The best things in life are free
<p>Convoy of Hope volunteer Easlyn Johnson, 13, right, helps Bella Wachtel, 2, left and Tasha Wachtel, 11, pick out a pair of shoes at the children’s shoes tent at the North Idaho Convoy of Hope event on Saturday afternoon. Each child received one free pair of shoes at the event. Convoy of Hope volunteer Easlyn Johnson, 13, right, helps Bella Wachtel, 2, left and Tasha Wachtel, 11, pick out a pair of shoes at the children’s shoes tent at the North Idaho Convoy of Hope event on Saturday afternoon. Each child received one free pair of shoes at the event.</p>
<p>Julieanna Carla, 5, slides down one of the jump houses inside the Kids Zone, a service provided by the North Idaho Convoy of Hope at their North Idaho event. Julieanna Carla, 5, slides down one of the jump houses inside the Kids Zone, a service provided by the North Idaho Convoy of Hope at their North Idaho event.</p>
<p>Convoy of Hope volunteer Beverly Burkhalter manages the kids table inside the connection tent at the North Idaho Convoy of Hope event. Guests who attended the event received free groceries, shoes, a haircut, health and dental services, job services, lunch and family portraits. Convoy of Hope volunteer Beverly Burkhalter manages the kids table inside the connection tent at the North Idaho Convoy of Hope event. Guests who attended the event received free groceries, shoes, a haircut, health and dental services, job services, lunch and family portraits.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - The first North Idaho Day of Hope at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds really put the "unity" back in "community."
With blue shirts and beaming smiles, more than 1,100 volunteers greeted, assisted and visited with guests and their families Saturday as they stopped at different stations to receive food, clothing, services and other items at no cost. People went this way and that as live music played and the joyful sound of children's laughter could be heard everywhere in the bustling thoroughfare.
"We hope it's the beginning of something very beautiful," said Rodney Wright of Coeur d'Alene, who worked as a connection team leader.
Nearly 80 organizations and businesses in the community donated money, items or were on site to provide free items and services, ranging from pregnancy tests, job counseling and haircuts to family portraits, dental care and bags of groceries, all with no questions asked. More than 5,000 people came through, including Rathdrum resident Phyllis Lafollette and her son, Jacob, 11. Phyllis is a member of Guardians of the Children, an organization that helps children who have experienced abuse. She said she heard about the event through the newspaper and the Rathdrum Chamber of Commerce.
"They said it was about the kids, so we decided to come out and did not know it was to help people and families that need shoes and need school supplies," she said. "It was absolutely amazing. Absolutely amazing. We tried to hit all the booths and see exactly what was going on. The people were amazingly wonderful."
She said she was introduced to local resources and contacts who could provide low-cost or free services such as female health screenings and support for kids.
The Day of Hope also provided many activities and fun stuff for wee ones, such as games, balloon animals and a large play area.
"It's pretty cool," Jacob said. "They're nice, everybody's nice. I think it's pretty cool."
"It was very organized," Phyllis said.
Convoy of Hope, an international, faith-based organization, donated about 35,000 pounds of food to the event.
"What I love about this is that our community all comes together," Wright said. "Nonprofits, businesses, city, county, school districts passing out fliers, churches, everybody says, 'Let's all get together and see what we can do to help.'"
He said the event surpassed the expectations of reaching 4,000 people as the gates had to close early to be sure each person received groceries.
"You know this is a benevolent community. I love Coeur d'Alene," he said. "What's beautiful about Day of Hope is it just gets us all working together."
The event took 50 people about one year to plan. Wright said more than 1,600 pairs of kids' shoes were given out during the event as well as school supplies provided by the City of Coeur d'Alene and Mayor Steve Widmyer.
"They went through school supplies like crazy here today," Wright said. "They said, 'We want to pay for them, it's what we want to do for the city.' The generosity, the churches that said, 'Here's not just money, but here's volunteers.'"
"We don't want to have just one day, we want relationships happening," Wright continued. "There is need. There is a lot of need in this community, like our Coeur d'Alene Backpack Program, they're aware of how many people in our school system take free and reduced lunch ... we just want to partner so that we're all working together and there's a greater sense of unity in our community. That's our heartbeat."