper, no new roof needed. Lastly check out the windows at the second level of Deitzler Hall. A number of windows that leaked water vapor between the dual panes have been replaced and well as May’s window in the office. Next up, replaciing the electric lights control panel.
A reminder, our building will be 25 years old this coming year.
Marilyn was raised in California and moved to WA state with husband Randall in the early 70’s. We have two grown children Allison and Robert. Before retiring, Marilyn was a Home Health Occupational Therapist for Evergreen Health covering the Snoqualimie Valley. Marilyn enjoys gardening for polinators, caring for the humming birds, weaving, playing with Cali our very spoiled cat. We live on beautiful Lake Margaret in Duvall.
Ben Lu
Ben moved from Silicon Valley in California to Lake Sammamish in Washington this spring. He has no regrets about leaving the hectic pace of tech startups to spend more time hiking with his parents, taking care of his cat and dog, and exploring a more spiritual side of life. Ben enjoys books, games, hikes, bikes, cooking, climbing, and most recently getting way too obsessed with disc golf.
Toren Koppenol
Toren is a self-trained mathematician in the field of foundational systems and schematic spaces for developed theories. He enjoys philosophy, physics, game design, world religions, poetry, Zelda, and teaching. Toren volunteers in the religious education for children classroom.
