Campaign of hope
Local group set to help area families during holiday season
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Friday, November 28, 2008 10:40 AM PST
ONTARIO — With the country seemly entering a deep recession, the 38th annual Help Them To Hope campaign to aid the area’s less fortunate on both sides of the border may be the most important anti-poverty crusade by the organization ever.
The renowned area organization — still under the guidance of the two original program chairmen — is up and running for another Christmas season but the need this year is even greater than in the past.
So far, though, Help Them To Hope has received plenty of support in the form of donations from the community, organization co-chairman Gene Rhinehart said.
“The food drive is going pretty good,” Rhinehart said. Rhinehart added, though, a lot more food will be needed to fill all the boxes delivered to needy families across the area.
Food donations received during a recent Boy Scouts food drive filled 12 large boxes, and Seneca Foods in Payette donated 11 pallets of canned goods, Rhinehart said.
“That is still a small part of what is needed,” he said. His co-chair is Fran McLean. McLean is the retired publisher of the Argus Observer, and Rhinehart is retired as assistant publisher of the newspaper.
“We need cash,” Rhinehart said. In addition to the foodstuffs, clothes and toys that are donated by the public and businesses, the HTTH committee buys turkeys, milk, bread, flour, shortening and other staples. It will take several thousand dollars to purchase just the turkeys, Rhinehart said.
To held raise funds for the food drive, the HTTH committee is planning a garage sale and has already rounded up a lot of items for the event, including many pieces of office furniture and a large aquarium with equipment, Rhinehart said.
People who have things they could donate to the sale can call Rhinehart at (208) 452-3433 or McLean, (541) 889-8320.
People who want to make cash donations to HTTH can send money to Help Them To Hope c/o Lorna Cottier, Intermountain Community Bank, 98 S. Oregon St., Ontario, Or. 97914.
The HTTH effort is a truly region-wide.
“There are 17 communities that we go to,” Rhinehart said.
There are a lot of service clubs and organizations all over the area that contribute, he said, along with a large number of volunteers who help plan and organize the program, including collecting the food, helping sort food and making deliveries.
Inmate crews from Snake River Correctional Institution help sort and fill the food boxes.
Drop boxes for nonperishable food are available in Ontario, Weiser, Payette, Fruitland, New Plymouth, Nyssa and Vale. Giving tree locations are in Ontario, Weiser, Payette, New Plymouth, Adrian, Vale, Nyssa and Fruitland.
People can pick a specific name off a tree and purchase a gift for that person. Tags will have the first name of the person and age.
People who know of a person or family needing help are asked to call (541) 889-8657 or (208) 642-4436, 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, through Dec. 14.
