Patterson Irrigator

January 9, 2009 Patterson, CA

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Our Voice

Written by PI Editorial Staff

Saturday, 15 December 2007

Help our your local paper

It’s no secret that many Patterson residents are passionate about local sports programs. Now, we here at the Irrigator are hoping to channel some of that enthusiasm into some content for our paper.

Our sports editor, Mike Vanden Bosch, will be leaving us next week, having taken a job as managing editor at the Ripon Record. Ripon’s gain is definitely Patterson’s loss, and many local residents already have let Mike know how much he will be missed around here.

We’re still in the process of finding a replacement, but in the meantime, we could use your help. We welcome any community members interested in attending games and writing some stories in the interim. Coaches — we definitely could use your help, too. It would be great if you could call us and provide us with scores, and we will try to get our photographer to most home games.

Working together, we can ensure that Patterson will get the prep coverage it deserves as we continue the process of finding a new sports writer.

A time for giving

Maybe, it’s the string of recent foreclosures or the spike in gas prices. Perhaps, it’s the rise in Patterson’s population during the past few years.

Whatever the case, Westside Food Pantry has been deluged with Christmas food basket requests this holiday season, with 294 families signed up this year, up from 119 families last year.

Thankfully, local residents have stepped up to meet the challenge, food pantry volunteers say. As a result of the community’s donations and a bit of extra help from volunteers, there will be adequate supplies when volunteers serve up the Christmas baskets at Patterson’s Masonic Hall this morning.

Patterson’s generosity also has been apparent among other groups during the past couple of weeks.
Students involved in the newly formed Kids Helping Kids program at Patterson High School raised more than $4,500 to pay for clothes for 29 Patterson children. And many barrels in local businesses are full to the brim with gifts for Patterson-Westley Chamber of Commerce’s toy and coat Drive.

Meanwhile, the Angel Tree project is helping to provide a brighter Christmas for local children who have parents who are incarcerated.

All this is not to mention the work being done by churches and local community groups.
Still, this community cannot rest on its laurels.

More donations of nonperishable items and money are needed to stock Westside Food Pantry’s bare cupboards to meet its day-to-day needs.

Other local nonprofits are feeling the crunch these days, too. As we approach the end of the year, hundreds of agencies will be making pleas for contributions throughout the U.S. and abroad. At the same time, it’s good to remember that there are folks right here at home who need our support.

So, get involved. Make a contribution. Help a neighbor. And may the joy of this season — and the promise of the year to come — drive us to do bigger and better things even in these tough economic times.

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