Help your community first was the theme of the Greater Maple Valley Community Center’s eighth annual breakfast benefit on March 15.

Close to 200 attended the breakfast which helped raised about $33,000 to support the Community Center, which was founded in 1976.

The breakfast included several speakers, with Mrs. Pacific Northwest Larissa Long of Maple Valley, the featured speaker. Long has used the pageant as a way to promote various charities and organizations.

“I felt like I needed to do things that were inside of my community,” she said. “I’m glad to see there’s so much support.”

One speaker, Tom Sutton, referred to the Community Center as a “safety net.”

Community Center Director Lynn Roberts called it the hub of Maple Valley.

“It is a place where the winter years of our life are honored,” she said. “A place where companionship can be found and expertise needed to guide us through the confusing process of our aging years.”

It was the last benefit breakfast for Roberts, who first took over as director in 2002, as she will be stepping down at the end of the month.

“I can’t express what the last nine years have meant for me,” Roberts said. “It’s been such a blessing to be a part of the community and to meet all of you and to know all the lives that have been touched in those years.”

Last to speak was Community Center Board President Denny Pierre.

“I’ve learned first hand what a treasure the community center is,” he said. “Twenty years I ago I came to the community center as a participant. It continues to be a source of pride to me and to the community. Our theme today is help your community first. I’ve never lived in a community that does that better, a community that comes to the aid and support of the community.”