Published: Saturday, December 31, 2005
Neighbors in Brier repair damage for one last night
BRIER - A few broken spotlights weren't enough to dim the spirit of a
neighborhood bent on brightening the lives of people in need.
Timberline Park neighbors woke Friday morning to find three hand-painted
signs ripped out of the ground and floodlights smashed in the road.
The vandals likely came under the cover of darkness in a neighborhood that
for five weeks of the year is lit with thousands of holiday lights.
Tonight is the last night to take in the thousands of holiday lights
in the Timberline Park neighborhood in the 3700 and 3800 blocks of 228th
Place SW, Brier. Cash and canned food for the Lynnwood Food Bank will be
accepted. Norton and her neighbors don't put up the lights just for fun. For nearly a
decade, the neighbors have collected food and cash donations for the Lynnwood
Food Bank from carloads of holiday revelers. As of Friday morning, they'd
collected more than $27,000 and five tons of canned food and handed out 35,000
candy canes.
"They've just been wonderful. They're our largest contributor,"
food bank administrator Peg Amarok said.
The food bank serves 200 to 250 families a month, and those numbers nearly
triple during the holidays.
"It's a serious endeavor for us. We've become a tradition for many
families and we're making a difference," Norton said.
Neighbors replaced the broken lights and signs, unwilling to let vandals
darken their small cul-de-sac by even one bulb.
"We'll get it all put back together. This is our mission," Norton
said.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
"Why? Why would someone do this? We're just trying to help people in the
community," said Timberline Park neighbor Gwendine Norton.
Last night for lights