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Wednesday, March 23, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Financial assistance:
Bridging the gap
By liam hughes
Guest Columnist
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
Re: “SDC waivers approved for housing,”
The Nugget, March 16, pg. 3).
That is affordable housing? So you get to
buy a house that sits on land you don’t own
and have to stay poor for 50 years or lose your
home? Who is this helping? Thanks, but no
thanks.
Bobby Christensen
s
s
s
To the Editor:
The liberal, socialistic democrats infesting
the current Oregon legislature have once again
slapped the voters of Oregon in the face. They
have declared the recently passed minimum-
wage increase as an “emergency,” thereby
making it impossible for the legally registered
voters in Oregon to have any say in the matter.
Is the entire economy of Oregon in such
bad shape that the state needs an “emergency”
increase to the minimum wage? If the state
economy was in really bad shape and on the
verge of collapse, why not make the increase,
a real increase to $50 per hour for the entire
state and not just for certain districts or areas,
or dare I say favored political zones.
This half-baked and totally ill-conceived
idea of three zones will only serve to draw
workers from the lower-paid zones to the
higher-paid zones, thus creating a worker
shortages in the lower-paid zones.
If, as the legislature says increasing the
minimum wage to $15 is an “emergency”
why not raise it to $50 per hour and do it right
NOW for the entire state.
The truth of the matter is that this proposal
is a hoax and a scam intended to make some
political figures look good for the coming
elections.
The “emergency” declaration is simply a
ploy to remove voter control from the process.
This “emergency” tactic is shameful and wor-
thy of some third-world dictator, not our citi-
zen legislators.
Any alleged “think tank” could find a
See leTTeRs on page 26
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At Sisters Park &
Recreation District
(SPRD) we have long
had the philosophy that
nobody should be denied
access to community
programs because of an
inability to pay.
In recent years we have
awarded up to $39,000 per
year in financial assistance
though our scholarship
program to allow children
from low-income families
to participate in programs
including preschool,
high school sports, youth
sports and after-school
programs.
The great challenge is
always finding the money
to do this. Many people
assume we simply waive
fees for individuals who
qualify, but that is not
really possible. We price
all of our programs at or
below what it costs to
actually run the program.
Therefore if we were to
waive fees, that program
would run at a loss, which
would involuntarily pull
money from other district
activities, and whole pro-
grams might not run.
In practice, we actu-
ally have an account that
holds all the money ear-
marked for scholarships.
Then as families come in
and are awarded financial
assistance, money is trans-
ferred from that account to
the program the child just
enrolled for. Where does
the money in this account
come from? Because
SPRD has possibly the
lowest tax rate of any full-
service parks and recre-
ation district in the state,
there are no tax dollars
available for the scholar-
ship program. The money
all comes from a combina-
tion of private donations
and grants.
And this is where the
beauty of Sisters really
shines.
Many people think the
beauty of Sisters lies in the
scenery beyond its borders,
but I think it lies within the
people who inhabit it. Last
year we received a total of
over $19,000 in donations
from the community to
our scholarship program.
I think it’s wonderful to
live in a community where
the people are willing to
come up with $19,000 so
our children can all par-
ticipate. In addition to
this, grants and commu-
nity partnerships contrib-
ute another $10,000 to
$20,000 annually to the
scholarship fund.
As I alluded to earlier,
many of the fees parents
pay for their child to par-
ticipate do not cover the
full cost of running a pro-
gram. Currently, we are
heading into lacrosse sea-
son, and this program is a
great example. The K-12
lacrosse program is bud-
geted to cost $53,765 to
operate. Of this, $24,000
is budgeted to come from
participation fees paid by
families of the 128 play-
ers. The deficit is left to
be made up through fund-
raising events such as the
Sisters Annual Lacrosse
Invitational Tournament,
Celebrate Sisters Day,
and through sponsorships
and donations. In addi-
tion, there are hundreds
of unpaid hours donated
by coaches and support-
ers to make a season come
together.
This type of funding
challenge isn’t limited to
youth sports. Our after-
school programs and our
programs for senior citi-
zens both rely heavily on
grants and donations to be
viable.
Sisters is a small com-
munity, and our donors
and volunteers are peo-
ple that walk these same
streets, shop at the same
stores, and eat at the same
restaurants. So when you
are walking into the post
office or the bank tomor-
row, maybe think about
stopping for an extra
few seconds to hold that
door open for someone.
Because they may have
just paid your kid’s pay-
to-play fees, sponsored the
uniforms your child plays
in, or donated to make sure
the program you love stays
afloat.
Liam Hughes is the
executive director of
Sisters Park & Recreation
District.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.