Thursday, September 25, 2008

Rest Stop Fundraiser Nets $600!


Saturday and Sunday, September 13th and 14th, members of Eastern Washington Genealogical Society manned the free coffee station at the Eastbound Sprague Lake rest stop along Interstate 90, about 40 miles west of Spokane. Supplied with gallons of coffee and tens of dozens of cookies, the volunteers brought in over $600 in donations that weekend! It was a great opportunity to meet with people from not just all over the Inland Empire, but from around the world as well. Canada, England, and Vienna, Austria were just some of the home countries of the international travelers we met! Questions about genealogy and family history and about our society were answered, and people were invited to either attend one of our own meetings or to contact their local public library to discover where a genealogical society in their home town meets.


Miriam Robbins Midkiff would like to publicly thank the following individuals who volunteered in some capacity or another, whether it was purchasing or baking cookies and/or manning the station, or contributing financially toward the supplies that needed to be purchased for this fundraiser to take place:

Bill Ailes
Pat Bayonne-Johnson
Susan Beamer
Janette Birch
Dianne Bongarts
Janice Bueckers
Sharon Clark
Mary Clinton
Jeanne Coe
Nancy Denton
Pat Ewers
Gerry Gosche
Charles Hansen
Bill Hire
Inez Hodges
Gladys Johnson
Cecily Kelly
Mary Leske
Juanita McBride
Lola McCreary
Ruby McNeill
Norm Midkiff
Pat Mielbrecht
Darlinda and Rod Ramer
Edith Rustemeyer
Eileen Schultz
P.J. Sisseck
Gary Taylor
Bette Topp
Peggy Wilmering

We have such a wonderful group of caring people who are so willing to give of their time and money to keep our society growing!

2 comments:

Kathryn Doyle said...

Miriam,
Wow! Talk about thinking outside the box! What an original way to educate folks about genealogical societies and do some fundraising at the same time. Hats off to the members who thought up this idea. I hope you will post some background on this event. Have you done this sort of thing before?

Miriam Robbins said...

Kathryn, it is part of the Washington State Department of Transportation's program to keep drivers alert and alive by allowing non-profit groups to provide free coffee (and certain baked goods, if desired) at rest stops along the interstate and state highways. Donations are allowed to be accepted. Read more here.

This was the second rest stop fundraiser I participated in (and coordinated). EWGS has been doing this for many years now.