Giving From the Heart Breakfast Registration Now Open

Former Mercer Island mayor Aubrey Davis and Solemates walker and long-time resident Virginia Moss Anderson will serve as honorary chairs for this yea's Giving from the Heart Breakfast to support the Mercer Island Youth and Family Services (MIYFS) Foundation.

Whether new to the Island or a traditional attendee, this lively, dynamic community celebration will prove to be inspirational, informative and entertaining — it is a true tradition among Islanders.

This signature fundraising event will be held Wednesday, Feb. 13 from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. at the Mercer Island Community and Event Center. The breakfast is free, but attendees will be asked to make a donation to Youth and Family Services at the event (click here for reservations, which are still available).

Honorary Chairs for the breakfast are public transportation advocate, inventor, and health care reformer Aubrey Davis, and 83-year resident, avid walker, and community volunteer Virginia Moss Anderson.

All Proceeds from the event directly support MIYFS, the human services Department of the City of Mercer Island. MIYFS touches every member of our community through counselors in the schools, senior outreach and advocacy, affordable family counseling, drug and alcohol prevention programs, arrested youth and early intervention programs, family assistance, and a thriving thrift store. To learn more about MIYFS visit www.miyfs.org.

The Maren-Swenson Fund has once again stepped up as a $25,000 Matching Sponsor. Other major sponsors of the event include Island Crust Cafe, Union Bank, Tatters, Gull Industries, John and Ellen Hill.

All Proceeds from the event directly support Mercer Island Youth and Family Services, the human services department of the City of Mercer Island. MIYFS touches every member of our community through counselors in the schools, senior outreach and advocacy, affordable family counseling, drug and alcohol prevention programs, arrested youth and early intervention programs, family assistance and a thriving thrift store. Last year, over $100,000 was brought in at the event to support Mercer Island Youth and Family Services. To learn more about MIYFS visit: www.miyfs.org.

At 95 years old, Aubrey Davis has had a significant impact on Mercer Island and the Northwest. Aubrey served on the Mercer Island City Council from 1967-1978 and was Mayor from 1970-1973. He helped with Mercer Island’s incorporation as a city and was critical in negotiating the redesign of I-90 across the Island and the Lid Park. He is described on HistoryLink.org as, “Health care reformer, public transportation advocate, politician, civil servant, businessman, inventor, environmentalist -- Aubrey Davis has affected the lives of Northwesterners for more than half-a-century. He helped create King County Metro; ensured the survival of what a New England Journal of Medicine editor called health care’s “model of the future” (The New York Times); pioneered community involvement in highway planning; ran businesses that created products ranging from military weather stations to waterproofing for decks; and chaired the task force that investigated the 1990 sinking of the Interstate 90 floating bridge. His political life included election as mayor of Mercer Island, running for King County Executive, managing Senator Warren Magnuson’s last campaign, and chairing the state transportation commission.”

About Virginia Moss Anderson

Virginia Moss Anderson moved to Mercer Island with her family in when she was four years old, making Mercer Island her community for 82 of her 86 years. She attended the old East Seattle School, navigating the community “boardwalks” that acted as sidewalks in the early days and later attended Franklin High School. She remembers her mother driving the school bus to Franklin during the war, her sister being the Queen of the Floating Bridge, her father being President of the Keewaydin Club — the Island’s northend improvement club ­- and her mother being one of the early Presidents of the Mercer Island Children’s Hospital Guild that still today puts out our Mercer Island Directory. She grew up with the Island sense of community all around her. For 30 years she worked at Emmy’s Attic, the thrift store that was run by the Emmanuel Church and has been an active member of the Seattle Children’s Hospital Guild, Camp Fire Girls, the Mercer Island Historical Society, Probus, and Fran Call’s Soulmates with whom she still walks every Wednesday. Virginia still lives in the East Seattle home she raised her family in, and her daughter and family still live in the 1919 family home that Virginia grew up in.

(Ed. Note: Due to an editing error, a previous version of this announcement stated that the breakfast would be held on Feb. 16 and has since been corrected. Mercer Island Patch Regrets the error. The information above was provided from a city news release.)