For Immediate Release

Monday, March 2, 2009

CONTACT: Becky Beyer

441-0620

Gospel Rescue Mission

P.O. Box 190

Grants Pass, OR 97528

MISSION CONSTRUCTION CREATING JOBS

Gospel Rescue Mission Men’s Residence Project Will Help Reduce Unemployment

Just when the community could use some good news, the resumption of the construction of Wagner Hall, the 78 bed men’s residence for the Gospel Rescue Mission, is putting people back to work.    Aaron Ausland, from Ausland Builders points out that over the entire life of the project, the construction of Wagner Hall will have employed some 260 people.    Over 60 Professional workers, such as Engineers, architects, surveyors, project managers & inspectors, will be utilized.  In addition, nearly 200 trade workers including concrete finishers, carpenters, plumbers, sheet metal workers, electricians and laborers will find employment during a time when jobs are scarce.

After a nearly two year delay, as additional funding was sought, carpenters have begun nailing plywood to framing that will become the first floor walls of the planned multistory, 78-bed men’s residence.   While a recent grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Affordable Housing Program has provided the impetus go ahead and begin the next phase of construction, those funds cannot yet be touched.  “We still need to raise another $80,000 very soon,” states Pastor Keith Heck, Executive Director of the Mission.  “The grant money can’t be tapped into until we have 75% of the total cost of the project $3.2 million, in place.  We are 73 percent funded now; we’re almost there.   Currently we are operating on reserves and believing God will touch the hearts of the generous people of Josephine County to provide the rest.  Also we continue to seek funding through various Foundations as well,” says Heck.

The current men’s facility at 8th & E Streets has only 11 bunk beds with 47 men on a nightly basis.  The rest are obliged to sleep lined-up on the floor on mattresses and sleeping bags.  While we are grateful to provide a warm, dry place to stay, we believe that these men, due to their being created in God’s image, have dignity and are deserving of a better place to live.  The new building will provide a safe, comfortable and sober home and give them a place to restore their broken lives.  The facility will also allow room for men who are not able or willing to reside at the Mission but who still have health and cleanliness needs as well as postal address needs.

“The way we view it is that Josephine County has a need,” states Heck.  “The Mission exists to meet that need, working together for the common community good.”   ”We are so grateful to the many folks in our caring community who understand this need and are stepping up to help.”

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BECKY BEYER
Public Relations/Development Director  
GOSPEL RESCUE MISSION
Email: becky@gospelrescuemissiongp.org
Cell:    541-441-0620

Trust, reliance and definite confidence glisten from Mike Murphy’s eyes as we meet in the Mayor’s City Hall office and chat about his vision of Grants Pass. His Honor couldn’t look better for the part, if this was a movie. He’s rather handsome, debonair, fits his office chair well, and offers a genuine smile you can’t refuse.

City building style and decorative office motif exudes small town, down home architecture which instills a calm, collected and composed feeling in those who visit. His professional and friendly staff adds to the charm of your stay. And, to top that, says the Mayor, “Grants Pass has the distinction of being one of the state’s smaller successful cities.” And, he continued as the city’s number one spokesperson, “It’s such a wonderful place to live.” He obviously could have gone on and on about the pluses of G.P. living, had I not asked the next question.

MURPHY IS ORIGINALLY FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA and graduated from Pasadena City College and the University of California-Bakersfield. He joined the university staff in their public relations department and first vacationed in Southern Oregon in 1974. Grants Pass’ future mayor confessed, “I was born down there, but never felt comfortable. It was really never home to me, if that makes sense?”

While vacationing in his future home town, he applied for a job and was accepted. His two week notice was immediately dropped off at UC-Bakersfield and he arrived here Memorial Day weekend, 1974. And, the Mayor says, “It has felt like home ever since.”

The mayor has a daughter and son-in-law who are both reporters for the local newspaper in Yakima, WA. His son attends school in Portland.

MIKE MURPHY WAS ELECTED TO THE GRANTS PASS CITY COUNCIL IN 1990 and served in two wards until 2004. He was elected mayor last November. Unlike our county commissioners, the city council is not compensated.

WE GOT DOWN TO BUSINESS and discussed some issues of national interest that parallels with city problems, such as the economy. There have been recent layoffs at some of the city’s largest employers, and that concerns Murphy. I asked him about the possibility of attracting new business to the area? “There is only so much a city can do”, he said. “What we are concentrating on is not getting in the way, nor creating roadblocks for businesses who wish to locate here. My emphasis, based on what I have learned with the assistance of the economic development people, is you have to offer the environment where businesses want to locate. When a business is established, or re-locates, you have to consider employee needs and desires. Of course they need land, brick and mortar, equipment, etc, but as much as anything, it’s creating the environment they want for their families. Our most successful tool for recruitment in Grants Pass is tourism. Most folks don’t realize that. A big percentage of businesses locate here because they first discovered Grants Pass while visiting. So, first you got to get them here and have them fall in love with it, as I did.”

THE MAYOR CONTINUES, “We have to be a community that offers a level of certain services as well as charm and all that good stuff, so that they want to come here as it’s a great place to raise children, that sort of thing. For instance, some the local retiring doctors are recruiting for replacements. A negative would be the closure of our libraries. People don’t normally associate those two together. And, when you’re recruiting the best and the brightest, which is what you want to do, they have choices by the very nature of it. There’s more than one place for them to live. So, they come here to visit and love a lot of things about Grants Pass, then they see some of the turmoil of local politics, places shutting down, threats of closing jails, lack of public safety and supported funding levels and then you hear, ‘This town doesn’t have a library?’ I heard that allot. If they use the library or not, it’s like a flashing warning sign saying that something isn’t quite right, here.” Of course the problem is choice, again. They are thinking, ‘maybe we better go somewhere else?’

