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Showing off lights for area�s hungry Project raises 1� tons of food By Mark Freeman Doug Rush always believed the stream of cars flowing past the white-lighted Christmas displays of his Greystone Court street could be mined to help those less fortunate. But just how much food those light-watchers would donate in three nights of gawking last week was this year�s Christmas mystery. "I didn�t know what to expect � maybe just one barrel," says Rush, a retired retail salesman. "All I knew is, we�d have a lot of cars." Now hungry folks in the Rogue Valley have 1� tons of food and a wad of cash, thanks to Greystone Court visitors who helped turn a drive down a short Medford cul-de-sac into a new holiday giving tradition. Christmas-light watchers donated more than 3,850 pounds of food and more than $2,550 to a food-distribution network on Friday through Sunday nights at Greystone Court, off North Phoenix Road in southeast Medford. With little publicity and no history, the collection far outstripped even the most optimistic expectations. "It�s been an overwhelming success," said Ben Benjamin of ACCESS, which joined with Greystone Court residents in the fund-raiser. "For a first-time effort, it�s phenomenal." The court�s 13 large homes, many of them sporting large white pillars and immaculately manicured front lawns, are all decorated in a menagerie of white lights whose continuity and grace make it a popular stop on Medford�s Christmas light auto circuit. As many as 1,200 cars per night have floated past the displays on the nights before Christmas, since the first house began decorating in the early 1990s. The display always has been free, but this year Rush saw charitable opportunities for the crowds. He sold his neighbors on the idea of doing a low-key food drive, and ACCESS was more than willing to take part. Court residents and volunteers manned a post at the end of the cul-de-sac during the Christmas weekend evenings to collect food and other donations. Benjamin optimistically set a goal of 2,000 pounds of food and $1,000 in cash donations, knowing that ACCESS can turn a $1 gift into 5 pounds of food. Donations topped 600 pounds of nonperishable food and $350 cash on Friday, when about one in every eight cars stopped, Benjamin said. By Sunday night, 31 barrels, each loaded with an average of 125 pounds of food, had been collected, much to the gleeful amazement of the court�s residents. "Whatever it is that made this happen," Rush says, "it was fabulous." Donations came in all sorts of sizes, court resident Bob Crews said. Many cars gave a few food items or anywhere from $2 to $10 cash, while others handed over sacks full of food bought just to donate, he said. One man even gave $100 through his window to the volunteers. "We were all so flabbergasted at this community�s ability and desire to give," Crews said. "There were some people who I know in my heart were giving a large percentage of what they were able to give � and that�s a definition of a true giver." The food was stored in the Medford Seventh-day Adventist Church pantry by the church�s Medford Community Services. The pantry is one of 16 that collect and distribute food within the ACCESS network in Jackson County, Benjamin said. The food likely will be distributed to needy families beginning next week, and the cache could last into February, Benjamin said. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.