Voie Commentary: Checking in on Food for Poor, Suits for Prosecutors

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In light of the update this week that part of the Hub City Mission’s homeless shelter was moving to the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds, I wondered how other local groups were preparing to support local individuals in need during this year’s cold weather season. It was high time to check in with Chris and Chandra Shilley, the husband-wife duo who coordinate the collective efforts of the Open Arms community group via Facebook.

I caught up with Chandra Shilley this week via Facebook (fittingly) for a quick update.

Open Arms is coordinating holiday meals this year for families in need,” she explained. “I put a request out to on Facebook asking for five people to sponsor a family. In less than 10 minutes, we had eight families sponsored. ... Within two hours we had 20 families sponsored … By the 24-hour mark, we had over 80 pledges from members, followers — and pledges from 10 local businesses.”

Each $25 sponsorship will provide a family or individual a voucher for a holiday meal package from Shop’n Kart at Fuller’s in Centralia. The package includes a turkey or ham with a variety of traditional sides. As of Friday morning, the group was already planning to distribute more than 100 vouchers to local families and individuals.

Open Arms will also serve a meal on Thanksgiving Day 4-6 p.m. at the Train Station in Centralia, as well as on Christmas Eve from 4-6 p.m,” noted Shilley. Open Arms is currently accepting non-perishable donation items or gift cards for their upcoming holiday meal events.

The group also has a toy drive coming up. Beginning Nov. 15, the group will accept donations of new toys, pantry and food items to be delivered directly to families. The families will be matched with donations beginning in December.

“The Toy Drive is a huge thing — and we need all the help we can get for donations,” added Shilley.

Also new to the Mellen Street neighborhood is Chris and Chandra Shilley’s “blessing box,” mounted on a post in their front yard and painted white with the navy and red Open Arms logo.

A post on the Open Arms Facebook page noted that the box included items free to those in need, including hats, gloves, scarves, hand warmers, water, hygiene items — even cat and dog food. Other posts in the group show photos of community members stopping by to add donation items to the box.

Shilley also noted in our conversation that one other similar box has now been erected within the city of Centralia, since the original Open Arms box appeared.

For more information on how to support the efforts of the citizen-powered Open Arms group, you can connect with them on Facebook, or drop donations off at the Open Arms blessing box located near the intersection of Mellen Street and Marsh Avenue in Centralia, just east of Fiddler’s Coffee.

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I’ve really enjoyed the conversation surrounding “suitgate,” as Power Rankings author Aaron VanTuyl has dubbed it. The topic of a “suit allowance” for county criminal prosecutors has been a surprisingly divisive one, and created a wealth of community conversation.

As a columnist, I found myself proud of our publication and group of op-ed columnists.



On the one side, you had John McCroskey’s dissection of the issue, which ran opposite a column — by yours truly — going more in depth into the issue with the Prosecutor himself over coffee, and then an editorial Our Views piece giving additional context to the conversation.

This was flanked by a commentary on the opposite end of the spectrum from columnist Julie McDonald. And, of course, there was the satirical look at the issue from sports editor Aaron VanTuyl’s Power Rankings.

No matter where you fell in the spectrum of opinions, there was food for thought for everyone — myself included.

Anyways, to add to the fabric of conversation on the topic, I wanted to provide some additional information, in light of the heated public interest.

When I initially talked with Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer, he provided me with a 78-page document that listed what each county department has budgeted in regards to “uniform and clothing.” The uniform and clothing numbers show a total for each department, and the total dollar amounts in each department are listed as “payroll benefits.”

Also, in our conversation last week, Meyer stated that if the suit allowance was not approved this year by commissioners, it would technically be a pay cut for the criminal deputy prosecutors who are currently eligible for the allowance per their salary agreement. As I mentioned, Meyer explained that the suit allowance is a reimbursement after-the-fact.

That makes sense, being that the “uniform and clothing” dollars for the Prosecutor’s Office are, again, listed as payroll benefits.

Meyer also mentioned the other departments that receive money. He specifically mentioned that Sheriff’s Office Detectives get $500 per year, per detective, for suits — and also mentioned that some Public Works employees get $175 per year for shoes.

I didn’t include these particular numbers and points in my column last week because the public records from Meyer didn’t break down the uniform and clothing payroll benefits to verify those numbers — it just shows a total amount budgeted, versus what specific items those dollars are spent on (i.e. traditional uniform or required safety clothing item versus a personal suit or clothing allowance/reimbursement). So, I was conflicted on how to include the information without additional context.

However, in light of all the vibrant, in-depth conversation, I do want anyone who is interested to be able to view the information included the public documents that Meyer forwarded to me, should anyone want to ask specific questions themselves.

For those still interested, you can review those documents attached to this column over on chronline.com.

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Brittany Voie is senior media developer for The Chronicle. She was also Jonathan Meyer’s campaign manager during his 2009 campaign for Lewis County Prosecutor. She can be reached at bvoie@chronline.com.