TWST Blog

Our focus for day two of the Southern Oregon Coast Twist Tour was Curry County, whose motto is “No Hurry in Curry.”

We began at the Port Orford Senior Center hosted by Center board chair, Owen Miller.

Prior to the start of the meeting, we met Jennifer Ewing, a transplanted Port Orford resident from Ashland, who teaches Master Gardeners and formerly ran a nursery in Ashland. She has teamed up with the Sunset Garden Club of Port Orford to construct the Port Orford Educational Demonstration Garden right on the grounds of the senior center.

The Garden consists of nine raised beds, and its purpose is to demonstrate how residents of Port Orford can grow some of their own fresh food year-round. Two different neighbors across the street from the garden were so impressed that they started their own raised beds after studying how Jennifer constructed the beds at the demonstration garden. Jennifer hopes to spread the word about growing healthy food throughout Port Orford and perhaps partner with area food banks in the future to help people in need access fresh food and experience healthier diets.

What we learned from our meeting in Port Orford, where 15 nonprofit representatives took time to attend, ask great questions, and share insights, is that these people wear A LOT of hats at one time, a common occurrence in Oregon’s rural communities. One woman wore about six hats and still had the energy to attend our meeting and connect with her nonprofit colleagues. We were exhausted just listening to all the organizations she listed during the introductions!

An even smaller number of hands went up when we asked how many had applied to MMT in the past (only five). Again, of those who applied, the majority received grants, so we did our best to answer as many questions as possible to help demystify the grant application process. And, did these people have great questions! The first question was the most basic: How do we get money??? We then learned that some residents have issues with online applications because they don’t have access to DSL and still must rely on dial-up service for Internet access. What if you have to call your bookkeeper while you’re filling out the financial information online and your phone line is tied up by the application? A very good question.

Others told us that it would be nice to preview the entire application (through a preview function) so they could see all the information they will need to answer in advance, specifically the financial information (so they could talk to that bookkeeper in advance). Others want to be able to print out drafts of their application while it’s in process as they move around from location to location while they work on it (remember all those hats?). This group really focused on the specifics of the application process. While we don’t know if we can address all of these issues, we really appreciated the detailed feedback and will pass it along to our wizards at MMT who might be able to address these issues (or might not), but we’ll keep you posted.

We had only a small window of time to scoot down the coast to Gold Beach where we held our afternoon session at the Educational Service District offices, with our gracious host Myrna Barber, Executive Director of the Curry County Commission on Children and Families. About 18 people showed up from around the Gold Beach area, with the prize for distance traveled going to the representative from Southern Oregon Girl Scouts, based in Medford.

This group really took advantage of making connections with one another, and we welcomed 81-year-old community volunteer Jeanne Gamnell, who told us she lives seven months of the year in a tent for the U.S. Forest Service, “doing whatever needs doing,” including cleaning toilets! That made us all sit up straight and pay attention. No complaints about lacking energy or being tired from this group, not after listening to Jeanne.

Once again, we heard about the struggles of many community residents to find family wage employment that can pay wages to cover housing and other costs. This part of Curry County is becoming a haven for people looking to retire or live in a setting of exquisite natural beauty and fairly mild climate. Such an influx helps strengthen general livability for those who have resources, but makes life difficult for those who work in the service economy. Yet several attendees reinforced the importance of grassroots fundraising, even in seemingly distressed communities. People want to give and will give when asked. One woman cautioned that we shouldn’t assume what people’s level of giving will be in advance. It’s important to ask and let them determine what they can afford to give. And we might be pleasantly surprised.

A strong echo from earlier community meetings was the importance of public libraries in these rural towns, as sources of enlightenment, as gathering places for the community, particularly for seniors and youth, and as beacons of hope and progress that these communities can survive and perhaps thrive once again.

We drove past or met in libraries in virtually every town we visited (the meeting tomorrow is in the Chetco Public Library in Brookings), and, after the meeting, we were given the grand tour of the newly constructed library in Gold Beach, where director, Gil Chavez, told us about the amazing level of public support that went into that campaign. The new library is set to open its doors in late June, and boy is this community excited!

We also stopped by to visit Jami Roybal and her colleagues at Christian Help of Gold Beach, recent recipient of MMT grants to help renovate parts of the Thrift Store and Food Bank.

Members at the community meeting called Christian Help the angels of the community for all the emergency and social service assistance they provide to people in extreme need.

Finally, Pat Barnett, one of the women in the group who wore several hats, including long-time volunteer for the local food bank, invited us to visit the Jetty Cats site just north of town.

We had to break the news to her that Meyer Memorial Trust doesn’t fund animal welfare groups, but no matter. She told us to visit just for the experience of seeing what dedicated volunteers do for stray cats in Brookings. They’ve build a miniature coastal town for the cats, and volunteers come out to feed and water them, get them medical attention and shots, spay and neuter them, and try to find them adoptive homes. Several members at the community meeting had adopted Jetty Cats. We never cease to be amazed at the resourcefulness, compassion, and commitment members of these communities have for both their fellow human and animal residents.

Next stop, Brookings….

Sally Yee & Kim Thomas

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