Community Corner

Crop Fundraiser Cultivates Friendship, Support for Those Living with MS

The Hungry Housewives' 4th crop event takes place Saturday with proceeds going towards supporting those with multiple sclerosis.

Alisa Garate has been busy this week preparing for the crop fundraiser her women's group, the Hungry Housewives, is putting on tomorrow, in support of the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA).

Yet Garate generously found time to sit and chat with Patch this Friday afternoon at the Main Street Cafe in Buckley, along with fellow Housewives Stephanie O'Mary and Dawn Baker, about the fundraiser and about Hungry Housewives.

This is the group's fourth crop fundraiser. It involves inviting women and providing them ample space "to do whatever they want," Garate said. They are encouraged to crop, sort photos for scrapbooking, quilt, or just lie on the table and sleep. There will be goody bags as well as food; there will be a raffle for gift baskets, and every hour, there will be giveaway prizes for everything from free haircuts to carwashes.

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A $35 entrance fee gets you in, but "it's not a library," said O'Mary. "It's loud and fun. In the old days, women used to get together to can, and that was their social time. This is what it is -- it's like a big canning party."

The Housewives don't do anything small, O'Mary said.

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"We make sure our salad is homemade," Garate said. "We pamper our girls. We try to make it really fun. And we usually make it a community event."

As of Friday, the Housewives are expecting 55 crafters, along with 15 vendors and workers from as far away as Tacoma and Port Orchard, Garate said. Several representatives of home-based businesses including Mary Kay, Pampered Chef and PartyLite will be in attendance as well.

In Support of Those with MS

This year, 100 percent of money earned from raffle ticket sales and from vendors will go toward the MSAA, Garate said. 

Multiple sclerosis has touched the Housewives and many on the Plateau, and the women wanted to do something to bring attention to the illness and support their friends, including O'Mary, who was diagnosed with MS in 2002 when she had been working toward her nursing degree.

She has since had to give up on that career goal. "It changed my life," she said, fighting tears. "MS can either affect your brain or your spinal cord. Mine is with my spine, and it affects my legs more -- I can't walk more than maybe 400 feet a day, so it's changed everything."

Nonetheless, O'Mary has courageously continued to live her life and support her children, even earning the Golden Acorn Award, the highest honor to be bestowed on a member of her PTA. She continues to volunteer in the classroom and all the standing and walking she does hasn't gone unnoticed, Garate said.

"You don't think of all the things your friends do," Garate said. 

O'Mary continued: "You don't take anything for granted anymore. You still get judged. ... I've been accused of being drunk because my balance was affected. I just want people not to assume. Don't assume that someone is in a scooter at the grocery store because they're fat -- it may be something else."

There is a stigma of being handicapped, especially in a small town, she said. "I don't like to use my cane sometimes. ... I don't want to see someone I went to high school with see me with a cane. It's vanity, but there's questions, and instead of asking questions, people make assumptions."

O'Mary has been a Buckley resident since 1978, and her best friend has also been diagnosed with MS. Without being able to provide numbers, O'Mary nonetheless is curious about what she perceives is a high number of diagnoses in the Plateau area. MS, along with another neuromuscular disorder known as myasthenia gravis, appears to afflict people randomly but in the Plateau area, everyone knows someone who is affected, she said. 

The Housewives chose to support MSAA because "they do a lot for people who don't have insurance," O'Mary said. "As long as you're active in requesting help, they will provide a brain MRI; they will help you -- heat is a big problem with MS -- they'll help with providing cooling vests. They are involved in medication assistance. They work with pharmaceutical assistance -- it's amazing."

Origin of the Hungry Housewives

The women's group began in 2004 when a group of women who were not satisfied with the make-your-own-meal businesses that had cropped up to provide quick meals for busy families, decided they could do it themselves, Garate said.

"We were all PTA moms at Wickersham," Garate recalled. "It was a big volunteer school. We just started as a couple of girlfriends who got together to make frozen meals -- we made meals in bulk."

The get-togethers quickly expanded to include brunch and the socializing lasted all day, Garate recalled.

Since then, the group has steered away from making meals, but the brunches and socializing have continued; the Housewives even have a Relay for Life team and get involved in community events and efforts often. They support kids in their community service projects. They've put on fashion shows at in Enumclaw and held various fundraisers in support of leukemia patients.

The Housewives' active website and Facebook page have helped them garner fans from all over the country as their engaging online conversations span everything from recipes and restaurant reviews to home economics challenges. For example, the Housewives recently enacted a 'Spending Freeze' in which participants gave up all but essential spending for their household, Garate said. No more coffees. No more non-essential items just because they're on sale. The feedback that the challenged spawned came from places as far away as Illinois, Canada and even Alaska.

It's a dynamic group, but O'Mary wants to emphasize one important fact: "We were here before the other housewives on TV. We're the original housewives."

Looking Ahead

  • Saturday's fundraiser begins at 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at White River High School. Contact Alisa Garate at 253-232-9684 for more information. Or check out the Housewives' Facebook page.
  • MS Lifelines is hosting a meeting for people with multiple sclerosis on Tuesday, March 1 at Mama Stortini's in Puyallup. Click here for more information.


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