The West Seattle Rotary Club Holiday Shopping Spree got welcome last minute financial boost of $2500, all from Rotarians to bring them to their financial goal for the 37th annual staging of the event. Andy Horner, Rotary Community Service Chair said, "We raised the $2500 in one day to get us up to the budget total, from 60 people on the Tuesday before the Saturday event," he said.

"This year we're getting volunteers from Interact Clubs which are High School students that do service above self, so they are Rotarians in training and we've got a Sorority and a Fraternity from the University of Washington. This is my first year as a Rotarian (…) This is my first event and I want to help the community and be with friends. It's a lot of fun," he said.

Eric Slawson, the PR Chair for the Rotary Club said, "I had lived in West Seattle for 10 years and I wasn't really feeling like I was part of the community.So I reached out to Rotary because my grandfather had been a Rotarian and I grew up around it. Then I met this group of people and I never had so much fun volunteering. This is a great outlet to really be part of the community. I'm a realtor (at Keller-Williams) and this is my way to give back to the community as well."

Rotarians, and volunteers gathered at the Starbucks Center early on Saturday morning, Dec. 4 to come to the aid of economically disadvantaged children from area elementary schools.

The program pairs a child with an adult and everyone gets breakfast at the Mezza cafe in Starbucks Center, whose workers volunteer their time.

100 children were fitted for the shoes, coats and clothing they were given and the "shopping spree" began and warm winter coats, pants, tops or shirts and shoes are picked out within their budget.

Every year The Rotary Club of West Seattle alternates between all of the elementary schools in West Seattle. This year the participating schools were Arbor Heights Elementary, Highland Park Elementary, West Seattle Elementary, Schmitz Park Elementary, and Sanislo Elementary.

The children are chosen by family support workers who look for children who are in need. Each child is given a warm winter jacket and socks (prior to the shopping spree) and a gift certificate for Sears and coupled with a 10% discount the store provides they make the dollars stretch as far as possible to purchase clothing. The purchases made are clothing and shoes only.

Volunteers include people from JaK's Steakhouse, Seattle Lutheran High School students, Mercer Island High School students, Kappa Alpha Phi fraternity members, Foster High School students and many West Seattle Rotary Club members.

Once the shopping was done, the kids and volunteers headed back to the Mezza Cafe on the 3rd floor for pizza, goodie bags, and a visit with Santa. Later everyone was handed sheets of holiday songs to sing during lunch.