MAYOR MURPHY FEELS A LARGE PART OF HIS JOB is to accentuate the positive of our way of life in Grants Pass and not let it erode during these hard times of economic disaster. He made a point about the national stimulus package that just cleared congress, and soon available from the state. “If you agree with it or not, if it’s available, we want our share. During recent city budget talks and workshops, there’s been significant conversation about cutting out our capital expenditures programs”, complained Murphy. “This is about things already in our program that we want and need to accomplish. So, I’m thinking to myself, when you spend money to improve a road, a street intersection or something locally, it isn’t like piling all of that money in the center of the road and burning it. You’re actually paying someone locally to do the contract work. On one hand we are asking for a portion of federal and state monies to create local jobs while were thinking about getting rid of our own capital outlay to spend money locally”, he questioned.

“MAYBE THIS ISN’T THE TIME TO CUT OUR CAPITAL EXPENDITURES?” It’s an investment in our city’s future and expenditure today to keep our people employed. We could employ local firms to work on our needed infrastructure projects. Maybe, this is an especially good time to do just that,” Murphy told us.

BIG BUSINESS IS COMING TO TOWN such as Home Depot, among others. The Mayor says they could employ about 100 people, but a good percentage of them will be part time, “I don’t see a big job increase.” says the Mayor. “I see these types of stores more as a ‘job shift’. There’s only so much money people have to spend on home repair. So, if they’re buying paint and nails there, and not somewhere else, some local businesses could suffer and perhaps close their doors. So, it’s moving jobs from this store to that one.”

Mayor Murphy explains, “How does that change the situation? It’s going to depend how much Home Depot draws from outside of the community? It’s different of course from a manufacturing base business, that creates a new product, thus, new jobs.”

THE MAYOR WAS ASKED ABOUT POSSIBLY TELEVISING The Urban Area Planning Commission meetings, “I’m not against it, but I would first like to see them cover the special city council meetings and workshops. There’s money involved on how many of these we can do. The regular scheduled council meetings are held twice monthly, and we have several special meetings from time to time, such as the recently held tax rate meeting. This was one of the more important and most significant decisions the council had to make. To me, those should come first”, emphasized the Mayor.

Funds are usually always a problem these days with government entities as well as private concerns. Mayor Murphy is going to look into the possibility of obtaining sponsors to allow more TV coverage, similar to current Public Television.

THE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY in city Government operations has been charged by some constituents. Councilperson Tim Cummings said he thought the Budget Committee had discussed a certain issue prior to the council meeting, thereby a possibility that minds were made up before any meeting discussions on the matter took place. Some look upon this activity as a bad idea.

THE MAYOR RESPONDED with, “It depends on what they were discussing and how far it was going? Having conversations about issues of local interest is good. What could be a problem is going beyond that and deliberating to a conclusion out of the public’s watch. That is passing the line and we don’t want that. There’s reason to think that we were flirting with that line. What we must do is be very sure everything we do is transparent, that public business is conducted in a proper public way, and that we’re not reaching conclusions ahead of time. Public trust is a delicate thing. People have their lives to live and don’t watch what happens in city government on a daily basis.

“THEY ARE TRUSTING PUBLIC OFFICIALS, trusting their government, to do things right: most folks are only marginally involved with local government business. We, as city officials must preserve that trust”, Murphy assured.

“Once the people are not sure of what’s going on, if elected officials are doing things behind closed doors, you’re creating doubt in their minds. Then, they rightfully question everything we do. If the system breaks down in one specific area, it transfers over to everything else. The integrity of the system has to be protected. You have to be up front. Once the faith is broken, it takes ten times the effort and time to regain the peoples trust, and it’s so unnecessary”, reiterated Murphy.

THERE ARE FOUR NEW COUNCILORS who were elected last November. I asked the Mayor how it was working out. “I’m optimistic”, he said. “There is a significant learning curve going on right now. Our new councilors care deeply about the community, but frankly, have no experience. And, we have three councilors who only have two years experience. We’ve had a significant turn-over in executive staff in the last few years and we have a new mayor. What I’m suggesting here is that we’re at risk of losing our institutional memory. With so much turn-over, people don’t know the traditions and processes by which things get accomplished. They get lost and confused”, explained the Mayor.”

“OUR NEW COUNCILORS HAVE VERY LITTLE OR NO ‘BOARD’ EXPERIENCE”, Mayor Murphy said. They are very successful small business persons who are comfortable to themselves, and as such make decisions, but have only one person to satisfy. They haven’t been part of a large organization, and as far as I know, have never been part of a board of directors? We are now the council and mayor, equivalent to the board of directors of a multi-million dollar corporation, with a whole bunch of products we put out from public safety to safe water and we have the oversight responsibility, and not the day-to-day operational responsibility, thank goodness. This is where the City Manager, David Frasher, and our entire professional staff, comes in.”

Mayor Murphy continues, “It is my role and the Council’s role to set policy, plan for the future, and to have oversight of the operations. The City Manager carries out our set policies, is the overseer of the organization, and the employees. Not the City Council.”

“THERE HAVE BEEN SOME MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF LATE, due to our changing situation in Council”, said the Mayor. “But, this will go away once everyone understands what their roles are and what they aren’t. It’s new territory for the new Councilors. It was for me too at one time. You’re part of a group process, now. You are one councilor in a group of eight councilors. Being a councilor, by itself, has no authority. By our charter, you’re a citizen. The power comes from the full council, the group of eight, when they collectively pass a resolution, a motion, saying this is what we want? Some think the mayor has the authority to do things on my own, get involved. That isn’t the way it works. It’s a group process and the group needs to give direction, not individual councilors. In other words, work as a team.”

