Clubs Vie For I-90 Refreshment Stands -- Rest-Stop Offers Of Coffee And Cookies Bring Hefty Donations To Service Groups

CLE ELUM - There's plenty of competition for the right to hand out free cookies and coffee to weary travelers along Washington's interstate highways.

That's because donations from appreciative motorists sometimes total as much as $3,000 at a single rest stop in one weekend, says Ellen Brzoska of the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society.

"How much you make depends on which side you get," says Brzoska, whose organization last weekend played host at the Interstate 90 rest area at Indian John Hill.

"On the eastbound side, you'll make about three times as much than on the westbound. The people coming from Seattle seem to be more generous."

Many nonprofit organizations compete for the chance to set up refreshment booths at roadside rest areas. Last year, the state Department of Transportation got 450 requests to use the Indian John Hill rest areas and could accept only about 250, says Sharon Geiger of the state DOT office in Cle Elum.

"The applications are given numbers and as they're drawn, the groups are allotted times," she says.

Competition for the Indian John Hill rest stop is so fierce the department has taken to assigning the eastbound side of the road to one group and the westbound to another.

The most popular dates are weekends and holidays, but groups can be found dispensing coffee and goodies most weekdays. The most requested dates are Memorial Day, Labor Day and the Fourth of July weekends.

Members of the Yakima Valley Genealogical Society baked up to 12,000 cookies for their weekend at the Indian John Hill rest stop. They also served coffee, hot chocolate and popcorn.

On a recent weekend, the Ladies of Chelminar Grotto of Yakima, a Masonic order, set up a cerebral-palsy fund-raising booth at the eastbound rest stop.

"We go through about 300 dozen cookies and 60 pounds of coffee in a weekend," says Jurrell Krause. That nets them about $1,100 after expenses, Krause says, noting that most of the cookies are baked by group volunteers.

Sometimes motorists tuck $20 in the group's donation jar and don't take so much as a cookie. Others are surprised to find a source of coffee and conversation at the rest stops.

Richard and Tess Porter of England, who stopped at Indian John Hill on their way to Yakima, think the booths are a great idea.

"It's ideal for the traveler," Tess Porter said.

Tiger Chang of San Francisco, driving from Vancouver, B.C., to the Tri-Cities, saw the sign offering free coffee and stopped.

"What a nice thing to do," he said. "Washington is so nice. There are no coffee stops in California."