
I’m going to break some rules. I’m going to get personal. I’m going to use the dreaded “I” word shunned by “them”, the serious writers with objective integrity. See I’m doing it already. And again. Oh my…five times in the first two lines. One finds it’s not easy to stop once one starts. I can see why “they” tell “us” not to do “it”. Great. Now I’m being nonsensical, superfluous, and redundant with my quotations and adjectives. I think I’d better stick to breaking the one rule for now and just get personal. Because finding a place like Project id trying to grow and serve our community is personally an incredible feeling. One that I would like to share, with you.

Watching a video about the people involved with Project id.
In their own words, “Project id is a nonprofit organization established to provide recreation, socialization, work, personal development, and transitional opportunities to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Spokane County. Based on a unique combination of faith, business, mental health, and sports principles, our goal is to build a vibrant and thriving community of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We aim to provide education, life enhancing experiences, and treatment support for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a safe and nurturing environment.”
To summarize what that means to me, I’d say it means hope, and a little more piece of mind. I have two sons, eight and ten, on the autistic spectrum. Each day, each week, each month brings new surprises, new ways they exceed everyone’s expectations, especially their own. But that future ten years or so down the road feels like it’s right around the corner. They’ll either graduate or age out of school, we don’t know. We don’t know how much they will learn and grow by then. They could keep blowing our expectations out of the water. But that future where they need support continuing into adulthood is a very real possibility. In the end I just want what most parents want for their children. I want them to be able to find happiness in life.
I think that’s enough about me though. There were some amazing people in attendance at the Winter Elegance 2016. The six inches of snow on the ground that kept accumulating as the evening unfolded didn’t keep any of them away.

The Lincoln Center.

In from the cold.
There were people like Brad Pierce, with his dates for the evening, his daughters Tabitha and Samantha.
- Brad Pierce, middle, with daughters Tabitha and Samantha check out the silent auction.
- They found one that looks good.
There were all the people who bid on silent and live auction items.

Bidding on Washington wine country tasting tour package.

This side of the room gets in on the bidding.

This gentleman decided he wasn’t spending enough and overbid himself.
There were people like Erin Anderson,who volunteered the day of the event to help emcee the live auction when the position became open at the last minute, and all the other volunteers.

Erin Anderson with his wife Carol.

Recognizing just some of the many volunteers who helped make the night happen.
There were people like The Sweeplings, Cami Bradley and Whitney Dean, who personally auctioned off a package of their music and capped the evening with a performance.

Whitney Dean offers a custom-recorded Sweeplings ringtone as an additional bonus to the winning bidder.

The Sweeplings perform.

Cami Bradley sings.
And there were people like Rosie Meyers who spent thirty hours working on this quilt.

Rosie Meyers with the quilt.

Tag on the quilt up for live auction.
I found Brad Pierce and his daughters again later in the evening during the live auction, when they were bidding on that very quilt.

Can we dad? Can we?
What do moments like this feel like for a father? I think I know, at least a little. It’s probably something like what I feel when another of my boys asks me when we can make sandwiches to give to homeless people again. Or when I took him out for his birthday dinner a few weeks ago and on the way back to the car he asked if we were going to give some pizza to the woman trying to earn a meal selling jewelry on the curb. As tough as some times can get (because he’s still a kid and I’m still a worried dad and we are all human after all), the times when he talks endlessly about the toys he wants, or when he’s not so kind to other kids, I think of those other moments when he can see past himself and see that he can help people. I just want him to be happy. I want him to think about what real happiness feels like. And those moments make me think that he’s getting it, he’s learning a way to do that at his young age, when it’s taken me almost four decades to figure it out.
It’s no surprise dad said yes.

Brad Pierce gives his daughter Samantha permission to bid on the quilt.

Proud owners of a new quilt.
Project id is doing amazing work, and they are just getting started. I spoke with Executive Director Bob Hutchinson about that.
They almost had to shut down because they don’t own their facility. I hope that problem gets solved soon, and that they are able to grow and fulfill the plans they have. Because they have big plans for getting our adult population with intellectual disabilities involved in service learning programs and entrepreneurship, and for creating transitional living spaces. It’s going to take community support for them to be able to actualize their ambitious plans, and from what I saw at Winter Elegance, we are living in a community that values those plans and wants Project id to succeed in it’s mission.
- Ed Vichi and Brittany Howard greet attendees.
- More greetings from Ed.
- Posing for pictures.
- Happiness is catching around here.
- Checking out the silent auction.
- Aaron Silverly and Brittany Howard.
- Do you have your Project id bracelet yet?
- Attendees consider jewelry up for silent auction.
- Happily bidding.
- Arrivals.
- Volunteers put the finishing touches on the silent auction tables.
- Auction items.
- Auction items continued.
- The Sweeplings donated their merchandise sales to Project id.
- Handcrafted Christmas decor up for silent auction.
- Friendly pre-dinner conversation.
- Bob has entered the building.
- Chatting before dinner.
- Julie Wilson of HMA CPA and her husband Dan.
- Co-Director Dixie Costigan welcomes everyone.
- People pack the silent auction room.
- Co-Director Bob Hutchinson speaks.
- Enjoying dinner.
- Watching a video about the people Project id helps.
- Placing a last minute bid.
- Volunteers Tessaro Batie, Emily Jones, Ashley Hutchinson, and Corissa Hutchinson.
- Wendy and Michael Peter offered tastes of wines from Nodland Cellars.
- Event emcee Hayley Guenthner greets the room.
- Hayley Guenthner and Erin Anderson begin the live auction.
- The bidding begins.
- Attendees at the Dick Westerman sponsored table enjoy the auction.
- More bidding.
- And even more bidding.
- Bidding heats up.
- Cami Bradley and Whitney Dean take the stage to auction off some a Sweeplings package.
- Auction action from the Bill and Kari Reynolds sponsored table.
- More bids.
- And more bidding.
- Bottles for the cork pull.
- Bidding from the back.
- There was so much bidding.
- Hayley Guenthner moved by the generosity she saw from those in attendance.
- Dixie Costigan enjoying the evening.
- Terry Fossum talks about the people helped by Project id who are very special to him.
- One of the things Verna Boyd loves about Project id is getting to play bingo.
- And another good thing about Project id for Verna is when Terry is there!
- Brittany Howard shares her thoughts about Project id.
- Ed Vichi sings the praises of Project id.
- Ed charming the crowd again.
- Aaron Silverly talks about Project id.
- Aaron and Terry share a hug.
- Terry and Verna hug.
- Applause for Aaron, Verna, Brittany, and Ed.
- Ed tries to sell some more stuff.
- Board member Crim Piper speaks about his involvement with the Special Olympics.
- That’s a donation.
- Deana and Jason McGowan with Ruby and Jacob Cela at the WearTek sponsored table.
- Steve Yoshihara (second from right) of sponsor Washington Trust Bank, with sons Josh, Casey, and Tim.
- Cami Bradley.
- The Sweeplings perform.
- Whitney Dean and Cami Bradley perform as The Sweeplings.
- Enjoying the show.
- The Sweeplings perform.