MAYOR MIKE MURPHY SUMS IT UP THIS WAY, “Even in this economic downturn nationally, Grants Pass is doing better than most every place else. No doubt we are hurting, but when I hear about what’s going on in other places, we aren’t doing so badly, and maybe more importantly, we are so poised to be one of the first to recover. When the national economy improves a little bit, Grants Pass will improve a bunch. We’ll be one of the first ones to move up because everything that was right before the downturn is still right. I’m very optimistic for the long term, we just have to wait this out and protect our assets and community from declining too far. My approach is to take this time to concentrate on our master plan, our long range goals, look at our infrastructure, and get ready for what’s going to come. That ‘boom’ that caught us kind of off guard a few years back, is coming again-Big time. Let’s get in front of it right now.”

For instance, says an enthusiastic Mayor, “What do we do to preserve our down town with its downtown charm, which is the core of our community? What do we do for it to stay and grow, so we don’t end up with a bunch of strip malls on the outside of town? New businesses will come. Where do we want them to establish? Let’s use this time to get ahead of everything. The time is now and our future is extremely bright.”

“WE ARE SO LUCKY HERE”, Mayor Murphy exultantly expressed, “One of the many things so positive is the geography in which we live. The Interstate goes around our town, instead of through it, such as Medford and Roseburg. We’re nestled in a gorgeous valley with a beautiful river running through it; which defines us in a way that other places would love to have. We must protect it. We have to prevent any sort of urban sprawl. We have to make sure it remains for our children and all generations to come, and at the same time, be set for growth. It will come and we’ll be ready.” -Mike Case

Contact:

Mayor Mike Murphy Telephone: (541) 474-6360

City of Grants Pass FAX: (541) 479-0812

101 North/West A Street

Grants Pass, OR 97526

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Contact: Andrew Whelan

(202) 744-7974

Greg Walden: Put Oregonians back to work to reduce catastrophic wildfire

Funds available in stimulus should be used to hire commercial contractors to tackle Condition Class II and III lands – those lands most at risk of producing catastrophic wildfire

MEDFORD, Ore. —

Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) today told the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that they should use taxpayer funds in the economic stimulus package to hire commercial contractors to treat forest lands most susceptible to catastrophic wildfire and further target the resources to where the highest unemployment rates are in rural Oregon.

Walden convened a videoconference today with USFS Region 6 Supervisor Mary Wagner and BLM State Director Ed Shepard, who between them oversee all USFS and BLM forests in Oregon and Washington, to find out how they plan to spend their portion of the $250 million in the economic stimulus for hazardous fuels reduction, forest health protection, rehabilitation and hazard mitigation.

“I voted against the so-called stimulus because it never occurred to me in over 21 years of running a small business that you could borrow your way into prosperity,” Walden said. “But now that the money has been borrowed, it’s my job to make sure the Second District of Oregon gets its unfair share. We should use those funds to hire commercial contractors to get into the forest and do the environmentally responsible work necessary on the most at-risk lands to reduce the catastrophic fire we see every summer.”

At the meeting today, Walden laid out the following principles for Supervisor Wagner and Director Shepard to follow:

1. Prioritize hazardous fuels reduction projects in Condition Class II and III lands — the areas where catastrophic wildfire is most likely to originate.

2. Use commercial contractors to put Oregonians back to work in the woods.

3. Use the authorities available in the strongly bipartisan Healthy Forests Restoration Act to do the work in an environmentally responsible way, but also in a way that saves time and precious funding.

4. Undertake essential forest health projects in areas most desperate for work in the woods. According to the regional economist for the Oregon Employment Division, the loss of 200 jobs from mill closures in eastern Oregon during 2007 had an economic impact comparable to the loss of 26,400 jobs in the Portland metropolitan area.

Walden is in the middle of a nine-county, 36-meeting, 1,600-mile trip through the Second District this week. He is in Medford and Grants Pass today. Thursday he will be in Pendleton, La Grande, and Milton-Freewater, and Friday he will visit Bend, Madras, and Prineville.

Representative Greg Walden represents the Oregon’s Second Congressional District, which is comprised of 20 counties in eastern, southern, and central Oregon. He is a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.

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Press Release, Public Service announcement with attached photo.  Thank you!
Kathleen E Finnegan
541-488-2926

The Rogue Valley Symphonic Band and wind ensemble invites you to be a part of their exciting Spring Concert.
“RVSB,” under the direction of Bill Norfleet, will present it’s first concert of the year on Sunday, March 8th 2009 at 3:00 p.m.
at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2000 Oakwood, Medford Oregon, 97504.

Here are a few comments from the audience at our last concert:
“This was upbeat and beautiful.”
“Thanks for making my Sunday!”
“There’s something about a full piece band that thrills me.”
“The best band in the Valley.”

While true band enthusiasts will not be disappointed with a sophisticated Souza March and Americana Hyms, this year’s Spring performance also includes works from the unforgetable and romantic, Lerner and Lowe, Leonard Bernstein, Hoagy Carmichael, and George Gershwyn!

Tickets at the door. $8 adults, $5 seniors and students, and $16 families.  for questions please call: (541) 488-2926.

Kathleen  Finnegan, (541) 488-2926

One of the runners that carried the torch for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City reminisces on his 27 year career of helping children and youth at risk.

The soft-spoken man with a gentle demeanor and warm brown eyes has also carried a torch for the youth who have, for whatever reason, fallen by the wayside of society.

Executive Director of The Inn Between, Brian Burgess, has been a driving force in the local community since 1981 to foster partnerships and provide outreach services to homeless and at-risk youth.

