Kiwanis, Fred Meyer made Christmas best

Thanks to the kindness and generosity of the Kiwanis Club of Corvallis and the Corvallis Fred Meyer, particularly manager Courtney Myers and his staff, Christmas was a little brighter for the Trillium Children's Farm Home kids and Home Life residents.

Through the Kiwanis Christmas Gift Program, Kiwanis members contributed more than $1,000 and many Christmas presents toward the Children's Farm Home and Home Life over the holidays. Fred Meyer manager Myers was instrumental in helping us shop for additional gifts with our cash contributions. For many years he has been a Godsend to our successful program. He was able to lead us to bargains and special discounts. The Fred Meyer staff was also very helpful in locating the merchandise in the store that we were looking for.

The Kiwanis Christmas Gift Program reached its goal in fulfilling the Christmas wishes to these two important local, social service organizations and to their residents and clients.Thank you all for your kindness, generosity and your spirit of Christmas giving.

Jack Peters, Kiwanis Christmas Gift Program

Gillespie family grateful for help

Thank you to all those who contributed to the Papa's Pizza fundraiser for Kirk Gillespie on Dec. 8.

Kirk, Evan and I are very blessed to have so many caring friends and such a caring community! Your generosity is so greatly appreciated!

Abby Gillespie, Albany

Apples made homework so much sweeter

Wilson School would like to recognize Twedt's farms for its generous donation of apples to the Wilson Elementary School homework club for students who need a quiet environment to finish their homework and increase their reading fluency. The students love the apples and would like to publicly give Twedt's farms an A+ for supporting education. Thank you!

Claire Hauge, Danielle Belleque, Corvallis

Bus driver braved storms, snow

Dial-A Bus relies on the generosity of our volunteers and their time. During the inclement weather in December, we had to close or limit our operations because of the potential risks for our clients, volunteers and employees.

But one Friday when we were unable to operate as usual, one of our drivers with a four-wheel drive used his own vehicle to transport various clients to life-

sustaining medical appointments.

Bill Monsour is a dedicated and valued member of the Dial-A-Bus family, and we thank him again for his gracious act of kindness.

Linda Elder, Benton County Senior Citizens Dial-A-Bus

Children who most need it had holiday joy

The staff and board of directors of ABC House would like to thank all the generous members of our community who have helped make our mission of serving children who are suspected of being abused possible.

We want to thank Town and Country Realty for organizing the Touchdown for Toys drive along with the following supporters: OSU Federal Credit Union, Fidelity National Title, Samaritan Health Services, Allied Waste Services, the Corvallis Gazette-Times and Albany Democrat-

Herald, Timberhill Athletic Club, State Farm Insurance, The Toy Factory, Fred Meyer and Discovery Toys. The drive enables ABC House to provide more than 500 children each year a comfort item as a small gift of thanks for spending time with us.

I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year, filled with many blessings. We are fortunate to live in a community of such generosity.

Karen Scheler, ABC House

'Youth Yellow Pages' a community effort

Thank you to Samaritan Health Services for providing the financial support to print 825 copies of the latest edition of the Youth Yellow Pages booklet. We are also grateful to Core Communications for their professional services.

This is the 20th year that this small, pocket-sized, 75-page resource booklet has been provided free of charge to all seventh-graders in Benton County and to various agencies. Topics covered in the booklet include employment, drug and alcohol abuse, local bus services, dealing with depression and grief, abduction safety, eating disorders and educational and volunteer opportunities in the community.

Ten women volunteered their time and efforts to edit and update the booklet: Michelle Babbel, Deb Bynum, Ellie Erkkila, Carol Huntington, Nancy Leman, Joanne Malkin, Marilyn Marker, Dee-Anna Pennington, Susan Poole and Susan Watson. A big thanks to all who helped!

Alice Rampton, Youth Yellow Pages

Kiwanis grateful to Allied for compost

Thank you to Allied Waste for the many yards of compost they donated to the south Corvallis beautification project.

This site is the Blue Star Memorial Park just south of the Marys River bridge on Highway 99W that Kiwanis maintains in cooperation with the City of Corvallis and the state highway department. Winter is here, but already daffodils, irises and crocuses are coming up through the compost that enriches the soil and helps with weed control.

Thanks again to Allied Waste for helping Kiwanis make the south entrance to downtown Corvallis more attractive.

Dave Thomas, Kiwanis Club of Corvallis

Generous people made CARDV drive a success

Many thanks to everyone who made the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence's holiday gift drive a wonderful success! More than 25 individuals, groups and organizations donated toys, books and other gifts to 36 families with 89 children.

While we don't have space to list every donor, groups participated from First United Methodist Church, Church of the Good Samaritan, Lifespring Foursquare, First Church of God and First Congregational Church; Benton County Health Department, Soroptimist International, Comcast Cable, Altrusa of Lebanon, The Goddess Book Club, Allied Waste, Town and Country Realty and Gold Wing Motorcycle Club Chapter J.

Seven groups of Oregon State University employees and students also collected gifts for families. The adults and children fleeing violence who have sought shelter and support at CARDV are grateful for this generosity. These families are as thankful as I am to be part of a community that cares so profoundly about their safety and well-being.

Nancy J. O'Mara, CARDV

Ambulance crew's expertise saved a life

The family of Robert Bennett of Kings Valley would like to thank the Kings Valley first responders under the direction of April Fisher and the Corvallis ambulance and cath lab crews. They were literally lifesavers during my dad's recent heart attack, and greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Rex Bennett, Philomath