Second Harvest helps 247 Mattawa area families
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 3 months AGO
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | July 12, 2016 6:00 AM
MATTAWA — Volunteers from Mattawa and throughout Grant County repackaged and distributed more than 9,000 pounds of food to needy families in the Mattawa area recently. It’s part of a series of monthly food distributions around the county, a partnership between Quincy-area data centers and 2nd Harvest, of Spokane.
The 35 volunteers repackaged and distributed 9,332 pounds of food, said Jack Eaton, project manager at Quincy’s Microsoft Columbia Data Center and the project organizer.
Volunteers came from the Mattawa Community Medical Clinic, Mattawa Food Bank and Grace Lutheran Church in Mattawa, as well as the OIC offices in Moses Lake and Yakima. Others volunteered from the Microsoft Data Center, Intuit Quincy Data Center and Schneider Electric Mission Critical Facilities, Dell Quincy Data Center.
The food went to families in Mattawa, Schawana, Beverly and Desert Aire and the surrounding area. It was donated by farmers, processors, wholesale and retail outlets and distributors throughout eastern Washington, Eaton said.
Distribution included apples, plums, potatoes and oranges, and canned crushed tomatoes, bread and milk, chicken broth and garbanzo beans. The food went to 247 households, about 1,053 people, Eaton said.
ARTICLES BY CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Warden man injured in tractor-trailer collision with train
BRUCE — A Warden man was transported to an out-of-area hospital after the tractor-trailer he was driving was hit by a train near Bruce at about noon Tuesday. "The extent of the driver's injuries is not known at this time," wrote Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner in a media release. "Preliminary information indicates the semi-truck was traveling above the speed limit and failed to obey posted requiring traffic to yield at the railroad crossing. The train was traveling at a slow speed," Wagner said. "He was moving. He wasn't stuck on the tracks," he said in an earlier interview.
Othello man arrested for Moses Lake attempted burglary
MOSES LAKE — An Othello man jumped into Moses Lake in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid Moses Lake Police Department officers last Friday. An MLPD media release issued Wednesday said Fernando Lira, 36, was booked into the Grant County Jail on suspicion of second-degree burglary in connection with the incident. Lira allegedly attempted to burglarize a business in the 600 block of East Broadway Friday morning. The business owner discovered him and chased him off the property, the release said.
Higher revenues, expenses projected in preliminary Moses Lake city budget
MOSES LAKE — While Moses Lake city officials have reduced expenses and revenues are projected to increase by about 7.9% in the city's preliminary budget, proposed expenditures are projected to go up by about 9.5%. Assistant City Manager James Richmond emphasized the preliminary budget presented earlier this month is not cast in stone. "The projected figures are not finalized. They are requests from departments based on projected 2027 operational costs. Largely, the figures are based on guidance from the city council during the financial sustainability plan analysis," Richmond wrote in answer to questions from the Columbia Basin Herald.