Sisters comes through for Christmas

The Sisters community rallied at the last minute to provide Christmas gifts for more than 100 Sisters area children.

Sisters area residents and businesses have donated toys, clothing and money to the children’s Christmas fund of the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District.

“This has been an outstanding response to our appeal for contributions,” said Fire Chief Taylor Robertson.

“A week ago, I was getting worried how we would meet the need,” said district fire marshal Dave Wheeler. “We still had about 119 kids to provide toys for and our cash donations also were down. Then, we put out an appeal to the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce and their response was wonderful.”

Over $7,500 in cash donations were received, with several $1,000 checks provided by individuals. Many businesses brought in toys and other gifts. Haken Professional contributed toys and a large quantity of their cosmetic products for older children. Deri Frazee brought in toys and $40 in cash collected through her special offer of a discounted beverage for toys brought to her Bright Spot Juice & Java. Oregon Department of Transportation personnel contributed large toy trucks.

Sisters High School Key Club, Sisters Middle School and Sisters Movie House also brought in gifts. Individuals who selected tags on a Christmas tree at Ray’s Food Place purchased clothing gifts for the children.

Wheeler is trying to solve one mystery. With the toys from the schools came two necklaces in small cloth bags. Each had a name of the recipient. One was from “Grandpa and Grandma” and the other from “Mom and Dad.” If these gifts were intended for a family member instead of someone else, they can be reclaimed by contacting Wheeler at the fire hall.

Cash donations will be used to purchase toys needed to fill out the need. Volunteer shoppers will be Susan Houck, Julie Spor, Debra Crawford, Paul and Gary Lovegren, and Terri and Kiersten Brown.

“We are still accepting contributions and cash donations at this time,” Wheeler added.

Checks can be made out to the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District. Contributions may be left at the fire hall at 301 S. Elm St.

“The quantity of toys is still down some from previous years, but we will have enough and the quality and variety is much better this year,” Wheeler said.

By the early part of this week the fire hall conference room was filled with toys. Volunteers were busy Monday evening packaging the toys for delivery to local families before the weekend.

In the past the district has relied on the Portland Fire Bureau for support of the toy drive. This year, donations and warehouse inventory were way down.