Benefactors large, small pitch in for Red Cross

Flathead Valley residents have been generous and innovative in their donations to the Red Cross to help Hurricane Katrina victims.

"I'm absolutely overwhelmed," said Gayle Wilhelm, director of the Kalispell Service Center. "Donations have been phenomenal."

They included $3,882 (and 47 cents) from Edgerton School's "Pennies from Heaven" fund-raiser in Kalispell.

Hedges school's fourth-grade class brought in $187.20 and Elrod School raised $825.94.

More pennies were collected at Smith Valley School, which contributed $167.82, and Bigfork Elementary and Middle School raised about $630.

It isn't just schools. Businesses and individuals have donated from $5 to thousands of dollars, Wilhelm said.

Among the donors is J.B. Schnee-West, who used his seventh birthday party as a way to collect $107.

His mother, Susan Schnee, said she and her son had "been talking about the hurricane and what the Red Cross does," and the boy decided that instead of gifts for him, his birthday party should be about donations to people who need it.

"It wasn't my idea," Schnee said.

Parents of Schnee-West's guests brought contributions for the food bank and the Red Cross.

In other examples of generosity:

-Montana Coffee Traders collected $2,032 from coin drops and coffee sales.

-North Valley Hospital matched employee contributions to donate $5,560, Wilhelm said.

-And La Provence restaurant in Bigfork raised more than $12,000 in a reprise of a successful fund-raiser for 9/11 victims.

A couple of weeks ago, the restaurant opened its doors to three seatings for a three-course meal. Staff members volunteered their time and other volunteers showed up to wash dishes or wait tables.

Outside the restaurant, bottles of wine sold for $25 and diners paid that optional cost and $30 per dinner directly to the Red Cross. Additional contributions also were taken.

Pacific Seafood, Rocky Mountain Steaks from Missoula, and Rocky Mountain Wine and George's wine distributors contributed to the event.

More than 300 people came, La Provence owner Marc Guizol said.

"They could go and have dinner and feel like they could help a little bit," he said.

Wilhelm, who took over as director of the local Red Cross just three weeks ago, said she's been thrilled by donations like that.

She hopes residents remember that local services, too, are entirely funded by donations.

As residents nationwide open their checkbooks to help hurricane victims and disaster-relief efforts from the earthquake in Pakistan, local Red Cross offices are struggling to gather enough donations to keep their offices operating.

"We also run on donated dollars," Wilhelm said.

Contributions to the local office provide assistance to families when a house burns down, as well as services such as classes in CPR, baby sitting, and water safety. The office responded to an average of three family disasters a week last year and trained 800 people in different areas.

"Our van is broken down," Wilhelm said Tuesday, and because the office receives no government subsidies, it relies on contributions for things such as repairs.

While national and international events are making news, she reminds residents, "We always need volunteers to help out locally and donations to the local chapter so we can keep the services available for our community."

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com