“It’s not what I do; it’s what the teachers and students do… I’m most proud of the way they are progressing in terms of the students achieving credits and that they are gaining educationally,” he states humbly.

“When I think of the last year, I think in academic terms, not the calendar year.  We had nine students complete GED’s and another nine graduate with degrees from their own high schools.  We don’t provide diplomas from Inn Sight Alternative High School, they are enrolled in their regular high school but they attend here and gain their credits here, that way they can focus on one class at a time, do all the work on that class then move on for instance,  if they are behind.  As long as they are willing to put out the work, they get the credits,” he explains.

The challenges faced by Inn Sight are like any other business.  ”Part of a non-profit organization is work; we work just as hard as any other business.  However we have to make our money from donations, grant writing, government contracts, and bids.   Just like an engineer bids for a road project we bid to provide a school for kids.   It’s like running a regular business; it takes quite a bit of work.”

He continues, “Demand for services go up at a time when the resources go down.   So it’s a tough situation to be in now.  Even the foundations I know have taken a hit  in their financial portfolios because the foundations were invested in the markets at some level, not all was guaranteed.”

Burgess says the biggest challenge he faced last year was figuring out how to purchase the Avista Utilities building The Inn Between/Inn Sight Alternative High School currently occupies and has leased for the past 11 years.

“We’ve been actively writing grants but we are always caught in this chicken or the egg  situation with the grants because everybody says they will help if someone else helps you first , but we haven’t had anyone step up to the plate.  We applied to the Meyer Memorial Trust, but were rejected.  They fund about 80% of requests, however they were hit economically just like everyone else.    The lengthy application process took from May to November, just to get to the point for them to decide.   The foundation said they could fund middle size grants, but lopped the big ones and small ones.   We were asking for $108,000, but they ended up funding the grants in the $20,000 to $25,000 range.  They funded a lot of those.”

Burgess admits wearily the trust did not offer them a smaller amount.

“Every time you get a grant you get leverage.  If we were to replace (or buy) this building and the square footage that we need in today’s market our payments would be less than what it would take us to replace it in a rental market.  Now is the time to buy,”  he says.

“We’re still working with Avista, and they are still trying to sell us the building if at all possible.  They’ve been most helpful,” he says optimistically.

“We applied to the Carpenter Foundation in December and we’ll find out those results later on in January.  But that would be for a smaller amount, $15,000, but that will help.   Anything that gets us a step further down the road.  We’ll probably ask for another $75,000 between the three other sources.  Evergreen Federal has agreed to loan us money, but we can’t borrow a huge amount because we still need to stay within our budget in terms of what we have for a payment that matches our current lease payment.”

He qualifies, “We are waiting to develop more grant money so we won’t have to borrow as much from Evergreen.  It would be financially irresponsible for us to borrow more money than we can pay back.”

The Avista building is worth approximately $420,000 based on appraisal and we’re trying to raise the difference - about $150,000- through grants, fundraising and alike, or a discount from Avista.  ”They could maybe sell it to us at a bargain sell price,” he smiles, “it might be a good deal for them too.  They are looking into it, they are working with us best they can,” he acknowledges.

“That’s the challenge for the future because we have to get that secure. And if not we’ll have to find something else.  This building is really ideal because these walls are all portable, you can move them around.  The whole thing is a clear span so you can reconfigure this.   We have a local contractor who is willing to do the work for free, and reconfigure the layout.   And once we take over the entire building one of the things that we need for our homeless youth population we serve,  is someplace for them to shower and do laundry.  So that when they come to school they can be clean, that would really help them,” he says.

“The other challenge for the future is trying to integrate more of the students who are homeless back into school.  Because the kids that are out there on the streets are being mentored by the wrong people and we would rather mentor them and get them back into the mainstream of education; get them to move ahead rather than being mentored by the people who have chosen that as a lifestyle.  They make it sound great and that kind of lures those kids out there.”

Burgess continues, “We now have 13 homeless youth in our program.  We do an outreach with our two vans and get the kids to come in.”

A youth may be categorized as homeless if they are in a transient situation; living in tents, substandard housing, couch surfing, living under bridges and so on he says.

“Some reports list about 700 homeless youth in Josephine County, which might include those who do live with their families, but maybe in a trailer camp or tent.    That’s a huge number, but we don’t see that many, we see about 45 homeless youth per quarter.    We provide services for them by way of clothing, sleeping bags, toiletries, meals and blankets.    Grant funding provides monies for those items as well as the state’s Commission on Children and Families and a Cow Creek grant, however those are ending,” he says.    ”But we have reapplied.   We should hear back from Cow Creek in January.

The Inn Between does accept donations, except for clothing Burgess explains, “because we don’t have a lot of physical space.”

“We do accept specific things like blankets, warm coats, toiletries.  We need to have things that turn over, that the kids will use, that we move through, we can’t store a lot of stuff.”

“Our website www.innbetweenyouth.org lists donation items, so folks know specifically what we are looking for,” he suggests.

The homeless youth program L.I.F.T. stands for Life through Independence, Family and Trust and services Wolf Creek, Sunny Valley and Illinois Valley as well as the Grants Pass area.

Burgess reports, “The community really helps.   At our annual Christmas dinner last month 23 youths attended.  We gave them socks, gift cards, and a good meal at JJ North’s.  The local churches help us; Bethany Presbyterian does a lunch once a month for Inn Sight students and the homeless kids enrolled in school.”

If it takes the endurance of a long distance runner to meet and continue mounting the challenges of showing direction to youths at risk, then Burgess is a marathon man.  ”The Inn Between Incorporated  has run many types of program over the years in  Jackson,  Josephine and Douglas counties,”  Burgess remembers,  ”in the 80’s  we served 1,300 kids a year in all the programs.”

