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‘Small-c’ charity thrives in east Vancouver

Some people, such as Ralph Heiser, lead informal efforts because it feels good

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: December 5, 2014, 12:00am
7 Photos
Disabled and formerly the president of Miracle League (providing baseball for the disabled), Ralph Heiser operates an informal charity network.
Disabled and formerly the president of Miracle League (providing baseball for the disabled), Ralph Heiser operates an informal charity network. Photo Gallery

Not every charitable effort aimed at bringing holiday cheer to needy people is a capital-P Program of a capital-A Agency. Sometimes, just-plain folks are moved to do just-plain good stuff — only because it makes them feel good or they can relate to hard times.

Take Ralph Heiser, for example. Heiser’s east Vancouver garage has been the hub of a busy and completely informal donation-and-redistribution effort for three years.

On Thursday afternoon, the garage was packed to nearly bursting with donated clothing, toys, toiletries, baby supplies and plenty more. Heiser said he recently took donations from a toy store, an Oxford House — that’s a halfway house for people recovering from drug addiction — and staff and families at Clark Public Utilities.

They never seem to care that he’s not an official, tax-deductible 501(c)3 nonprofit, which he is careful to tell everyone up-front, he said; they just seem to trust him.

“I just help the homeless and other people in the community I hear about,” he said. He said he frequently supplies a group home for troubled youth down the block. He’s got a whole bunch of “little elves” who do a lot of wrapping and delivering, he added. And he’s in touch with a parallel network in north Clark County that does very much the same work — all informal and under the radar, he said. It’s just people helping people.

This goes on all year, he said, but now is definitely the busiest time. Heiser has launched a Facebook website, “Vancouver WA Christmas Helper,” where members can exchange tips on local needs and offerings they know about. They’ve already touched well over 100 families this season, he said, and things are still revving up.

“Ralph, there is a family in need of toys clothes or anything mom is single and raising a 10 & 1 yr old,” says a typical message. “She is just moving into her first apartment. I know that she is in the mommy’s and daddy exchange group.”

And here’s a response to a different request: “I might have some Legos. I don’t think I have any complete sets, but maybe a combination of a couple. I’ll look through them tonight and get back to you.”

A good spirit

Heiser grew up in Vancouver, and worked ever since he was a teenager, he said. He used to make good money doing auto mechanics and working in a recycling facility, he said.

Then, one day on the job, he jumped down from the back of a truck and realized he had no feeling in his legs. Before long, that had extended to his arms and hands. He got a diagnosis: a tumor growing not just on but inside his spinal cord.

“The nerves are wrapped around it,” he said. Doctors have told him that surgery would be a very iffy proposition. Instead, he’s living on morphine, he said, and starting to deal with some unhappy side effects of that.

He hasn’t been able to work in five years, he said. In that time he did manage to serve as president of the Miracle League, a nonprofit that brings baseball to people with mental and physical disabilities, but resigned about a year ago. He’s also coached local Special Olympics teams. But he does get worn out these days, and he tends to stumble if he’s not careful. It’s too easy for him to close a hand in a door without realizing it, he said.

“I try to keep a good spirit and keep busy,” he said. “Stuff happens. I don’t want to go around thinking ‘poor me.’ “

Because he’s spent his life in Vancouver — and because of those personal connections with youth and families and charitable sponsors of sports leagues — Heiser said he seems to “know everybody.” That proved helpful when a reporter got lost on the way to Heiser’s house in mazelike east Vancouver; a mention of Heiser’s name to a random neighbor on the wrong street, and she knew exactly who he was and where he was located, several blocks away. Minutes later, a neighbor stopped by Heiser’s house with a blue tub full of clothing donations and kept right on going. Business as usual, Heiser said.

Incidentally, Friday is Heiser’s 48th birthday.

High-rise needs

And then there’s the sister duo of Carrie Rivera and Sherrie Conrad. Their parents live at Columbia House, the Vancouver Housing Authority building for low-income senior citizens near downtown. A few years ago, the sisters realized just how needy some of the residents really are.

“A lot of them have no families, nobody around,” Conrad said. “We thought it would be nice if somebody did something for them. Why can’t we?”

The sisters launched “Elves for Seniors,” a totally homemade effort to provide gifts and stocking stuffers for everyone at Columbia House — and beyond, if possible.

“All it takes is a little help from the community,” Conrad said. Of course, there’s an “Elves for Seniors” Facebook page, which is the best way to connect with the effort.

Year one was small but a definite success, and year two went a lot bigger thanks to some media attention, Conrad said. In addition to gifting 125 seniors, the group was able to buy Columbia House a wished-for barbecue grill, she said. And Conrad said she’ll never forget a resident weeping in the building elevator — from happiness at receiving an unexpected Christmas gift, it turned out.

This is year three, and the sisters have convinced several local business to put out collection barrels for “Elves for Seniors.” If they wind up with more donations than Columbia House really needs, well, there’s no shortage of needy seniors all over town, Conrad said.

“We just want to get gifts to seniors who will enjoy and appreciate them,” she said. “We don’t care where they live. We just want them to know they’re remembered.”

Drop-off locations

Elves for Seniors drop-off locations are:

• Kakadu Traders Australia, 8100 N.E. St. Johns Rd., suite E108; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. M – F. Drive to far back, last office on right.

• The Cat’s Pajamas Antiques, 1411 Broadway, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays and Fridays only.

• Casey’s Independent Auto Repair, 11610 N.E. 65th St., regular business hours.

• Salon Argyll, 11818 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd., suite 109. Please call 360-450-1450.

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