So six different local charities will benefit from county employees' generosity this holiday.
Normally, Missoula County employees who work on the second floor of the County Courthouse Annex do a small gift exchange during the holidays.
Already, Missoula County collects food for the Missoula Food Bank and presents for Toys for Tots.
Dale Bickell, former member of the Missoula Food Bank board and the county's chief financial officer, said the county has been collecting cans of food during the holidays for at least five years - as much as 500 pounds per year.
There's more.
Debbie Gross, a technician in the county auditor's office, likes to pick up pennies off the street and in parking lots. A year ago in January, she started a coin collection in a small glass jar on her office desk.
Gross challenged other county employees to add to the collection or to start their own. She promised to triple the amount of money collected in the auditor's coin jar at the end of the year.
People unloaded pockets of loose change and scavenged meeting-room floors. Curtiss contributed a huge jar of coins she'd been saving at home. It totaled $51.87, more than Gross can probably triple - but outside the rules anyway.
Now proceeds from the coin collection will go to Law Enforcement Youth Camp, which is operated by the Missoula County Sheriff's Office. The camp serves between 80 and 100 kids each summer. Law enforcement officers teach campers how to be good citizens, in between the usual summer camp activities.
Gross picked the Law Enforcement Youth Camp because it's sponsored by a county agency. Right now, her coin jar has yielded $9.47. In a week or so, she will take a check for $28.41 to the sheriff's office.
“It's not a lot, but it's more money than they had before,” she said. “If it's not our money to begin with, why not donate it someplace else?”
But wait. There's more.
Near Gross' desk is a beautiful multicolored quilt on display. The county is raffling it off and donating the money to the Carole A. Graham Home in Missoula, which offers residential treatment to women with chemical dependency problems, and to the Watson Children's Shelter, a place for abused and neglected children.
The county has sold hundreds of raffle tickets, which are three for $1 or 50 cents each. The quilt will be raffled Wednesday.
Reporter Chelsi Moy can be reached at 523-5260 or at Chelsi.Moy@Missoulian.com.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)