One half of the team running Bothell’s Sign Up, Sign Company, Susie Ormbrek said she knows food banks get a lot of attention during the holidays. She’s not so sure people pay as much attention to the homeless.

“They’re hungry, too,” she said.

For three years, Ormbrek and her husband, Larry, have collected items and run food drives to benefit Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. But those efforts didn’t extend beyond their own business and customers. This year, Susie decided there was more she could do.

“This is really her vision,” Larry said.

Beginning Dec. 6 and running through Dec. 12, approximately 50 businesses along State Route 527 are collecting food and items for the Seattle mission. Susie dubbed the project “Street with a Mission.” The businesses participating run along both sides of 527 from Grease Monkey on the corner of 527 and State Route 522, north to the former American Legion Hall.

“We’re getting this incredible support from people… I’m just fired up,” Susie said.

When all is said and done, Larry and Susie will deliver the proceeds of the collection to the Gospel Mission themselves. If any businesses along 527 don’t have the means to bring collected items to Sign Up (18720 Bothell Way N.E.), the Ormbreks said they happily will go and pick up donations.

All in all, Larry figures about 90 percent of the businesses along that stretch of road are participating, with barrels and boxes set up for customers to drop off donations.

“I find that amazing and wonderful at the same time,” Larry said of the participation rate. Susie noted several businesses — no names, please — decided to go ahead and collect items without necessarily getting the OK from corporate headquarters.

Running North Creek Real Estate next door to Sign Up, Martin Makuta said Susie’s excitement over the project is contagious. He ended up helping to recruit businesses into participating.

“I’ve been inspired,” Makuta said, adding the Ormbreks, especially Susie, made it easy to want to chip in and help.

“I know it’s a good cause, it’s a wonderful cause,” he added.

Several businesses, including Grease Monkey, put announcements of the donation drive on their sign boards. Employees at the Union 76 service station across the street from Sign Up placed a banner on their building and put out a barrel to gather items. Susie said the station’s manager indicated between 800 to 1,000 cars stop at the station every day. Susie hopes that translates to lots and lots of donations.

“I’m just so excited,” she said, not for the first time. She added her goal is to fill the van that sits in the Sign Up parking lot with items.

“But if we got one can, that would be a help,” Susie said, though even before the drive officially started, donations at Sign Up alone appeared to have far exceeded one can of food. While talking with a reporter on the phone about the effort, Susie said someone had just dropped off a pile of blankets.

The “Street with a Mission” drive primarily was aimed at collecting food, but Susie noted the mission is always in need of items such as blankets and also cold-weather clothing such as hats and gloves. She added if this year’s drive is successful, she wants to expand the effort to include Main Street next year.

For more information on the ongoing drive, call the Sign Up Sign Company at (425) 488-9247.