North Bend Giving Tree event robbed

Published 1:01 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

NORTH BEND – Volunteers arriving in the early morning hours at the Sallal Grange to distribute presents to the area’s less fortunate last week were greeted with an unwelcome holiday surprise: they’d been robbed.

“It makes you want to cry,” said event organizer Linda Bonner.

The past month has seen members of the Snoqualmie Valley Kiwanis Club gathering presents from local Giving Trees for their annual gift drive that finds local families “shopping” at the grange using a point system instead of money. On Thursday, Dec. 19, volunteers arrived early at the facility, located at 12912 432nd Ave. S.E., ready for the day ahead. They had spent long hours the day before preparing tables loaded with gifts for the first of two shopping days and were ready to serve 227 Valley families, including 850 kids.

What those volunteers discovered was that somebody had broken into the back door of the grange building and taken about $2,000 worth of merchandise that included clothes, watches, CDs and bike helmets. The Mountain View Baptist Church, which shares the facility with the grange, lost a sound system in the robbery.

“It broke my heart because of the work we’ve done,” said Bob Bonner. “They’re not going to receive as many gifts. It’s just a tear-jerker.”

For the complete story, pick up a copy of this week’s Valley Record