Wednesday, May 22, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Circle of
Friends will
host annual
fundraiser
By Helen Schmidling
Correspondent
Once upon a time, fami-
lies usually included mom
and dad, kids and 4 if you
were lucky 4 nearby grand-
parents, aunts, uncles and
cousins. Raising kids was an
extended-family affair. Even
if both parents worked, there
was a neighbor or someone
around to care for the kids,
and in so doing, impart the
necessary life skills that
shape a child into a well-
rounded young adult, while
keeping them safe and
trouble-free.
That9s not so much the
case today. Many families
are non-traditional. Single
parents and grandparents are
often faced with childrear-
ing in challenging circum-
stances. Financial situations
may require parents or care-
givers to work second jobs
that take them away from
home when kids return from
school. For these, the nuclear
family circle is broken.
Enter Circle of Friends,
which pairs mentors with
children to help families
thrive.
This week, Circle of
Friends is holding its annual
dinner party and fundraiser.
The event starts at 5 p.m.
on Thursday, May 23, at
FivePine. It will include
a silent auction, live auc-
tion, and meal prepared by
the chef of Three Creeks
Brewing. This event, for-
merly held as a luncheon, is
designed to raise money for
the nonprofit organization9s
yearly operational budget.
Executive Director Nicky
Merritt reports that an anon-
ymous donor has stepped
up with a matching pledge
of $15,000. The dinner is
sold out, but if anyone feels
that they can support the
event, they may do so with-
out attending. Email info@
circleoffriendsoregon.org or
call 541-588-6445 to help.
Last year, after conduct-
ing business and activi-
ties in rented office space
for seven years, Circle of
Friends bought a building
on North Elm Street to serve
as its clubhouse. It9s a place
where kids and their men-
tors and their friends can go
for activities, where meet-
ings can be held, and where
business is conducted. This
week9s fundraiser is sepa-
rate from the ongoing capital
campaign, which is a long-
term project to pay off the
cost of the building.
MENTORS:
Relationships help
families thrive
Continued from page 24
<it sounded like a good pro-
gram to be involved in,=
Mandee said. <Amaya got
set up with a mentor in first
grade.=
Paxton eventually was
paired with a mentor, but that
situation has changed.
<They go to the club-
house a lot, and they both
participate in cooking, craft-
ing, art, Lego Robotics, and
even went out in a boat and
took a trip to the High Desert
Museum,= Mandee said.
<I go to support Nicky
whenever she9s speaking,=
Mandee said. <I absolutely
love the program.=
In the three years they9ve
been here, the Seeleys have,
of necessity, moved a couple
of times, including a short
time living in an RV. But
Circle of Friends has always
been there for them.
<It9s definitely given (her
children) more skills. Both of
them can sew, and it9s given
my daughter a passion for
engineering. They are making
friends, even with kids who
are not in the same school.
It9s broadened our social cir-
cle, and made the kids more
independent,= Seeley said.
Soon, Amaya will get
her first taste of summer
camp with a week at Camp
Tamarack.
Three mentors 3 Jeff
Smith, Terry Buckholz, and
Joan Upshaw 3 also talked
about their involvement with
the organization.
Smith was a mentor for
three years, took a break, and
has been with a new mentee
for about a year. They do
schoolwork, go on hikes, and
play board games when the
weather is bad.
<It9s a rewarding experi-
ence,= Smith said. <You can
make a difference in a child9s
life, and it9s fun. I enjoy play-
ing games with nine-year-old
kids. It9s a pretty substan-
tial commitment, but it9s a
good thing for kids, and I9m
willing and able to do those
things.=
Buckholz has worked with
two young boys in two years
as a mentor.
< T h a t 9s i n t e r e s t i n g ,
because I raised three girls,=
she said. <Both of the boys
had a lot of interest in math
and science, and being an
engineer, we have a lot in
common.=
She9s worked with kids as
a Girl Scout leader, a Sunday
school teacher, and now one-
on-one with her mentee. She
also leads a STEM class of
six to 10 kids. This week,
they built simple bottle rock-
ets using vinegar and bak-
ing soda, but, just because it
blows up, it9s fun.
Upshaw has mentored
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for almost seven years.
In January, she and Jim
Pritchard started a ukulele
class, thanks to Ukes for
Youth in Bend, which pur-
chased ukuleles from funds
earned via a quilt raffle. The
class meets twice a month,
and usually has three to six
mentees. This month, the
mentees and their parents
wrote a song about what
Circle of Friends means to
them. They will perform for
the first time at Thursday9s
Circle of Friends fundraiser.
Carolyn Gabrielson lives
at Black Butte Ranch and
has served on the board for
Circle of Friends for six
years. When she spoke with
The Nugget, she was tying
ribbons on bookmarks that
the kids created during one of
their many art sessions at the
Circle of Friends clubhouse.
The bookmarks will be given
as favors during the fund-
raiser. Because she travels
often, she isn9t able to assume
the responsibilities of being
a mentor, but she takes her
board duties very seriously.
<We serve children who
have lived with trauma or
chronic stress,= she said.
<No one chooses that. We
are friends, and the power of
friendship is without words.=
25
Gov. signs $1
billion school-
funding tax
package
SALEM (AP) 4 Oregon
Gov. Kate Brown has signed
a sweeping tax package set
to raise $1 billion a year for
schools.
The governor says in a
Tweet Thursday that <this is a
big day for our kids, and their
future.=
Schools will be required to
use the funds to decrease class
size and boost student per-
formance. Oregon has some
of the largest class sizes and
lowest graduation rates in the
nation.
The funding will be depen-
dent on a half a percent tax
on less than 10 percent of all
businesses in the state.
Republicans sought to
block the package by refusing
to show up to the Senate to
vote. They ended a week-long
walkout Monday, at which
point the measure was swiftly
approved.
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