Bothell boy who died of leukemia is the focus of food drives
Wendy Sutton said she doesn’t wonder at the reason behind the death of her son Brenden Foster, who died Nov. 21, 2008, of leukemia at age 11.
Before he passed, Brenden made a wish that’s still being fulfilled, a wish to help the homeless and the hungry in the Puget Sound area.
“I think he was an angel that was put here on Earth,” Sutton said sitting outside the Bothell Fred Meyer store Nov. 18 for one of several food drives being held that day in honor of her son. She said she is still amazed at how Brenden’s request was picked up by the media and responded to by the public.
“I don’t have to wonder why he had to go,” Sutton reiterated regarding her son, adding that had Brenden not been ill, no one would have listened to his wish.
At the time of his passing last year, Brenden’s grandmother Patricia McMorrow said her grandson became inspired to help those less fortunate after seeing a group of homeless people during one of his trips to a clinic in Seattle.
Through a family friend, Brenden’s wish was passed along to the charitable organization Emerald City Lights, which passed out sandwiches in his name to needy people in downtown Seattle. That’s when Brenden’s story was picked up by local TV and other media outlets.
“It’s a great cause,” said Mike Brown, one of the many visitors to the Fred Meyer drive last week. Brown placed a couple of bags of groceries into a large cardboard collection box. Several such boxes already had been filled and placed on a waiting semi-truck. Brown said he had traveled from Edmonds to drop off his items, the same trip he made last year.
“Everyone is hurting, the economy is still bad,” he said. “It’s a little bit of a trip, but it’s worth it.”
As cars drove up and popped open trunks or handed donations out windows, Bothell firefighters were among the volunteers helping to handle the loads.
“The city of Bothell takes care of its own,” said firefighter Todd Wilson.
“We wanted to come out and show our support,” added fellow firefighter Steve Scott. Scott said Bothell emergency workers also helped with last year’s drive, which unfortunately took place in a steady rain. Wilson noted that, baring any emergency calls, Bothell fire and EMS crews would be rotating time in the lot of the Fred Meyer for the duration of the drive.
Last year’s event in Brenden’s name raised $43,000 in cash and brought in some 23,000 pounds of food, a spokesperson for Northwest Hunger said following the 2008 collection. Sponsored by KOMO 4 TV, this year’s drive benefitted Northwest Hunger and Food Lifeline, an umbrella agency that serves some 300 food banks and similar groups, said spokesperson Kristie Danazio.
Danazio added Lifeline helped serve 675,000 people last year, some 37 percent of that number being children. She compared that with the 600,000 persons helped in 2008. With the economy stagnant, Danazio said the need for the services of such organizations as Lifeline, predictably, has continued to increase.
“We’ve seen a lot of people who’ve never been in need of a food bank before,” she said. Danazio added Fred Meyer stores will continue to host food drives throughout the coming holiday season.
“It’s all very moving,” Sutton added as donations continued to come in last week. “It lets me know Brenden’s alive in spirit.”
