By JACK HOPKINS
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Helping is a habit for 81-year-old Eva Hartman.

The longtime Auburn resident heads one of four teams of community volunteers who put on a weekly supper for the needy and elderly. She has been giving her time to Auburn Community Suppers for the more than 10 years it has been in existence.

Volunteers serve dinner to as many as 125 people at the Methodist church every Monday night -- using food they have been given by local grocery stores, freshly baked bread from an Adventist bakery and a lot of volunteer community labor.

"It was started to help feed the needy and give older people who might not be needy a night out, a place to go for conversation and a visit," Hartman says. "It has worked out well."

The organization, headed by Elaine Prenovost, used to get surplus food from the government. When that no longer was available, volunteers worked out an arrangement with grocery stores to get day-old food that could no longer be sold but was still of good quality. The rest of what it needs is bought with citizen contributions. Churches and the Eagles auxiliary take turns preparing the desserts.

"This has brought a lot of people together who would never have met otherwise. And I feel that's good for any town," says Hartman.

The supper program is just one example of the city's efforts to keep its small-town roots, says Paul Krauss, Auburn's director of planning and community development.

Chamber of Commerce president Lynn Norman agrees. "Whenever there is a problem," Norman says, "we seem to get the community together and do something about it."

"The image that Auburn has always had was of a blue-collar, working-class-type of town. And a lot of those people are still here," Krauss says. But Auburn has a lot of people who have social needs as well.

"Over time, our population has tended to get a little more affluent. But there is still a significant percentage of our population that gets assistance of one sort or another," Krauss says. "One of the endearing things about Auburn is that people haven't turned their backs on those social needs."

Continued:

• Small-town values thrive despite area's rapid growth
• New SuperMall is sign of changing times for town
• Good bets for development don't always pan out
• Railroads link people's past with future