Dear Editor:

I would like to recognize what a wonderful afternoon our family had at the Elma Easter Egg Hunt and Food Drive on March 31 at the Grays Harbor County Fairgrounds and Event Center.

As Grandparents we drove from Lewis County to join the festivities with our family that live in Elma. The fairgrounds were clean and parking was easy to maneuver. We were surprised at what a wonderful turnout there was for such a small community.

We got there about 10 minutes prior to the commencement of the event. As we approached the entrance, we noticed that Bayview had donated a truck for the local food drive and there was a volunteer taking food donations. My daughter-in-law approached the truck with her bag of items and we continued into the event area to locate the age group for our two grandboys. My husband and I followed, both looking at one another in amazement, at the lack of food drive donations in the truck.

At a generous glance there were maybe eight bags of food. We looked at each other dumbfounded by the lack of donations, looked at the significant participation to the event and spoke briefly. My husband left the family and returned to the Bayview truck volunteer. He stated to the volunteer, “Please tell me this is your second truck.” Much to our dismay it was not. The volunteer did tell him that she had received some cash donations.

All of the children were so excited and well behaved. The hunt commenced and smiles were in abundance. One of our grandsons even won a prize basket. The community volunteers were so cheerful and nice. As we walked to the car we found an opportunity to engage our grandboys in discussion about what it took to put on such an event and the importance of community giving.

We talked about the significance of donations and the role of local food banks in small communities. We explained how many people and businesses donate the candy and prizes so that they can have a special day. Community involvement needs to start when our youth are young.

I think our grandboys were very proud to have brought a donation and to learn that it could make a difference for another family.

I have been to many Easter Egg Hunts over the years, this was organized and laid out well.

Hats off to the Elma VFW Auxiliary for the time and money they contributed to planning a successful community event. Special thank you to the many businesses for their time and donations to support a local family activity. Also to the Grays Harbor Fairgrounds for donating the event center.

Sincerely,

Kevin and Sandy Short

Lewis County grandparents