Casino Toy drive delivers for children's hospital

By Angela Sears

Spirit Mountain Casino marketing coordinator

For the fourth consecutive year, Spirit Mountain Casino delivered just in time for the holidays a semi-truck load of new, unwrapped toys to Doernbecher Children's Hospital at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

The casino held its annual holiday toy drive through a three-week customer promotion that began Nov. 29. Casino guests participated by donating toys at the Players' Club in exchange for free play.

Spirit Mountain Casino Chief Executive Officer Rodney Ferguson and Chief Operating Officer Randy Dugger delivered the truck load of more than 7,000 toys to Sandy Westfall, Child Life Therapy coordinator at Doernbecher at the facility's loading dock at 11 a.m. Dec. 20.

"The toy drive has been an unbelievable success throughout the past four years," Ferguson said. "In spite of the tough economic times and high jobless rate faced by Oregonians, our guests continue to step up and provide toys for a brighter holiday season for the kids at Doernbecher. This year, we delivered 17 pallets of toys - enough to fill the 32-foot semi-trailer donated by TP Freight Lines."

According to Doernbecher staff members, the hospital had a patient population of more than 100 children on the day of the delivery.

Westfall said hospital officials use the toys throughout the year to help young patients acclimate and adjust to their new surroundings, as well as deal with sometimes difficult treatments for such diagnosis as cancer.

Ferguson said this year the casino collected fewer, but higher-quality toys that were more in keeping with the needs of children at Doernbecher.

During an interview with media covering the event, Ferguson said that the casino's toy drive continues the Tribe's tradition of Potlatch, sharing its fortunes with the rest of the community. He also cited the Tribe's Spirit Mountain Community Fund, which has distributed more than $55 million since its founding.

"I think this shows that our guests and the Tribe understand the meaning of Christmas," Ferguson said.

Includes information from Smoke Signals Editor Dean Rhodes.