Charity makes every dollar count - Christmas House of Everet

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Charity makes every dollar count - Christmas House of Everett keeps its expenses down so it can help more people have a happy holiday.
By David Chircop - Herald Writer
Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - Herald Net - heraldnet.com/





EVERETT - Stacey Brown-Wilson waited for nine hours in the early morning cold so her kids could have a nice Christmas this year.

Things haven't always been so desperate for the Everett mother of four, who will begin radiation treatments for brain tumors next month.

"This is weird for me," she said, standing in a snaking line outside the Boys & Girls Club gym in north Everett last week. "I'm usually the one who gives."

For two weeks this month, nearly 3,000 low-income parents from Snohomish County will spend hours in the cold and rain for a chance to provide for their children.

Christmas is traditionally a time for giving, but for parents struggling to make ends meet, it can be emotionally draining.

Christmas House, a holiday charity that operates in Everett, opened its doors Friday for the 26th season. It will give toys to hundreds of poor families until Dec. 23.

The charity has given back an average of 99 cents for every dollar it raised during the past five years, according to state records.

"To put smiles on children's faces on Christmas morning and to know that we're doing that is truly wonderful," said Rick Kvangnes, president of Christmas House.

Brown-Wilson, 42, had a well-paying career as an escrow closer before being sidelined by brain tumors last year.

Now going through a divorce, she uses her meager disability payments to cover medical costs not paid by Medicare.

Once her income and other personal information were verified by Christmas House volunteers, Brown-Wilson was escorted with a shopping cart through a maze of tables stacked with new toys.

It's a charity Joel Woods happily supports.

"We like the fact that we're allowing the parents to maintain their dignity and give to their own kids," the retired Everett information technology director said.

His motorcycle club, Gold Wing Touring Association, Evergreen Wings chapter, donated $1,500 to the nonprofit in July.

The club previously adopted families at Christmas, but decided that being showered with gifts from strangers could be overwhelming.

Lynnwood-based City Bank is the largest single donor to Christmas House, giving over the past five years a total of $130,000 for new bicycles. The money came from employee contributions matched by the bank's charity fund.

Conrad Hanson, the bank's CEO, didn't have a bike growing up and has supported the Kids on Wheels program to give others an opportunity that he never had, a bank spokesman said.

City Bank's donations will pay for about 400 bikes this year. An additional 100 bikes were given by Sharing Wheels, an Everett charity that provides used bikes for low-income people.

"We try to get everything free first, before we spend a penny," said Kvangnes, who is general manager of Judd & Black.

One board member offers the use of a large barn on her Lake Stevens property. Another, in Snohomish, lends the use of a 40-foot cargo container.

The organization has no paid staff. Tax preparation, printing and advertising are all donated. Rent is also free.

A phone line and insurance are the only major expenses.

The charity also saves money by making purchases at clearance sales.

That resourcefulness gives 87-year-old retired hairdresser Ralph Maxwell of Marysville confidence.

Maxwell and his wife started donating winter coats and making monthly cash contributions after his grandson volunteered for the group several years ago.

"I was tired of contributing to charities where 75 percent goes to make some cat fat," said Maxwell, who came up hard during the Great Depression and remembers Christmases when there wasn't enough to eat.

"And times are tough for people today," he said. "There's a lot of working poor out there."

Last year, Christmas House gave blankets, clothes, toys and other gifts to more than 7,600 infants, children and teens countywide.

The charity is under a five-year agreement to operate out of the Boys & Girls Club in Everett's Delta neighborhood.

Many of those it helps live in some of the neighborhood's 700 public housing units.

In 2005, it netted $124,000 in cash donations. That's nearly 29 times the budget it operated under in the late 1980s.

Pam Sorenson, vice president and longtime volunteer, said accountability is key to the charity's success.

"We do have rules, and I think the community trusts us that we are doing the best that we can with the items they donate," she said.

Each person seeking gifts has to prove they meet income requirements, are custodial parents of a child under 18 and a county resident.

Income guidelines are based on the federal poverty line. To qualify, a single parent with two kids would have to earn less than $25,000 a year.

Last year, Christmas House started using a custom computer program to streamline the screening process and ensure that people only receive gifts once a year.

The change frees volunteers from thumbing through paper records. And the software? That was donated, too.

Brown-Wilson got in line at 3:30 a.m. She started collecting gifts about noon. By the time she crossed under a Nativity scene perched atop a basketball hoop, the Boys & Girls club gym resembled a bustling Christmas-themed bazaar.

Christmas tunes played on a stereo. Volunteers loaded tables and shopping carts with new toys.

Getting to that point took a lot of work.

The previous Sunday, more than 100 volunteers pumped soccer balls with air, assembled tricycles and unpacked mountains of boxes.

An estimated 700 people will give their time to Christmas House this year.

Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy in Chicago, said the good deeds deserve recognition but do little to combat poverty.

"Giving toys to a needy child is heartwarming," he said. "But what good are toys when you can't pay your heating bill?"

People who donate to the Christmas House should also consider charities that help struggling families all year, Borochoff said.

The charity is adapting to a change, serving a growing number of Muslim children from Everett's Iraqi community as well as recent Latino, Russian and Ukrainian immigrants.

Informational fliers are printed in Spanish, Russian and Arabic, and translators from Everett Community College also help.

As Brown-Wilson approached the last table of household goods, her shopping cart brimmed with gifts. A bubbly volunteer gave an understanding smile.

Jeanne Twombly, 33, turned to Christmas House for help when she was struggling a few years ago.

Twombly, who was 9-months pregnant at the time, said the help brought her tears of joy, something she won't soon forget.

If circumstances improve, Brown-Wilson said she would like to give back to Christmas House.

"I don't like to ask for help," she said after a volunteer gave her a hug and loaded her black sedan with gifts. "But my kids are going to be happy. And they are the most important thing to me."