Month: April 2020

[caption id="attachment_2369" align="aligncenter" width="5000"] Caregiver, carer hand holding elder hand in hospice care. Philanthropy kindness to disabled concept.[/caption] The name Puyallup can mean “generous people” and the phrase definitely reflects the history and character of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.  It is also a quality I see in many of my neighbors in my hometown of Puyallup. But that quality of generosity extends throughout Pierce County, as I was reminded poignantly this week. This letter showed up on my desk recently with a check for $200. I appreciated Mr. Foster’s act of generosity, so I decided to call and thank him personally. I learned that Pierce County was not the only recipient of his kindness. He decided to give away the entire $1200 he received from his federal relief check.…

I am a pretty healthy guy – something I take less for granted in our current coronavirus outbreak.  And I have some very good veins and am O+, which means my blood can help a lot of different people.   So, I take nearly every chance I can to donate blood. The coronavirus outbreak caused a shortage of donors, so I donated a pint back on March 14th. Additionally, I talked my wife, Lauren, into donating and she stepped up on March 27th. I felt pretty good about our efforts. Little did I know that one of our Pierce County co-worker’s donations was bigger – and by a lot. Some of you may know Scott Roth, a program manager in Planning & Public Works.  Scott served proudly in the U.S. Marine Corps,…

The words “thank you” are inadequate to express my appreciation and gratitude to those of you working long days and nights and through the weekends to make sure our residents are taken care of and that the work of the County continues on as best as possible. The demands of the last few weeks have taken you away from your families and added a tremendous amount of stress to an already challenging time. Day after day you have been creative, innovative and dedicated in your efforts to provide care, concern and support to our residents.  And, they are grateful! Here’s a note I couldn’t wait to share with you: Well done, PPW!  I’m grateful for the hard work you are doing, exceeding the expectations of our residents! This next note…

I am very proud of how our community has responded to the Coronavirus outbreak.  It brings us challenge after challenge, yet our teams work to find solutions time and time again.  Our Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department and Emergency Management unified command team has been exceptional - and the leadership coming out of the Emergency Operations Center has been rock solid. One of the biggest challenges facing our community is feeding the children who normally have been fed up to two meals a day at school.  When the schools were closed, children lost their access to those healthy meals - and the connection to the caring adults at their local schools.  Many of these children come from families on the margin to begin with – with parents or caregivers most likely…