Volunteers make Christmas brighter for foster care kids

EPHRATA - About 140 foster children in Grant County got their own Christmas stocking, with the help of a lot of volunteers, from a class at Big Bend Community College to the crew at the Grant County Courthouse.

"We have had the most amazing outpouring from the Moses Lake and Ephrata areas," Teresa Wyman, one of the county's two guardians ad litem, said. The guardian ad litem visits children in foster care, "and we advocate at court on their behalf," Wyman said.

Their work is supplemented by volunteers, called court-appointed special advocates (CASA). They too visit children in foster care and they can go into court and act as a child's advocate, Wyman said.

This is the second year of the Christmas stocking drive, with the goal of filling a stocking for as many foster kids as possible, Wyman said.

Volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints made the stockings, she said. Wyman added some information about the age and gender of the children, and other volunteers took it from there.

The Grant County Courthouse Employees Association donated $500 for the stockings, and another $500 for a separate project, to buy pajamas for all foster kids. Employees at the Grant County Juvenile Department filled stockings, and so did employees in the special education department of the Moses Lake School District. Canfield and Associates, Ephrata, bought presents for 30 stockings, and the Cross-Fit gym in Ephrata donated to the project too.

So did the College Survival Skills 100 class at BBCC, the second year they've participated; they bought and made presents for 15 kids.

Brenna Moss suggested making it a community project last year, she said. Moss's mom Diana is a CASA volunteer, and helping foster kids seemed like a great project, Brenna said. "A great way to give back to kids who are less fortunate and haven't had the greatest go at things," she said.

Brenna is going to school online this quarter, but the CS 100 class kept right on going, breaking into teams and filling stockings for 15 kids. "Toys, stuffed animals, books, games, clothes, coloring books, crayons, candy, hats, gloves, socks, coats, toothpaste, toothbrushes, hairbrushes, slippers and I could go on and on," wrote instructor Jerry Workman.

Diana Moss picked up the donations. When everything was loaded in "I couldn't even get in my truck," she said.

Gifts were distributed at a party for the kids Dec. 19. The Emmanuel Lutheran Church donated its multipurpose room for a venue. "So amazing, the kids, when they get to take those stockings home," Brenna said.

"It's an amazing difference, that an individual can do," Wyman said. "I actually cried a couple of times. I couldn't believe the generosity."