Community supports Villarreal family
Jonda Spurbeck/Columbia Basin HeraldFrontier Middle School students Bailey Jasper, Briana Valdez and Nicole Reich plan to raise money for the Villareal family with a bake sale during a benefit Saturday.
MOSES LAKE - Moses Lake resident Sara Villarreal and her 1-year-old son are getting community support after a house fire left three family members dead.
Fund-raising efforts include a benefit and bake sale Saturday and a rummage sale Nov. 3.
Daniel Villarreal, 28, Dante Beltran, 7, and Natalie Beltran, 5, died in the Sept. 29 fire in their home on Moon Drive in Moses Lake.
The benefit and bake sale are Saturday at Sinkiuse Square in Moses Lake, from 11 a.m. to roughly 2 p.m., depending on attendance. Rollin Thunder Motorcycle Ministries is hosting the benefit, which includes a hot dog lunch for a $3 suggested donation and a hamburger lunch for a $5 suggested donation.
Moses Lake band The Gear Jammers are providing entertainment.
Proceeds from the event go to the Villarreal family.
"Our group just decided that that would be a good ministry and a good community service," said Rollin Thunder M/M member Ed Baxter, who helped plan the event.
Frontier Middle School seventh-grade students Bailey Jasper, Nicole Reich and Briana Valdez are selling baked goods from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the benefit, with all proceeds going to the Villarreal family.
Social studies teacher Karin Olson said the students chose to host the bake sale for their service learning project. The projects are intended to cultivate a caring community inside and outside the classroom, Olson said.
"We wanted to help the mother and son start a new life," said Reich, who was a neighbor to the family.
The students said their goal is to raise at least $100 with the sale of cookies, brownies, cupcakes and cake. Their families are helping them out.
"They're going to be supplying the ingredients," Valdez said.
Jasper said she believes they can reach their goal.
"I think we should (be able to), because this family was really important to a whole bunch of people," she said.
Rummage sale
On Saturday, Nov. 3, a group of community members are hosting a rummage sale for the Villarreal family.
The sale is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Moses Lake.
Sarah Schutt, who came up with the idea for the rummage sale, said the response from the community has been positive. Organizers are collecting new and gently used items for the sale and for the Villarreal family.
Before the rummage sale, Sara Villarreal is going to take any items she can use, Schutt said.
Schutt is a friend of Sara Villarreal and former co-worker.
Donors can arrange for pickup or drop off of items. They can be dropped off Friday, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church. The church is located at 200 N. Dale Road in Moses Lake.
For more information, contact Sarah Schutt at 509-398-1800.