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The hungry lose a friend
The homeless and hopeless, the downtrodden and defeated all lost the best friend they ever had, whether they knew that or him.
Although he walked with canes and later needed a power wheelchair to get around, Wayne was not disabled. He was the most able man you could imagine.
He worked for years on their behalf, raising money to feed them, raising awareness of their plight and raising affordable housing for dozens of families.
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From 1983 through 1994, and starting up again in 2002, the 2000 Turkey campaigns have raised more than $846,000 to help feed hungry families at Thanksgiving.
Armstrong and Grace Hopwood started the seasonal food campaign in the city parking lot on South Main Street across from the Observer Publishing Co. offices, inviting motorists to drop off cans of food that were then distributed by the Salvation Army. I wrote my next column about them, sitting next to a pickup truck that Saturday, smiling, maybe 10 dozen cans of food on the tailgate for their efforts.
From that, it morphed into 2000 Turkeys for the Unemployed of Washington and Greene counties, the name coming from data provided by a state agency that estimated the number of newly unemployed at about 2,000, mostly steelworkers and coal miners at that time.
By 1994, when everybody who wanted a job had one, we suspended the fundraiser, having that year collected $50,000 from readers of this column and listeners to Pete Povich on his morning radio show on WJPA AM-FM. In 2002, 2000 Turkeys was resurrected, but this time without Wayne's all-volunteer distribution system in favor of the food bank and its neighborhood food pantries.
This year, in his honor and memory, 2000 Turkeys will strive to raise enough money to go over $1 million.
The last time we talked turkey, he said we had to go on that goal.
"We can't quit now," he said. "People still need us. The food bank needs us."
The next 2000 Turkey campaign will begin Oct. 2.
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Birthday candles
April 17 - Peter Bobich of Townview Rehab Center, Canonsburg, formerly of Washington, his 90th
April 18 - Michael Namie
April 19 - Troy Polamalu
April 22 - Alex Pruce
Byron Smialek's column appears Saturdays. Send anniversary and birthday greetings to 1312 Banetown Road, Washington, PA 15301. His e-mail address is byretired@live.com.
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