Addis steps up to help again

Another year, another $5,000 from Tom and Jim Addis at Lake City Ford.

Yes, they give year after year, and no, it’s never taken for granted.

In this, Press Christmas For All’s 30th anniversary, Tom Addis and his team can take an extra bow. Outside the Hagadone Corp., Tom is the only Christmas for All donor who has contributed every single year since 1985. His first gift? A bunch of red bicycles for local children facing the grim prospect of no Christmas presents.

Addis said that not long ago he had the pleasure of meeting with Duane Hagadone and a gentleman known around here only as Anonymous in Athol.

“Duane said we’re the two biggest donors in the program’s history,” Addis said Wednesday, “and I’m very proud of that.”

Addis has been there from the beginning of the current iteration of Press Christmas for All, but the holiday charity goes back even further.

On Dec. 12, 1980, local couple Mae and Larry Hanley were the subject of a five-paragraph story in this newspaper. The Hanleys asked readers to contact them if they had any gifts, toys, food or money to contribute to a program they decided to call Christmas for All. Their intended beneficiary was a neighbor lady who had nothing for her family at Christmas.

While the Hanleys gave Christmas for All its start — they raised something like $150 that first year, according to Press archives — local churches got involved and the program grew a little more. But it hit a low ceiling, and former Press executive Bob Paulos and owner Duane Hagadone brainstormed to see how they might help it expand. That was 30 years ago and now, almost $4 million later, many thousands of needy Kootenai County residents have had their holiday prayers answered.

Please join the fun. With just one week left of fundraising for the 2015 campaign, we need your help. Send your tax-deductible check to Press Christmas for All, 215 N. Second St., Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814, or call (208) 664-8176 and make a secure credit card donation by phone.