Local Briefs
Free lunch for veterans offered May 25
The seventh annual Vernon Baker Memorial Day Free Lunch for Veterans will take place Monday, May 25.
Participating are each of the Capone's restaurants in Coeur d'Alene, Hayden and Post Falls; as well as Michael D's Eatery and Mid-City Pub in Coeur d'Alene.
Eric Soles, one of the organizers, is reaching out again to the community for support for the event and to local veterans, to invite them to participate.
"Thank you to this wonderful community for the past six years of support on this," Soles said.
Active duty and prior military service members, regardless of protected veteran status, are eligible to eat for free with proof of military service.
Monetary donations, which will be given to the participating restaurants to help defray the cost, are being sought.
Tax-deductible donations can be made out to VFW Post 889 with "Veterans Lunch" in the memo and mailed to event organizers at Memorial Day Lunch, c/o Eric Soles at PO Box 471 Bayview, ID 83803. RSVPs will not be required this year, but times and other details will follow or check out the Vernon Baker Memorial Day Lunch for Veterans page on Facebook for updates.
Postal Food Drive is Saturday
COEUR d'ALENE - Don't forget the National Postal Food Drive that will be held Saturday.
All across the country, U.S. Postal Service carriers will be collecting for local food banks during their rounds on Saturday.
Some residents may have received grocery bags and post cards in the mail recently to remind them to set out a couple of food items at their mail box, and the carriers will collect them Saturday.
In years past, the postal workers collected more than 30,000 pounds of food that was distributed to local food banks through the Community Action Partnership.
Last year, however, they only collected about a third of that amount. They are hoping people will remember to donate this time. They have also placed bins for food donations in the Super 1 Foods and Albertsons grocery stores in Hayden and Coeur d'Alene.
Carolyn Shewfelt, food bank program manager for the Community Action Partnership, also wanted to remind Kootenai County residents that the food banks do accept fresh garden produce. She encourages all gardeners to plant an extra row of vegetables for the food bank.