Blanchet Youth Capital Campaign Kicked Off

Julia raised $450 for Blanchet House this year selling gingerbread cookies.

The Blanchet Youth Capital Campaign Kickoff was yesterday, June 28th, at the Northwest Natural Gas Building. It was announced that there are already $150,000 in matching gifts for this part of the campaign, and that Joey and Emily Harrington would be Honorary Chairs.

Perhaps the highlight of the afternoon was a speech given by eight year old Julia Albert. She attended the kickoff with her parents, Steve and Carol.

Nothing else needs to be said after you read her words:

“Hi, name is Julia, and the reason I’m here is because when I was in Kindergarten, 3 and 1/2 years ago, I had a dream that I could help the homeless.

I decided to help the Blanchet House because I had seen the lines of homeless waiting for food so many times.

I wanted to sell cookies at the park but my mom said it was a cold winter and nobody would be around.

So we contacted Safeway in Damascus and asked if we could do it there and they said yes!

We have sold gingerbread cookies and let people decorate them with us, every year since, and this year we sold heart cookies for Valentines Day, too.

Over the years, we have raised over $1,000 for the Blanchet House and we are touched by peoples hearts and generosity.

It has become a family tradition that we look forward to every year.

We want to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who works and volunteers at the Blanchet House to help the homeless.

Thank you everybody and have a good night.”

Sweet dreams, everyone!