Tacoma/Ruston, WA. - A community donation drive in Western Washington has gathered physical supplies and financial contributions to assist Spokane residents affected by recent historic wildfires.
Garry Gill, owner of Garry’s on Pearl, helped organize the relief initiative to support wildfire victims on the east side of the state. Community members have filled boxes with backpacks, toiletries, binders and clothing to send to displaced families.
Gill has organized multiple donation and back-to-school drives over the years, but he noted that this effort for Spokane feels different because of the disaster’s lasting emotional toll.
“Everything can be replaceable,” Gill said. “Your clothes and all of this stuff. But what happens to your memories?”
He expressed appreciation for the neighbors’ response. “And it’s so touching because it’s all the community that’s going to help the other community,” Gill said.
Among those responding to the call were volunteers John and Leslie Perkins, who brought physical goods and decided to contribute additional monetary assistance.
“And when they made a call for help for Spokane, I looked at John, and I said ‘honey, we have to go and help,’” Perkins said. “And then we didn’t feel like that was enough, so we wrote a check, too.”
The couple wrote a $500 check to aid fire relief. John Perkins shared a similar sentiment about assisting neighbors in times of crisis.
“It’s almost our duty to help out with this stuff,” Perkins said. “It should always be that way. People helping people. It’s not rocket science; it’s pretty easy to do.”
Bill Goodnight also made a cash donation during the event. “We wrote a couple hundred dollars in donations today,” Goodnight said.
“And we want to support our friends over in Spokane from these terrible fires.”
Volunteers have packed and loaded the donated supplies into a U-Haul truck, which is scheduled to transport all collected items to Spokane on Wednesday.