Campout brings awareness
Jeff Conroy, director of St. Vincent dePaul, is on the front lines of providing services and referrals to those in need in our community. He sees things that both inspire and sadden him on a daily basis. On Saturday night Jeff, Commissioner Todd Tondee, Councilman Mike Kennedy, Dirne Health CEO Mike Baker and Cindy Wood of Family Promise walked a mile in the shoes of local homeless people, figuratively speaking.
For 12 hours they camped out in the rain and snow overnight at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, taking the time to get to know the stories behind the faces of the homeless of our community. I was moved by a Twitter post from Jeff as he packed up his gear and headed home on Sunday morning ... wet and cold and tired.
"Homeless Awareness campout coming to a close. Humbling. It's snowing & I can go home. They can't. Bad things happen to good people."
Only 7,898 kilometers. In the market place in front of the Herborn, Germany Mayorhouse a new distance sign featuring Post Falls has been added. Herborn is Post Falls' Associate City and the birthplace of town founder Frederick Post. Herborn Big Band Leader Erwin Gabriel shared a photo of the new sign that you can see on More Main Street.
The PFC Robert J. Gordon Veterans Memorial Plaza at Hayden City Hall features commemorative bricks honoring local veterans. Twice yearly there's an opportunity for the public to purchase and place a brick for a beloved veteran past or present. The city needs a minimum of 10 bricks ordered by April 15 to have them in place by Memorial Day. The $100 for each is used to maintain the memorial plaza. Contact Allison Cross at Hayden City Hall, 209-2027 for more details.
If we need some hope that summer is just around the corner, the West Slope BBQ Association is hosting a judges certification event on Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Porky G's on Northwest Boulevard. The public is invited to come down, talk to pitmasters, learn and share tips and see all the different pits while they cook competition quality food for certifying 30 new judges. What's not to love? www.westslopebbq.org
Today wish a happy birthday to Kathleen Perez. Tomorrow birthdays are being celebrated by Priscilla Baker, Chris Jones, Dave Holloway (50!), Joey Nowoj, Patrick Reagan and Shirley Christie. No April Fools... Payton Peugh, Ed Frazey, Steve Gibbs and Kim Haddock have birthdays on the first day of April. On Saturday Judi Messina, Dallon Pope, Beth Barclay, Taylor Hubor, Nell Gordon and Lee Periman will blow out the candles, and on Sunday Cindy Jordan is the birthday girl. Kathrynle Eachon shares her birth date with Duffy Taylor, Keith Hanlon, Marshal Meeks, Ann Fox, Toni Hackwith and Laura Keck on Monday. Sharon Stevenson, Kelli Hawkins, John Negaard, Gail Osterson and Sharon Wagner mark their April 5 birthdate on Tuesday.
THERE'S MORE: New stories and photos almost every day at More Main Street. There's a link on the right-hand rail for adding your birthday to the Main Street Birthday Club!
Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. She was voted Best Local Writer for 2011 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press. More Main Street blog is at http://moremainstreet.blogspot.com. Listen to Main Street Monday on KVNI AM1080. Kerri can be reached at mainstreet@cdapress.com.