By SUSAN PARK

Every year as part of their fall Sharing the Harvest Promotion, neighborhood based PCC Natural Markets choose a charity of their choice. This year, Thornton Creek Alliance was lucky enough to be taken in under the wings of the View Ridge PCC located at 6514 40th Ave NE.

Store Director John Rothwell came out to Matthew's Beach to give Cheryl Klinker, acting president of TCA, a check for $1500. Klinker says the money will be used to provide educational signage at a park in Lake City.

The money was raised by a vendor sponsored promotion where vendors lower their prices to PCC who then charges full price and applies the difference to the charity. Participating vendors include Cascade Fresh in Seattle and Newman's Organics based in California.

Rothwell said the staff and coop members at the View Ridge PCC considered several different charities this year from a list provided by their corporate headquarters. "We decided we wanted to hook up with an environmental effort," said Rothwell, "We have lots of shoppers who live along the banks of Thornton Creek. It seemed like a really good fit."

PCC General Manager Jeff Voltz said he got the idea of sponsoring Thornton Creek from newspaper articles pleading for daylighting the Creek. Voltz said PCC had a good experience volunteering in efforts to daylight Ravenna Creek and Longfellow Creek in West Seattle.

Three other North Seattle based PCCs have adopted other charities. The Green Lake PCC sponsored Seattle Tilth Children's Garden; The Ravenna PCC sponsored the Ravenna Eckstein Community Center's Children's Nature Program; and The Fremont PCC sponsored B.F. Day Elementary School. Each charity received $1500.

In addition, three other charity organizations were adopted by the Corporate Office and received $2000 each: The Fremont Public Association, Bastyr College, and Friends of P-Patch.

PCC is a cooperative owned grocery store specializing in natural and organic foods. The headquarters is based in the Roosevelt neighborhood.