Wednesday, December 03, 2003 - Page updated at 11:34 A.M.

The power to help

The Nortons and other homeowners along 228th Place Southwest prefer to think of themselves as "spirited."

Operators of the Lynnwood Food Bank, which benefits from the neighborhood's seasonal greetings, have another word for it: generous.

For the past seven years, 10 of the 11 homeowners on Norton's cul-de-sac have gone all out to decorate their homes and yards for Christmas. Thousands of lights adorn their roofs, bushes and line their street. There are wooden cutouts of Santa and Mrs. Claus, reindeer, trains, penguins, elves and virtually every other holiday symbol.

"It makes all this worth it," Norton said. "Whenever we get to the point where we think it's all too much and we can't do any more, we just think about the people at the food bank who are depending on us, and that recharges us."

Since 1997, the neighborhood's popular display has accepted donations of food and cash for the food bank. The amount raised by the display represents about half of what the food bank spends in a year.

"This is our 24th year to put up lights," Norton said. "When we first bought our home, my husband's parents owned a business, and that year, because of energy concerns, businesses were asked not to put up lights.

"So here comes my father-in-law with these big tubs of lights asking, 'Do you want to use these?' He's never gotten them back."

Year after year, the Nortons put up lights, more each year. It soon became a "contest" between them and another family in the neighborhood.

Other neighbors joined in, and the Timberline Park neighborhood became a place to drive by when seeking beautifully decorated sights.

Eight years ago, one appreciative viewer stopped Norton and offered her money.

"She said she enjoyed it so much she wanted to help make sure we kept doing it," Norton said. "I told her, 'No, no,' and then she said, 'Just give it to your local food bank.' That stirred up a great idea."

The next year, Norton offered the idea to her neighbors.

"I said, 'Let's throw up a sign and a box, and see what happens,' " Norton said.

When the holidays rolled around, they began collecting money. That same year, they heard the Lynnwood Food Bank had been burglarized, so Norton called and found out the bank's most desperate need was for apples and oranges for holiday food baskets. She took over about $200.

"I was so impressed by the work that was being done there," she said. "I decided to really pump this up."

A TV weatherman broadcast from the Nortons' yard one night, plugging the neighborhood's charitable work. They ended up collecting $5,500 that first season.

"We really do it just because it's such a fun thing to do," neighbor Anne Nabakowsky said. "But since we've been raising money for the food bank, it's given us a real purpose. I figure if we can put out a few lights and help the food bank, why not?"

In the past six years, the neighborhood has donated $70,927 and uncounted amounts of food to the food bank, all given by those who stop by to see the lights.

For the food bank, the money is a godsend.

"Their donation is pretty much half of what we spend in a year," said Peg Amarok, the food-bank director. "They've been so wonderful to us."

An average Wednesday, when the food bank hands out food, brings in 250 to 275 families or people in need of help, Amarok said.

"The economy is so bad lately that our numbers just keep growing," she said. "That's why support like this from the Nortons and their neighborhood is so important."

To pull it off, homeowners on 228th Place Southwest begin putting up displays the weekend after Halloween. They work every weekend until Thanksgiving.

The unveiling happens at dusk on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Every night after that until Christmas Eve, neighbors take turns handing out candy canes to all who drive through. Santa makes appearances each night the week before Christmas. And there's always music, sometimes taped and sometimes live.

This year, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School, where Norton works as a grants coordinator, has chosen the holiday lighting as her senior project. Christina Biladeau has solicited students who have helped put up the decorations and who will help collect donations. She's even signed up students who will sing carols while cars cruise through.

"I'm having lots of fun," Biladeau said. "The real reason behind my participation is to help take some of the burden off the neighbors and to learn about the food bank."

Dianna and Ronn Bellecy have gotten so much in the spirit of things after living in the neighborhood for the past nine years that they've agreed to "host" a 55-foot evergreen tree on their electrical power. The tree has more than 50 strands of lights this year which Ronn and Tom Norton, Gwendine's husband, trimmed with the help of a lift truck, donated for a day by Sunbelt Rentals in Lynnwood.

Neighbor Don Meek is the neighborhood's lone holdout and doesn't decorate. He conceded it makes him feel a little bad.

"I love this community," he said. "But it's (decorating) just not important to me. I don't want to spend the money, and it brings in a whole lot of traffic. I don't like the congestion."

Like with others in the neighborhood, the Nortons and the Bellecys have added electrical boxes on the exterior of their homes that can handle the load with 12 or more plug-ins. That keeps their outdoor use separate from their indoor use.

"That way, we won't plug in the toaster some night and put out the lights out front and on the tree," Ronn Bellecy joked.

Tom Norton is an electrician by profession, so he checks each of the homes along the circle to make sure everything is safely done. They all have agreements with Snohomish County Public Utility District to average their use over the year so that they can afford their electricity bill when it comes in January.

"The bill for December usually triples," Gwendine Norton said. "This may cost us an extra $300 to $400 on our bill. But it's so worth it because of the good it does for the food bank.

"And because you never see anyone come through here that doesn't have a smile on their face."