Nancy Getch, Mary Zoe Petersen, Peggy Supplee and other Soroptimists help compile gift baskets for the SnowCap Community Charities fundraiser every year.
A mention was made during the service club’s meeting before the Feb. 7 event that only 85 of the $50 tickets had been sold. Members mumbled about the bad economy — but then joked about the good deals people would probably get on the 300-plus auction items. But the seventh-annual event was a sellout, with 302 attending the buffet dinner and silent and oral auctions. Judy Alley, SnowCap executive director, said they collected a record $68,000 — more than $20,000 over last year’s total. SnowCap is a philanthropic organization created more than 40 years ago to provide food, clothing, advocacy and other services to low-income residents in east Multnomah County. Proceeds will be used to continue its programs for needy families and individuals, including food boxes distributed at the agency’s main office, delivery of food boxes to elderly and shut-ins, summertime community garden plots, children’s clothes closet, English language instruction and other advocacy services. In 2008, the agency provided 31,000 food baskets (a 15 percent increase), 11,400 items of children’s clothing, school supplies for 1,600 students and more than 3,300 children’s books.
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