It is indeed gratifying to see individuals who have been helped by The Inn Between programs return to give back to those at risk.   “Over the years I’ve had people who were served in one level of our program now working in the community as high school counselors and drug and alcohol counselors.”

Burgess elaborates, “For instance one of our teachers began as an alternative education student,  then began working for us as an intern–like work study experience — and has come along from that to becoming a current instructor.   Shannon Stearns has worked for us 12 years after going through the program.  We also have a high school counselor who came through the program, who went on to get her Masters degree.”

Clearly Burgess is proud of his teachers and students.  And although he doesn’t teach, he can be called upon to relate his experience as an Olympic flame bearer.    ”What works here is that the kids really get involved in taking care of their school, because they are very connected to it.   Everything you see here the kids do; they clean the place, decorate, it’s their place and they want to maintain it.  They govern themselves here.”

Burgess continues, “The Inn Sight Alternative High School utilizes a lot of small groups, 10 to 15 students per group.  Their attendance is important and the students encourage each other to attend because absences pull the rest of the school down.   Peer relationships and peer support – that’s going to move these kids.  They might look at us and say,  ’Oh yeah  they don’t know what they are talking about’,  but when their peers say they do know what they are talking about … then they start to get it,”  Burgess says.

The man with the huge compassionate heart says he has been in semi-retirement for the past three years.  He’s almost 60 and says that someone from within would eventually take over his position.   “I’m trying to be retired, trying to ride my horses,” he muses.

Burgess has his wife Jean, two grown children and three grandchildren waiting to spend more time with the tireless toiler.

But he will always stay connected to the organization he built and expanded.  And yes, he probably can be persuaded to retell his experiences as one of the Olympic torch bearers to eager listening students.

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Mary Ann Bullard

“I love books.”

That pretty much sums up Joyce McPartland, volunteer coordinator for  Josephine Community Libraries, Inc.

Not only does McPartland love books, she loves organizing. “My experience is with volunteer coordinating. I moved to Oregon from the San Diego area where I spent five years with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Carlsbad, California. I worked to support the organization, ran the office and got volunteers for everything. One of my many duties was scheduling and training volunteers.” This was in addition to over 25 years of experience in office and employee management. “So that’s why I got into this position, I’d had experience doing this,” she smiles.

McPartland and her husband Brian moved to Merlin the same weekend the library in Grants Pass closed on May 17, 2007. “I’ve always gone to the library, just like everyone else, just for the love of the library. The private, nonprofit group here was working to open the library and I’d planned to volunteer for that, then I saw an ad in the paper that they needed a volunteer coordinator. I don’t know about libraries, but do know about volunteer coordinating,” she says enthusiastically.

Indeed she does. McPartland oversees and organizes over 500 volunteers who want to generously donate their time and toiling. “We’re all new here and we’re all trying to get to know each other. I’m trying to bring them in slowly,” she says, “to make sure all are trained.”

Holding one of three positions paid for by the library foundation, McPartland works 20 hours a week. The other paid positions include Russell Long full time director and Kris Gleisner in technical services. Gleisner takes care of the circulation desk and cataloging books for 30 hours a week.

McPartland says, “By the time we’re finished staffing the library we’re going to end up with hundreds of active volunteers. We have six people at the front counter now. Other volunteers shelve books for two hours a week.”

“We’re working on the information desk now. We’ll have to train people for that, as many as 30 people could staff that one position. There could be as many as four different volunteers a day for that particular job,” McPartland says.

Debbie Bennighof is the volunteer children’s library director. “The children’s library is run differently than the adult library so we need to train a different set of volunteers for that,” McPartland says. The children’s library was the first to open on December 20, 2008 for the Polar Express Days.

“We still have so much to do, organizing book clubs, activities, etc., but we’ll do all these things eventually. We will also have a Volunteen director who will start a youth volunteer group. And Friends of the Library will be our book sale event group,” she continues.

The community response to the all volunteer library has been overwhelming, McPartland says, “They are just so happy we are open again. The soft opening in December had 500 to 600 patrons attending that first day.”

McPartland confessed when the library first opened after months of sitting idle, “There were books all over the place – lined up all over the place – because usually some books are checked out. We didn’t have room for them all; you only have space for a certain amount. And yes, the books were pretty dirty. We’ve had cleaning crews come in several times.” Before the grand opening on January 24, another crew came in to make sure everything was clean and tidy.

Near the library’s front entrance a membership table staffed by volunteers is set up. “For any donation at all you can become a member, in amounts from $1 to $5,000, it’s up to you,” Mc Partland says. “Most people usually contribute $10 to $20, and $100. You don’t have to be a member to get a library card, but we highly encourage membership because that’s the only way we can keep afloat, because we are nonprofit.”

“Before it was a county supported library,” she continues, “but now we’re not. This is the only library in this situation that we know of. The county voted not to fund it, which therefore made it closed. Pretty much because the county doesn’t want more taxes; we want services, but we don’t want to pay for it. That’s what happens.”

The Josephine County Board of Commissioners did agree to a three-year lease of the building and $300,000 in a matching fund grant October 14, 2008. And on Saturday, January 24, County Commissioners Dave Toler and Dwight Ellis presented JCLI Board President Doug Walker the promised $300,000 grant money. The Josephine Community Libraries, Inc. has raised more than $370,000 far exceeding their matching portion requirement.

McPartland smiles optimistically, “We’re up and running now, because the people are paying for it. It’s now the peoples’ library because it is community run. We couldn’t run it without the volunteers. If the volunteers walked out the doors, we would close because we have no one else.”

As more funds become available, JCLI plans to reopen branches in Cave Junction, Williams and Wolf Creek, hopefully all in 2009.

