Switchboard:‘heart-pacer for alternative community’
Switchboard is the heart-pacer
for the alternative community.
Operating out of a big, old
salmon-colored house at 416
Jefferson, the referral service
monitors the sometimes
spasmodic beat of Eugene’s
counter-culture.
A self-described “awareness
center,” Switchboard provides
both direct services and
referrals. Directly, the outfit
offers a series of bulletin boards
for rides, jobs, housing, sales,
etc., serves as a counseling and
drop-in center and acts as a sort
of clearing house for donations.
The majority of time is spend
acting as a local chamber of
commerce and information
agency on a personal basis. Terry
Potash, director, says over 200
calls are received daily between
10 a m. and 12 p.m. from people
who are in need of assistance.
Switchboard maintains an
“alpha” file on community
services, both “straight and
alternative, their addresses and
phone numbers.” People are
referred to White Bird, Legal
Aid, welfare programs and
cooperatives.
An important service
newcomers don't find anywhere
else in Eugene is the crash
referral. When someone comes to
town and can't find a place to
stay, he is inevitably told to "call
Switchboard." The number is
344-7133.
A crash file of such places as
communes, private homes, the
Youth Hostel and Family Shelter
House is maintained.
Runaways are referred to
Looking-Glass, a Springfield
group that specializes in helping
them. If the runaway won't go
Young travelers can stay overnight
as Hostel readies for July opening
In the enure state ot Oregon,
there is only one Youth Hostel—a
place for traveling young people
to s,ay overnight.
A standard feature in Europe
and other parts of the world, the
hostel idea has just been
developed in Eugene. In fact, the
idea is about all that has been
developed, as yet. The rest is
struggling to take shape inside a
large house at 416 Jefferson.
Coordinator Joe Smith,
originally from Nova Scotia, is
pouring his and others’ energies
into readying the hostel for its
official opening July 5.
So far, 18 beds have been found,
6 of which were donated from
Sacred Heart Hospital. And two
large rooms upstairs and a loft
below are in a semi-state of
readiness.
The workers aren’t whistling in
the wind, on a night last week—
almost a month before the
opening—the hostel was filled to
capacity with premature
travelers crashing overnight.
Smith says he doesn’t see how
it will be any different the rest of
the summer. “We’re not going to
have enough space to put
everyone,” he laments.
A $1 fee is asked of people who
use the facilities. This amount
allows the guest to a bed, bath
I and to check his pack for the
night. Breakfast and dinner will
be provided for a quarter each.
“We’ll try and give preference
to people that pay—others will
have to earn their keep,” says
Sally Bishop, who will be chief
cook for the hostel. “If we didn’t
have to pay money, we couldn’t
charge.”
Smith has asked the city for a
$5,200 subsidary but said he
hasn’t had any response yet.
“Unfortunately, I’m taking that
negatively,” he said.
The hostel has a 13-member
Board of directors consisting of
community members, university
faculty and other service
Bikes . . .
(Continued from Page 7)
A common cause of bike thefts
is the bike left unattended, even
for a few seconds. A bike can be
locked, but stolen, if it is not
locked to some immovable ob
ject. Tim McCarthy believes
people get a false sense of
security by chaining a bike to a
parking meter, where it is easily
lifted off and stolen.
Buying a one dollar bike license
can also help recover a stolen
bike McCarthy says the license
numbers are part of a com
puterized system, and bikes
recovered anywhere in the U.S.
can be traced back to the owner
through the computer. Bike
licenses purchased now are good
thrnueh the end of 1973
directors. They are meeting to
determine how public donations
can be obtained.
Food, blankets and sheets are
of highest priority, emphasized
the cook. “And if anyone wants to
donate an automatic washer, it
would sure be used,” she
suggested.
Despite the technicalities, the
hostel is developing as a friendly,
relaxed and very homey en
vironment in which to stay.
“We look at it as a cultural
energy exchange,” explains
Terry Potash, director of the
annexed Switchboard that oc
cupies the same building. "It’s an
experience to rap with the people
that come through town.”
Shelter House provides
lodging for families
The worn and warped door
looks like it might be shut tight,
but a fresh sign on its surface
shows that people still pass this
way. The sign reads, “This is a
family shelter house, not a crash
pad.”
The roomy old building
referred to is Shelter House, a
former fraternity where low
income families are put up and
fed until the staff can find per
manent quarters for them. Three
hundred men, women and
children took advantage of these
services last month according to
a volunteer worker there, and
many more are expected as
spring moves into summer.
Shelter House hopes to be
ready for the summer influx this
year with the opening of a new
and larger center at 2308
Willamette. Reverend Donald
Gall, minister of education for
the Central Presbyterian Church
and one of the founders of the
service back in 1970, says the
move to upper Willamette will be
made “any day.”
He explains that the non-profit
organization sponsoring Shelter
House, the Eugene Emergency
Housing Corporation, has been
contemplating the move for some
time, but just obtained the
necessary permit from the city
council last week.
Despite the new and better
quarters, Gall thinks the house
“is at a very precarious point.”
He notes that the city provided
the bulk of operating funds last
year with $4,500, but such support
has not yet been secured for
fiscal 1972-73.
Gall doesn’t blame city plan
ners who have budgeted a
generous $7,500 for Shelter
House, but the voters who may
force this financing to be cut if
they reject the city budget in the
upcoming June 20 election. “It’s
a very real danger,” Gall insists.
If Shelter House should die for
lack of funding, Gall thinks it
would be a great loss to the
Eugene community. “We work
very closely with the social
agencies, welfare and so forth.
There are lots of low income
families that don’t meet the
regulations necessary for
government aid through these
agencies. These people are sent
to us, their last hope for help.”
If present problems can be
overcome, Gall sees an increase
in the type of help that will be
available during the busy
summer ahead and into the fall
“We have not really sought
student input in the past,” says
gall, “but we will be in the future.
Wy hope to attract some volun
teer aid either from students who
need field practice in social work
or those that just feel the concern
we feel for the low income
families trying to make it in
Eugene.”
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there. Switchboard will find a
place for the person to stay. To
avoid legal trouble. Switchboard
will tell the people at whose place
the runaway is staying what the
situation is.
“We want to work with
everyone,” says Potash. "And we
have good relations with the
police and the city, which helps a
lot to keep functioning.”
Switchboard is staffed with up
to 30 volunteers who mainly man
the phones. Potash said the
University’s SEARCH program
provides operators during the
winter but acknowledged.
"Summer is a problem" in
getting people to help out.
The operating budget is sup
ported solely by the coordinators
and by donations. The ASUO
donates $35 monthly—an amount
that just covers expenses for the
agency’s two business phones.
Every four hours Potash, a
former electronic journalism
student, broadcasts a five minute
bulletin from the office that goes
out over FM radio station
KZEL’s air ways. The bulletin
provides up to date information
on lost and found animals and
rides needed and offered out of
the area.
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