Palouse 4Hers donate funds off steers sold in fair auction

Two Palouse area youths have donated funds from their 4H steer earnings to the Palouse Community Center, which may be ready for building by next spring.

Wyatt, 11, and Payson Griner, 9, raised steers on their family farm off Highway 27 outside Palouse and sold them at the Palouse Empire Fair junior market sale.

Each donated $50 of their earnings to the Palouse Community Center building project.

Payson’s steer weighed in at 1,150 pounds, and Wyatt’s steer was 1,340 pounds.

Their idea to donate came up, said their mother Angie Griner, when the family was discussing how a chunk of the money from Haunted Palouse goes to the fund for the Palouse Community Center.

The family realized how many supporters pitched in to buy the steers at the fair’s auction sale.

“The kids were like, ‘Well, we could donate to such and such,’” Griner said. “We discussed it and they wanted to do it. I suggested the amount to them, $100.”

The former Palouse Community Center building closed two years ago and the committee behind the center has been working since then to build another.

Chairwoman for the PCC, Marie Dymkoski, said the response from the community for the building project has been good.

Fundraising for the building has been in the works for several years now and the project is rounding the corner to completion, she said.

“We’re still planning and hoping to start dirt digging next spring,” Dymkoski said.