Some people have conjectured that the internet will replace libraries. But McPartland doesn’t think so saying, “People love to read books. The internet cannot replace a book. You should see the lines of people with stacks of books each. You can borrow for a whole month. I personally don’t like to read on the internet, I mean I get information off the internet, but to sit down and read a book…. you know I still want to do that, and I do that every day. I don’t want to look at a screen; I’ve done that all day. I want to go home and read.”

So what drives McPartland and the many volunteers to be involved with the library?

Her dark brown eyes reflect deep conviction, “For the love of the library, we love serving our community. It’s a great social outlet -absolutely fabulous- not only with each other, which it is, but we get to see the general public in here for every single day which is wonderful. We have so many volunteers so we all get to be social with each other and…. gosh it’s everything. What’s better than being at the library? We love it!”

She smiles broadly- “And the patrons that come in are just so happy that we’re here, so there is nothing negative at all. It’s all positive. I love coming to work, they all love coming in here. It’s a very positive environment.”

And as she glances towards the stacks she acknowledges there will always be books. “At least in my lifetime,” she laughs.

“I can’t imagine life without a book.”

# # #

Library hours -

Tuesdays and Thursdays: 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Wednesdays and Fridays: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturdays: noon to 4 p.m.

Mary Ann Bullard

Becky was waiting for me just inside the ReMax Real Estate office reception area, located on 7th street, where she maintains her real estate sales business. You can always tell when you’re face to face with another public relations person, but Becky is delightfully different. She is, without a doubt, one of the most non-assuming professionals I’ve ever met. I would soon experience what Mission Executive Director, Keith Heck, felt when appointing Ms. Beyer for this all important position. I was anxious to begin the interview.

REPORTER: Thank you for your time. Could you please tell us about your new position with the Gospel Rescue Mission?

BECKY BEYER: “My title is Public Relations and Development Director of the Gospel Rescue Mission of Grants Pass.” Becky lit up the room with her veridical smile, “A big title for a relatively small job, as it’s part-time, but Mr. Heck says it could grow, that it sort of depends on me?”

Beyer continues, “My task is to get the word out that the Gospel Rescue Mission is here for Josephine County, the service provided is non-denominational and that the Mission offers so much more than most people in the community are aware of.”

REPORTER: May we have a look at your resume?

BECKY BEYER: “I was born at Jo General then raised in Medford and Jacksonville until the 7th grade. My dad worked for Pacific Power and was transferred to Portland. We lived in the Beaverton area where I completed high school. I then moved South to Sacramento where I received my certificate in interior design. Though I didn’t open my own studio of interior design, my studies certainly help me in real estate sales as I’m more able to counsel my clients in preparation for the sale of their home.”

Beyer says she is not a “natural” at being a PR person, but real estate sales has opened her eyes and heart to the many needs of people. In her few off hours, she enjoys gardening and home life, cooking and taking care of her home that she shares with her 83 old mother. Ms. Beyers, who is a single lady, sees her future with the Mission as exciting and extremely rewarding. She hopes to continue with this endeavor and her real estate sales business as well, and “Make it good for everybody.”

REPORTER: Your resume certainly gives you a strong background in public relations and knowledge of the community.

BECKY BEYER: “I view this appointment more of a ministry than a job. Being a Realtor I promote myself all the time plus I’ve been involved in promotions with many different groups, such as Women’s Counsel of Realtors and the Board of Realtors. I’m used to working with promotions, people and customer relations. So, Mr. Heck said your hired, sent me out with a box of stationery, and told me go tell the folks about our work here at the Mission. I was delighted.”

REPORTER: When do you start?

BECKY BEYER: “My new business cards are being printed as we speak, as I want to meet as many people as possible within the community. The idea of course, is to keep folks informed of the Mission’s work in aiding and assisting the less fortunate, and the need for community involvement, as we operate 100% on private donations.”.

Beyer explains, “We want to reach into the community and make people more aware of what the Mission really does to help individuals in need. Our vision is to teach people how to live, not just exist. We show them that we care enough to help with their basic needs such as food, clothing, counseling, health care, education and shelter. There is no charge for our services, just requirements that must be met by the individuals.”

REPORTER: And, what specifically do you offer those in need?

BECKY BEYER: “We have facilities for both men and women, the Ray Allen Center for those individuals looking for help in drug and alcohol addiction. We offer the Thrift Store at sixth and J streets and a recycling center located at 1010 S/W Foundry.” Beyer continued, “I want folks to know, that about 98% of the people who live at the Mission are there for long term and are Josephine County residents.. They aren’t transients, they are people within our community who are in trouble. We have actual families living in the women’s center. We’ve been able to help up to 100 persons in the center at any given time.”

Beyer stressed, “We help them with education, counseling, job training and drug and alcohol addiction assistance. Just about everything is available at the center to bring them back into their own, to give them another chance in society, which is difficult for anybody during these economical trying times and an addiction makes it even more of a challenge.”

Beyers emphasized the need for promoting the men’s center, Wagner Hall, “As I understand it, the necessary funds to complete the men’s center is half way there. The women’s Center received a matching funds grant at the last minute and they were able to finish construction. So far nothing such as that has come in for the men’s facility, so we’re pushing to get that completed. It will allow for 78 men to live safely and soberly. Grants Pass badly needs this facility.

REPORTER: How does the Mission receive donations?

BEYER: “We hold various functions throughout the year.

For instance, the residents of the Fikso Family Center and the Women’s Residential Facility of the Gospel Rescue Mission of Grants Pass recently hosted a free barbecue as a “getting to know you” fund raiser. This was in celebration of five years that the community has supported the Family Center. We have an annual banquet in the spring which I’ll oversee. This is in recognition of the donors and folks that help us through the year. A lot of my work will be these kinds of events. I’m looking forward to it. And, of course, you may donate directly to the Mission”

REPORTER: How may the community assist the Mission?

