Business helps clubs help people

Christmas wouldn’t be the same in Oak Harbor without two temporary businesses that take the proceeds and help the community. The Kiwanis Club set up shop Wednesday in the Rite Aid parking lot, selling candy from their trailer. Meanwhile, just down the highway, the Lions Club was selling its year allotment of Christmas trees.

Christmas wouldn’t be the same in Oak Harbor without two temporary businesses that take the proceeds and help the community.

The Kiwanis Club set up shop Wednesday in the Rite Aid parking lot, selling candy from their trailer. Meanwhile, just down the highway, the Lions Club was selling its year allotment of Christmas trees.

“We’re doing pretty well, we’re in the black,” quipped Lions Club volunteer Doug Stewart as he helped Coupeville resident Monika Scherffius select the perfect tree. Open for about a week, the club had already sold the majority of the 500-or-so trees it ordered this year.

Scherffius finally made her selection, satisfied that she had the perfect tree. “I came here last year, they have beautiful trees,” she said.

Keeping warm in the Lions Club booth, John Upah said the tree lot next to the chamber of commerce office (just past the middle school track) will probably have enough trees to stay open to Dec. 23. Any trees that aren’t sold are given to the needy through other local charitable organizations.

Thanks to volunteers who contribute hundreds of hours to the tree sale effort, the Lions Club makes enough money to fund a variety of community projects, ranging from vision and hearing care to scholarships and other projects.

At the Kiwanis Club See’s Candy booth, Ivan Lathrap and Bruce Platt were waiting for customers and the predicted cold weather to sweep in. This year the candy trailer is position so it is open toward the highway, increasing visibility. First day sales were good and the two men expected business to pick up later that day.

Their offerings range from 50 cent chocolate suckers to 2-pound boxes of fancy candy costing $30. There are plenty of prices in between. A kid with only $5 can buy a “mini-holiday box” for someone on his shopping list.

“It all goes back into the community,” said Platt. The Kiwanis Club focuses on helping youth, but this year has expanded to assisting the growing senior population as well.

It’s the season of giving, and whatever people give to the Kiwanis and Lions comes right back to them.