Friday, June 6, 2008

Zoo Tunes is Coming!


The popular Zoo Tunes concert series is coming up. And what better way to enjoy this popular Summer concert series than FREE TICKETS from Clothes for Kids? Click on the ad to the left, print it out, and send it in to enter.

Oh, and if the tickets weren't enough to get your attention, our friends at the Maddox Grill in Lynnwood are adding a picnic meal.

For more information on Zoo Tunes, visit their website here: http://www.zoo.org/zootunes/index.html

Local Partner Makes Global Impact

By Jarucia Jaycox Nirula

May of last year was the first time I heard of World Vision.

Our then brand new executive director, Mark Smith, announced during the May board meeting that he’d met with Jim Peterson, local storehouse manager for World Vision, in order to strike up a partnership. In our community, the Federal Way based organization provides, among other things, school supplies for those whose budgets don’t stretch far enough to cover this basic educational requirement.

Due to World Vision’s distribution location and hours, however, many of those qualifying for this assistance were not able to actually benefit from it. This is where Clothes for Kids stepped in, by offering to act a as a local distributor. Many of the same families who’d visit World Vision for supplies come to our shop for clothing. This partnership saves the families a trip and ensures they receive the full benefit of both services.

World Vision recently blipped on my radar again during the aftermath of Cyclone Nagris in Myanmar (formally know as Burma). Amidst distressing reports of Myanmar’s political regime denying access to most foreign assistance, I heard the name “World Vision” as one of the very few humanitarian organizations able to offer help. Having had a standing presence in the country, World Vision staffers were some of the very first international aid workers allowed to travel beyond Rangoon to the hardest hit areas of the Irrawaddy Delta.

When I first about World Vision (again!) I thought, “No this can’t be our World Vision.” Sure enough it was, though. I reflected on just how small one’s world can seem at times when looking no further than to the edges of one’s community or region. Yet here we are members of global community, where the generosity of one local non-profit compliments another and at the same time reaches to the other side of the globe to benefit those in the direst of emergent situations.