Beyer explains, “I want to emphasize our need for assistance other than monetary. We need volunteers for various events and happenings. We have the recycle center where people can take their recyclables and that helps the mission as well. There is the thrift store downtown at the corner of 6th and J Streets. People can donate all kinds of useful items that can help others and everyone can find tremendous buys., there.”

Beyer adds, “We put out a monthly newsletter which tells what is in most need at that particular time.. Some items, as you can well imagine, are in constant need such as potty-paper, sugar, rice, flour, eggs, plastic-ware, powdered milk and laundry soap.

We want to get the word out how you can help the Mission and how we can help you. With the current economy the way it is, we need to help each other”, she said.

FROM THE OCTOBER NEWSLETTER: Toilet paper is needed most of all. The Mission is buying it and that takes from the many objectives they are trying to achieve. Wagner Hall, the new men’s residence, is so close to becoming a reality. We need your donations now to complete this much needed facility. Here’s a thought for those who can help us; if you make a gift of $10,000 to the Gospel Rescue Mission Foundation, from your will or trust at 5% interest, that’s $500 per year to support the work of the Mission. Your $10,000 donation is never touched. A gift that keeps on giving….. FOREVER ! Something to think about? Please call Terall Blalock to make this happen: (541) 479-2415.

REPORTER: How about the possibility initiating future events?

BEYER: “I talked with Mr. Heck about this and he brought up sponsoring a golf tournament. I have contacts to gain the needed input, so now its just further research and implementation, if we decide to go forward with it. We would have to seek sponsors for such an event, and that too is part of my job.”

REPORTER: Isn’t there something special you want all of us to know?

BEYER: “I would like to invite everyone to come and see just how we help the community. The Mission offers hosted facility tours, your chance to see first hand, up close and personal, exactly what we do for the many residents of the Mission. We’ll take you to our Community Recycling Center, the Mens’ Residence Facility, the Second Chance Thrift Store, Pregnancy Care Center and the Women’s/Children’s Residence. The tours are scheduled by appointment and take less than two hours. Bring your family, employees, club, church youth group or business associates. You’ll truly enjoy it. Here’s a comment from a recent visitor, “I thought the Rescue Mission was just a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen? Boy, was I wrong.”

All of us of the Mission want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and most Happy New Year. And, please come to see us.”

If you are in need of the Mission’s services or wish to donate to a most worthy cause, please contact Becky Beyer and the Gospel Rescue Mission at 541-476-0082.

Mailing address: P.O.Box 190, Grants Pass, OR 97528. They are located at 112 S/E J St. In Grants Pass.

-Mike Case

NOTE:* The Mission would be pleased to receive food left-overs from your organizational meetings and functions.

With the economy as low as it is and unemployment on the rise, it’s no wonder that hunger is a concern in our community, even after the holiday season. There are several organizations in Grants Pass doing their best to meet the needs of those less fortunate. One of which is the Gospel Rescue Mission. The director, ordained minister Keith Heck, oversees both the women’s and the men’s residential homes.

Running on a tight budget with no assistance from the state or federal funding, Pastor Heck relies solely on donations from individuals, businesses, and churches. He feeds an average of 94 people per day, and nearly 6,000 meals per month! This requires help from each of us.

The mission prefers to receive fresh foods, such as vegetables, and anything that can be frozen. They try to stay away from foods high in sugar, and anything that would cause a health risk for any of the residents. Where some foods may be preferred over others, any help from the public is greatly appreciated.

Pastor Heck accepts food donations as well as monetary contributions at any of the three following locations: 531 NE E st. (Gospel Rescue Mission-men) Foundry st. (Gospel Rescue Mission-women) and 120 SE J st. For any questions, contact Keith Heck at 541-476-0082.

Shannon Stearns’s class is over for the day, but the education isn’t. The soft-spoken petite educator addresses one of her students about the new clothes he will need soon. “We’ll have to get you some new pants,” she says eyeing the baggy jeans, cuffs dragging the floor, “before your job
interview.”

Stearns is more than a career teacher, she is an advocate for the Focus Team Council and a mentor. She fulfills the very definition of mentor; an experienced and trusted advisor. An experienced person in a school who trains and counsels students.

One advantage Stearns shares with her students at Inn Sight Alternative High School is identification. She moved here from Wisconsin , with her sister, at the age her students are now. She knows what its like to feel left out, to not fit in. To complicate matters she was pregnant.

“Personally I understand, because of my situation when I was a senior in high school.”

She was pregnant and on track to graduate but did not see herself completing school because she planned to have her daughter before graduation. Stearns explained, “I wasn’t going to leave her and I wasn’t going to go back to school. But one of my friends told me about the alternative teachers at the high school and they had everything figured out for me. I never asked, but they were there to help.”

“I know – and realize – how hard it is to fit in. I wasn’t from around here. “Now I just like to help kids at risk,” she smiles.

“Some of these kids get hooked up in different lifestyles that are either undesirable or they get into trouble and become alienated. They still deserve chances in life. I think that is important for them to know there
are folks who will help them achieve their goals. I feel like they need to understand there is something out there for them. They don’t have to continue doing the things they do in order to fit into which ever group they are trying to fit into. They can have a sense of success.”

Inn Sight does just that, besides providing education. “We implant a lot of democratic policies here,” Stearns says. “The kids have a big say in what’s going on. We have a democratic system. The students themselves help enforce the rules and determine the outcome from matters that arise such as attendance or behavior infractions. They don’t want to see their classmates screwing up their lives. We also have a student run president.”

