TWST Blog

Friday, May 21 - John Day

Hello Everyone,
We are on the road again heading to Harney and Malheur Counties and on the way I made a pre-TWST stop in Grant County at the “Building Your Nonprofit Conference”.   This one-day technical assistance, training and networking event is a project of the John and Linda Shelk Foundation.  Boards, volunteers and staff from about 100 nonprofits from across Grant, Wheeler, Crook and Harney counties gathered at the John Day High School to learn new skills and share their success stories.
 
I held a TWST stop just a half-mile up the road from here last June where over 50 people attended so I was surprised to find that I knew only a handful of the folks at this conference.  This was definitely a workday for all, but that didn’t stop folks from having some fun.  They poked fun at the foundation representatives sitting on the Funders Panel from the Collins Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust.  And no mercy was spared on the MMT:  my name is now Sally Yee-ha!  After the laughter subsided they got to business directing questions to each of us. Everyone was so appreciative of getting to meet someone from each foundation.
 
At the end of the day we got to give special recognition to a few nonprofits.  Each participating group was given the opportunity to write a mini-grant to the conference committee.  Although there were only four awards, I think everyone felt like a winner.
 
Next stop, Burns.

Monday, May 24 – Burns, OR

I picked up program officer Kim Thomas in Redmond this morning to take our TWST to Burns in Harney County.  The drive from Redmond to Burns was impressive with its long, flat vistas and increasing sense of remoteness yet strong sense of place.  Our first stop was the Harney County Community Center where Fred Flippance, Linda Johnson, and Bill Wilbur of the Harney County Opportunity Team, and gave us a grand tour of their beautiful new building.

 
 Next we visited the Harney County Library in Burns, where we were welcomed by library director, Cheryl Hancock, and 16 other representatives of area nonprofit organizations, who spent a cool spring evening (minus the snow from the weekend before!) talking about what’s important to residents of Harney County.
 
The 17 participants in the discussion represented 33 organizations in the community, an impressive display of multiple hats worn.  The theme of the evening was collaboration and perseverance despite a very challenging economy and a strong desire to engage the county’s youth with viable leadership, educational and creative opportunities.  We also heard about some entrepreneurial work going on to develop community garden opportunities and more access to fresh food.

From the center of Burns we headed to the Burns Paiute Indian Reservation where several members of the tribe as well as staff from the Harney County Commission on Children and Families talked about the challenges and opportunities facing the tribe and residents of Harney County.
 
While the challenges can seem daunting, we found a strong sense of optimism about how tribal and community leaders band together and collaborate to improve conditions for all residents of the county.  Again, we heard a strong desire to serve youth with deep and meaningful experiences and to incorporate elders in that engagement. 

While the county may not have a large number of residents compared to urban areas, residents must cover vast distances and rely on a core group of dedicated leaders to keep services and nonprofits running.  But it’s worth the effort.  When asked to share some of the things they loved about living in Harney County, one participant wrote:
 
“The glitter of frozen air on frozen sunny January afternoons, and the smell of air on a blistering August sage landscape.  We live in Paradise!”
 
We concluded our visit to Harney County with a stop at the Harney County Senior Center, where its interim director, Terry Williams, gave us the grand tour of the variety of critical services provided out of this one facility: activities and meals for seniors, a transportation program and the regional emergency food distribution center for Harney County.  No traffic, wide-open skies, clean air, independent and resourceful people—we thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated our TWST in Harney County.

Sally Yee and Kim Thomas