Marysville Globe, August 29, 2015

GLOBE THE MARYSVILLE

Tulalip: War Canoe races return after decades. Page 3.

WEEKEND AUG. 2015  WWW.MARYSVILLEGLOBE.COM  75¢ WEEKENDEDITION EDITION  JUNE 8TH,30, 2014  WWW.MARYSVILLEGLOBE.COM  75¢

Herald THE SUNDAY

An Edition of

Supporters inspire evangelist BY STEVE POWELL spowell@marysvilleglobe.com

Sports: Posters of Marysville-

Pilchuck, Marysville Getchell Fall schedules . Pages 11-14.

MARYSVILLE – Gary Haga has been walking around east Marysville for more than three years carrying his sign. He would walk four miles a day around the Jennings Memorial Park area with his 10-pound sign. He would smile and wave at people and many would wave or honk back. He would wear his headphones and listen to music by Third Day, Mercy Me and Casting Crowns. But he didn’t really realize how many people his message resonated with until Aug. 25. The office administrator where he attends church, Kari Wheeler, called to tell him about the almost 200 likes and comments made on a local website. “The Facebook post just explod-

Steve Powell/Staff Photo

Gary Haga walks with his sign near Jennings Park, despite being on hospice. ed with kind words,” she said. People, even nonbelievers, wrote about how Haga’s sign board, his wave and smile would brighten their days. Since he doesn’t have Facebook,

she printed them out for him to see. The comments brought him to tears (see sidebar). Haga, who wears a hat saying “Jesus is my boss,” moved to Marysville about 28 years ago after

working in the timber industry in Darrington. He’s worked at a variety of jobs since. He customized wheelchairs, worked at a funeral home and for IBM and Hewlett Packard. Living at home with him are his daughter, 40, granddaughter, 15, and grandson, 5. Wheeler, of the Marysville Church of the Nazarene, said Haga would often bring his grandson to church and sit in the front row. “He’s quiet, mild mannered and has a sweet spirit,” Wheeler said. She said it was Haga’s calling that God wanted him to share his message with the community. “It’s to get the message out that God loves everybody,” she said. “Go God.”

SEE INSPIRE, PAGE 2

It takes a village to run Kloz 4 Kidz in Marysville Scrub-A-Mutt now saves them. Page 4.

INDEX BUSINESS

5

CLASSIFIED ADS 18-21 LEGALS

2

OPINION

4

SPORTS

9-14

WORSHIP

Vol. 122, No. 7

7

Philanthrophy special section - Inside

BY KIRK BOXLEITNER kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com

MARYSVILLE — Seven years after it started, the Marysville Kloz 4 Kidz remains as open as ever to families in need. Board member and volunteer Meg Rounds confirmed that Kloz 4 Kidz doesn’t check families’ addresses or IDs before issuing them clothing, even though it’s served at least 500 kids a year for the past four years running. Fellow board member Jan Van Horne reported that Kloz 4 Kids outfitted 582 children in 2012, and has already done the same for 527 kids by July of this year, so she expects it will have served 700 schoolchildren by the end of 2015. “Our numbers of clients have gone up ever since the

Kirk Boxleitner/Staff Photo

Meg Rounds organizes pairs of pants at Kloz 4 Kidz. economic downturn seven years ago,” Van Horne said. Rounds estimated that Kloz 4 Kidz’s monthly budget averages $1,500. Of that, Van Horne calculated that 50 percent is covered by grants, 34 percent by individual donors and gifts, and

16 percent from fundraisers and volunteer work. Although it has more than 50 volunteers, Kloz 4 Kidz is struggling to staff its store, behind the Marysville United Methodist Church, three days a week. In August and the first part

of September, this schedule becomes more demanding, as it stays open four days a week. Rounds said: “The church’s congregation washes all the clothes before they go on our shelves, but you don’t need to be a member of the church to volunteer. Donna isn’t.” Donna Mohs laughed. “I’m not, but I heard about Kloz 4 Kidz from reading about it in The Marysville Globe. We have so many jobs that need to be done, so there’s no lack of things for volunteers to do. Just having folks who can restock our shelves and vacuum our floors, before we come in for our store shifts, is a big help.” While Kloz 4 Kidz accepts

all clothes, it doesn’t put all of them on its shelves. The store’s youngest eligible customers are in preschool, not newborns, so any clothes that are too small, or not in suitable condition for the store’s clients, get sent to other charitable organizations. Kloz 4 Kidz could always use more pajamas and pants, for ages 6-18, and welcomes donations of new and gently used items, but a big part of its shopping budget goes toward buying new underwear, since they won’t put used undergarments on their shelves. For that reason, Kloz 4 Kidz accepts cash donations. “It takes a village to run Kloz 4 Kidz,” Mohs said.

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