“You have to deal with issues that come up, demand accountability right then,” she continues. “For the most part the new students are willing to learn and like it here.”

“Don’t lead by bad example,” she encourages the class. Stearns, with her youthful looks, could be mistaken as a current student, clarifies by adding “the mentoring here at Inn Sight is the staff that works here. We do a lot of one on one talking with the kids. We have 39 and we get to know them a lot better since we have the same group with us all day long. They tend to call on us a little bit more, and utilize us in a sense that we can help them with more than just school work, we can help them figure out problems. And if we aren’t able to assist them, we know other resources to put them in touch with, so they don’t feel awkward asking. They
know we can help them,” she says with her gentle eyes smiling.

Stearn continues, “we do a career exploration with the students, and we help them with a job shadowing program. Some employers are getting less tolerant of that, due to insurance regulations. We also do a college exploration and help them with placement tests. Inn Sight works closely with Rogue Community College for placement tests and financial aid,” she says.

“We’re part of the non-profit Inn Between; Inn Sight (the alternative high school) and L.I.F.T. social survies project (Life through Independence, Family and Trust) programs are projects of the Inn Between Corporation. L.I.F.T. is the homeless youth program. We have an advocate in that program who works a different schedule than the school, but also in conjunction with Inn Sight, she’s here during some of the hours we are.
She serves the 21 and under youth, which are usually the street kids. And that’s one of the objectives we have; to get those kids enrolled in school. Just not anyone can come here, the student must be referred by the high school they would normally attend. Those include Grants Pass, Hidden Valley, North Valley and Illinois Valley high schools,” she says.

Stearns mentors every day, in the form of guidance and asset building. In fact she won the Social Competency Builder award in 2007.

“They’re kids, they make mistakes, but there are certain things that we do not tolerate, and drugs around the campus is one of them. They can be suspended for that, and if a second time occurs they are then referred to Drug and Alcohol Treatment in order to maintain their space here. Even in that case we don’t want to give up on kids, because … where else do they have to go ? And we know that a lot of kids are here to make changes but they need a little help and they help each other a lot.”

“We also expect regular attendance,” she emphasizes. “Even if this means giving rides to students who needs rides. However, public school buses are provided for students. But they need to communicate with us, if they’re having problems.”

Stearns says, “Some of the kids are here because they’ve been expelled from their high school, it’s not like they’ll never be allowed back, but they might have done something on their campus that they can’t be part of their school.” She elaborates further, “some of them just don’t go to school, don’t like the cliques at the school.”

“We have some really talented kids here that are not stupid by any means, and that can probably go back to their high school, but it’s just tough for them to be around the social environment, that in itself can be a problem. Many who have graduated through here, are doing quite well. It’s not like they came here for an easy way out, because they still must complete state testing requirements, they still have to pass all the same classes as in the high schools. We use the same core classes as the high school, we get our text books from the high schools. We are accredited, but we don’t issue diploma’s, their home school gives that,” she says.

“So they are not rejected from their home school,” she describes further. “Some students go back to their home school, if they play sports or whatever. They can go back to their high school at the semester. This is a pretty therapeutic place.”

Inn Sight began as a GED program over 27 years ago for teen parents before Stearns came aboard 14 years ago. She fills in a little background, “Brian Burgess the executive director of the Inn Between was asked to open a high school alternative completion program. He decided to try and he hired an administrative company out of Seattle to start things up. I came two months afterwards as a volunteer for Inn Sight.” However it didn’t take too long for Stearns to get hired.

Currently negotiations are underway to purchase the Avista Utilities building on SE J Street where Inn Sight and L.I.F.T are located. “It does look promising we’ll keep the building,” Stearns says.

The nurturing services have leased the building since 1997. “We don’t really want to move,” Stearns sighs.

“These walls are movable, and we have computer stations , finally the technology is coming together. The students can do state testing requirements right there. There are a lot of benefits why we should stay here at this location. This area is not too rural , not too residential. We’re accepted by our neighbors.”

“I like it here,” Stearns beams. “I would hate to see anything happen to a place like this, because I do know the value of it.”

Her message to the students is clear. “There are people out there that do care about what happens to you and you can do it, and it’s your job right now. Above all don’t quit and don’t give up on it. Because this is something you can never go back too, these high school years. Sure you can go to RCC to get an adult diploma but you can’t go back to high school.”

“We ask them, do you really want to get a GED, when a diploma is available? Stay in school.” She knows a youth will regret getting his GED, when a diploma is so accessible. A diploma increases the job opportunities
they need.

Stearns is expecting her second child in July. She plans to return to the classroom and students she cares so much about in the fall as soon as she’s able.

“I like it here, I would prefer to work here than other places because our boss is very dedicated. He thinks the same way we do, and understands the way kids are nowadays. He will come and speak to the students and be involved. He’s a great director .”

by Mary Ann Bullard

Kids Learn at All Boys & Girls Club Branches in 5 CORE PROGRAMS

• Character & Leadership – Programs in this core area empower youth to support and influence their Club and community, sustain meaningful relationships, develop a positive self-image and good character, participate in the democratic process, and respect their own and others’ cultural identities.
• Education and Career Development – Programs in this core area enable youth to become proficient in basic educational disciplines, set goals, explore careers, prepare for employment and embrace technology to achieve success in a career.
• Health and Life Skills – These programs develop young people’s capacity to engage in positive behaviors that nurture their own wellbeing, set personal goals and live successfully as self-sufficient adults.
• The Arts – This core enables youth to develop their creativity and cultural awareness through knowledge and appreciation of the visual arts, crafts, performing arts and creative writing.
• Sports, Fitness and Recreation – A positive use of leisure time, develop fitness, skills for stress management, appreciation for the environment and social skills.