Reporter Central Kitsap
ROUNDBALL The Knights kick off the basketball season Page 10
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2012 | Vol. 28, No. 12 www.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.com | 50¢
Mom and daughter help Santa and kids
Santa’s Workshop
customized to each recipient based on information wmorrow@centralkitsapreporter.com such as desired gifts and personal accomplishments. Every year on Dec. 25, “It’s all customized like Santa Claus delivers gifts Santa mysteriously knows to children all over the what their best friend’s world. For some children, name is,” Adrienne said. the thing they most want On Dec. 8, the last letters and need is the thing their are accepted and shipped parents can’t afford, the to Fairbanks, Alaska, where expensive medical bills they receive a required to make North Pole postthem well. mark. Kids then Here, Erica receive their perRunyan, 19, of sonal letter from Silverdale and her Santa, and children mother, Adrienne, in need receive the step in to give proceeds through Santa a hand. the UncompenIn 2010, the Erica Runyan sated Care Fund. Runyans started The first year their Letters from Erica, then 17, attempted Santa campaign to raise Letters from Santa it didn’t money for the Uncompengo as well as she might have sated Care Fund at Seattle hoped. They received only Children’s Hospital. about 20 letters that year, The Uncompensated but Erica was undeterred, Care Fund helps cover and next year they brought the medical expenses of in more than 200 letters, 10 children whose families times the previous winter. couldn’t otherwise afford This year the Runyans life-saving treatment. hope to once again shatter Participants pay $8 for the turnout of their previone, $15 for two or $21 for ous effort by receiving more three letters from Santa than 1,000 letters. to the recipients of their choosing. The letters are By Wes Morrow
Dennis Box/staff photo
Lainie Zollweg, 5, works on her car at Santa’s workshop Saturday during the Silverdale Christmas tree lighting event in the parking lot Silverdale Antiques. Gabriel Spencer, 5, pounds in a nail on his project. Miss Silverdale, Epiphany Nick, spends time with the children and the Kitsap Carolers sing Christmas carols.
See HELP, A3
Seabeck men featured on History Channel’s ‘American Pickers’ By Wes Morrow wmorrow@CentralKitsapreporter.com
Verne Christopher and Darrell Durbin of Seabeck will appear on the History Channel show “American Pickers” on Monday, Dec. 3. A viewing party is planned at Camp Union Saloon in Seabeck. The party will start at 5:30 p.m., and the episode is set to air half an hour later, at 6 p.m. Christopher’s daughter, Melinda Smieja, said the party is open to anyone who wants to join. The episode, “Full Steam Ahead,” is the fifth episode of the show’s fifth season. According Smieja, promotional videos for the episode are already running on the
station. The History Channel’s website lists a description of the upcoming episode: “After taking a joyride on a rare 100-year old monster tractor, Mike and his brother Robbie take to a property packed with amazing steam engines and rusty relics. In Washington state, Robbie’s bid on some heavy machinery leads to a high stakes lumberjack competition. Later, the guys head to Whidbey Island and find a graveyard of car grills and a 1947 Chevy pickup.” Smieja was responsible for bringing the show to Kitsap County. After seeing a notice that the show was looking for locations in the area, she told the producers about See HISTORY, A2
Courtesy photo
A camera crew from the History Channel shoots a segment with Verne Christopher and Darrell Durbin for “American Pickers.”