Kids Christmas in Hillyard

by Brooke Plastino

This Christmas over 500 children in the Hillyard community will receive presents due to the generosity and labors of a small group of un-sung heroes.

Kids Christmas in Hillyard will give away free Christmas presents to low-income families with children ages one to twelve, from December 12th to 23rd. The C.H.A.S Clinic, located in the Northeast Community Center, will register families and issue vouchers for the presents. The Hillyard branch of Bank of America, located at 3009 E Olympic, is the distribution center.  Parents can view and choose age and gender appropriate gifts for their children in the bank lobby Monday through Friday between 10 A.M and 5 P.M. Ribbon and wrapping paper are also provided.

It all began three years ago when Hillyard resident Clyde Decker was visiting his doctor at the C.H.A.S. Clinic. The director, Tenny Sanalli, mentioned to him that the clinic was collecting gifts for low-income families in the area and needed more toys. Christmas was only six days away.

Clyde called his sister, Bonny Tibbles, in Seattle. Bonnie and Clyde were raised near Hillyard in Spokane and although Bonnie left the community in 1952, she still considers Hillyard her home. A day later, via Western Union, she sent $100 to be spent on gifts.

Clyde and a local truck driver added some money, and then he went shopping for specials to stretch the money as far as possible. When it was all over 83 kids in 35 families had received Christmas presents.

Recognizing a need in the community, and with financial backing from Bonnie Tibbles and others on the West side of the state, Clyde began soliciting donations and collecting toys for Kids Christmas in Hillyard during the summer of 2004. When the presents began to accumulate, Bank of America branch manager Terry Rasmussen allowed Clyde to store them in some extra space at the bank.

In December the Christmas gifts were transported to the N.E.C.C. and a crew of sixteen volunteers spent an entire Saturday wrapping and sorting them into age and gender categories. Tenny Sanalli and her staff from the C.H.A.S. Clinic screened families for low-income eligibility and distributed over 300 Christmas gifts to children in the neighborhood.

Three weeks after last Christmas Mr. Decker began shopping for specials and collecting gifts for this years Kids Christmas in Hillyard. The goal in 2005 is to serve over 500 children in the Hillyard community. This has, for the most part, been made possible by a $1,100 donation by Clydes sister, Bonnie Tibbles. Robert Allen of Kirkland and Bonnie Roscoe of Linwood, Washington are also major donors to Kids Christmas in Hillyard toy fund. A number of $10 to $20 donations were collected from local businesses throughout the year and donation jars at the Hillyard Festival netted $11 in change donated to the Christmas fund.

Last October Bonnie Tibbles visited Spokane to attend a wedding and the Bank of America made special arrangements for her to view the collection of gifts Clyde had amassed for this Christmas. When she saw the shelves full of presents her reaction was, “Wow! It looks like Toys-R-Us”.

A subsequent working breakfast discussed the future needs for Kids Christmas in Hillyard in 2006 which resulted in a decision to duplicate 2005 numbers.

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