Eastside Community Aid Thrift Shop gives grants and scholarships, seeks volunteers

Eastside Community Aid Thrift Shop approved 17 grants, money to two philanthropic organizations and three Lake Washington Technical College scholarships for 2009.

The following organizations received grant money:

• Youth Eastside Services (YES) — $5,000 for their mental health services for children and their families

• Assistance League of the Eastside — $5,000 for their Operation School Bell program, providing new clothes for grades K-9 children

• Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing — $3,000 for food, gas and bus coupons

• Sharing Security — $1,500 for program to assist in identifying potential candidates for their services

• SHARE/WHEEL — $5,000 for bus coupons for low-income families

• Kirkland Interfaith Network (KIN) — $4,200 for their recreational opportunities for low-income Kirkland families

• Helping Hands for the Disabled — $5,000 toward a new van

• Sibling House — $5,000 for appliances, beds and tutoring support for Eastside foster families

• Domestic Violence — $5,000 for their crisis hotline

• Lake Heights Family YMCA — $2,000 for their summer youth programs at the Y

• Home2Home — $5,000 to help buy used furniture for needy families and help toward paying drivers’ gas and truck expenses, while delivering furniture

• Hopelink Kirkland food bank — $5,000 for food only

• Totem Lake Neighborhood Association — $5,000 for playground equipment for disabled children

• Eastside Legal Assistance Program — $5,000 for legal assistance for low-income people

• Baby Corner — $5,000 for food, diapers, etc. for babies

• Casting for Recovery — $2,500 for cancer survivors’ outreach fishing program

• Sophia’s Way — $5,000 toward housing for homeless women

The two philanthropic organizations assisted by the Eastside Community Aid Thrift Shop, Laureate Gamma Rho and Phi Beta Psi, both were granted money.

Phi Beta Psi received $1,805 for cancer research and Laureate Gamma Rho, $1,889 for their service project. The two groups have provided volunteers at the thrift shop on the first and third Saturdays of each month.

In the fall of 2009, scholarships awarded to three Lake Washington Technical College students included $2,000 each for engineering students Marshall Kraft and Dennis Pasek and $1,000 to Cynthia Lathrop for her Human Services degree.

Eastside Community Aid Thrift Shop, located at 12451 116th Ave. NE in Kirkland, is an all-volunteer run shop whose proceeds are donated back to the community through grants and scholarships.

Volunteers are always needed. Clean donations can be dropped off at the shop Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

For information, call (425) 825-1877.