TWST Blog

Spray, Wheeler County, Or

On Day Three of our TWST, we start in Spray. It's a community of about 160 residents within city limits, and 250 folks including the surrounding areas. We met in “The Rock” building that is operated by the local church and serves as Spray’s community center.

Kristi Stieber from the Shelk Foundation and I had the pleasure to talk with 15 folks whose organizations ran the gamut of services: K-12 education, health, seniors, a grange hall, ambulance, fire protection, the rodeo, soil and water conservation, animal rescue, and local business.

Sharon, who owns the Spray General Store, asked if there was any way that MMT or other funders would help keep the local businesses open because without them the community would die. I had the unfortunate duty to inform Sharon that foundations are unable to grant to for-profit businesses. I wondered if there might possibly be some federal stimulus funds available to small businesses. We all decided that we did not know and that we would connect Sharon with Paula Fontenot, who works with the Lower John Day Development Partnership. Paula said she would do what she could to find out about this. We acknowledged that while our emphasis is the nonprofit sector, it is important for all sectors to thrive and have a healthy community. Another issue that came up is the lack of living wage jobs, which results in high poverty. They told us there are not enough people to fill all the volunteer work opportunities here, and they need more activities and education programs for youth. The group identified parenting skills training, adult education, and natural resource conservation education as other important services they need in addition to fire and ambulance service. We talked about potential granting opportunities with the Meyer Trust, but I had to warn the folks from the ambulance and fire services that the Trust does not have the ability to fund all the infrastructure services our communities need. I did tell them MMT occasionally makes exceptions to this, but I wanted to be sure they understood that we get far more requests for fire engines and ambulances than we ever fund. I wanted to spend more time chatting with folks after the meeting, but our discussion took all of my allotted time, and I had to leave for my next stop. After visiting the three major communities in Wheeler County I definitely feel there is much potential for linkages and tourism in these central Oregon communities. I thought about this all the way to our next stop.

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