Mill Ridge Village is having a “friendly” competition while raising money for Relay For Life. Direct your donation to the Mill Ridge Department Head you would like to see hit in the face with a pie and the person with the most donations will indeed, get hit in the face with a pie on June 14th! Donations accepted at the front desk.

Mill Ridge Village residents and families are being detoured to the back entrance while construction is being conducted on 28th Avenue. Until June 3rd, please use 27th Avenue through the back entrance. Call 253/925-9200 with any questions, thank you!

By Kate Burrows
Milton-Edgewood Signal

What began as a fun, but slightly competitive, food drive with Mill Ridge Village staff and residents quickly turned into a community-wide event that blew Edgewood’s FISH Food Bank’s goals right out of the water. The food bank was set on participating in the Feinstein Challenge, a $1 million grant giveaway that donates money to food banks based on their own ability to collect donations – but it needed help. When Mill Ridge Village Program Director Lois Jasmer received a notice asking for community-wide participation in the food drive, she was ready to do what it takes to help make a difference.

“I just tried to think of what we can do as an organization to get people involved,” Jasmer said. “We have a great, competitive staff, and residents, so I decided to divide everyone into four teams, gave them a color and said ‘go for it.’”

What followed was a bit of friendly heckling, maybe the occasional prank that left an employee’s office covered in colored crepe paper, and a slew of donations. Donations came in from residents, as well as their family members. “I had a resident bring me $100 from one of their children today,” Jasmer said. “I’m just very touched by how generous people are, especially considering the economy today.”

The retirement community held spirit days, encouraging residents and employees to wear their team colors. One of the teams even went so far as to take over the Milton community reader board, with a “Go Team Red!” message flashing for the whole community to see.

Local businesses also supported their team of choice, with Rite Aid holding a food drive for Jasmer’s team. The local Albertsons even held their own food drive to benefit Mill Ridge Village teams.

The final totals are now in, with the green team collecting 2,245 pounds; the orange team came in at 3,114 pounds; the blue team came in at 1,421 pounds, and the red team collected 3,288 pounds. That is a grand total of 10,068 pounds of food collected during this two-month period. In total Edgewood Community FISH Food Bank collected 45,406 pounds of food during the Feinstein Challenge.

“It makes me feel so good about living here because people are so generous and kind,” said Food Bank Coordinator Kate Wright. “The economy is recovering, but we are not necessarily seeing that in the food banks. It is a blessing to have all these donations.”

Although the Feinstein food drive challenge is now over, the FISH Food Bank is always accepting donations. It is located at 3607 122nd Ave. E. in Edgewood. For more information on how to donate, visit http://www.fishfoodbanks.org.

Pictured: Mill Ridge Village’s food drive to benefit Edgewood FISH FOod Bank inspired the local community to get involved, including these young preschool students. (Photo courtesy of Lois Jasmer) See more pics here!

In an effort to help the Edgewood Community FISH Food Bank, Mill Ridge Village has raised a challenge in the local community.

“It started as a crazy little competition in our building between our staff and residents. But now it is become a huge community food drive,” says Lois Jasmer, program director at Mill Ridge Village.

The residents and staff at Mill Ridge Village have been divided into four team colors: red, blue, green, and orange, and everyone is supporting their favorite team color. The feisty staff at Mill Ridge Village have reached out for help to their friends at the local Fife Milton Edgewood Chamber who seem to be helping Team Red.

Heather Hills Community and the Local VFW are going with “Team Orange Crush” and the Cities of Edgewood and Milton seem to have their own favorite undisclosed team colors.

“It is great how much momentum and support we are getting to help the FISH Food Bank.” commented Jennifer Reich, executive director at Mill Ridge Village.

The Edgewood Food Bank will receive part of the Feinstein Foundations $1,000,000 grant by participating in the food drive challenge in April. In an effort to help them with this challenge, as well as feeding the hungry in our area, please bring your food items to Mill Ridge Village or the Edgewood Community FISH Food Bank before April 30th and let them know what team color you are supporting. The FISH Food Bank accepts items such as toilet paper and diapers as well as food; go to the FISH Food Banks website at www.fishfoodbanks.org for more information on items they are in need of at this time.

The Easter Bunny had some help! Mill Ridge Village residents were busy coloring eggs for the holiday.