Local organizations give monetary aid and increase
opportunities for specific groups in the community
the season
of the questions we ask the scholarship candidates is what makes them unique. Dmeesha had a list. ”
Karen Powell | Black United Fund operations manager
Learning:
beyond
their means
The Black United Fund provides
financial grants for driven students
from low-income communities
Nicole Baker | Photographer
Junior Taneesha Greene says staying up late is
easy for her now because she worked 35 hours
per week at Taco Bell while in high school.
fund has helped send two students to
Stanford and several more to histori
cally black institutions.
Black United Fund Campaign Man
ager Adrian Livingstone said scholar
ship recipients need to have leadership
and volunteer experience and “out
standing personalities.”
Operations Manager Karen Powell,
who interviewed Greene for the schol
arship, said Greene impressed her.
“One of the questions we ask the
scholarship candidates is what makes
them unique,” Powell said. “Taneesha
had a list.”
While Greene said the $1000 schol
arship didn’t necessarily make the
difference between her attending
college or not, she added that every lit
tle bit counts.
“It’s a thousand dollars that I don’t
have to worry about paying back,”
she said.
Greene said she is financially inde
pendent now, making it even more
difficult to pay for her college education.
“I didn’t want to depend on my par
ents,” she said. “I figured I could do it
all for myself.”
Greene is currently taking 12 units
of science classes while holding down
two jobs: one as a receptionist at the
Women’s Center and the other as pro
grams coordinator for the University’s
Black Student Union.
Before she cut back her work sched
ule at the Women’s Center, Greene
said her schedule was packed.
“Every time I was free I had to
work,” she said. “It was hectic.”
In fact, after her father had quadru
ple bypass surgery a few weeks ago,
Greene said she was on the brink of
dropping out.
“I called my mom and said, ‘I’m
done,”’ she said. “But my dad called
me from the hospital and said ‘You’re
not quitting.’”
Greene said she was inspired to be
come a trauma surgeon after she joined
a health program at her high school and
saw the television show “ER.”
“It’s exciting,” she said of the occu
pation. “You never know what you’re
going to get.”
The soft-spoken Greene said her
calm demeanor will be an advantage
to her when she is a surgeon.
“I think that’s the best way to be,”
she said, chuckling. “You can’t have the
doctor and the patient hysterical.”
Greene’s mother, Bobbie Greene,
said she’s not sure what keeps
Taneesha going.
“It’s her being strong-headed I
guess,” Bobbie Greene said. “She
made up her mind that that was
what she was going to do and she’s
doing it.”
In addition to funding the Ron Hern
don Scholarship program, Black Unit
ed Fund finances a number of other
programs in Eugene.
Leadership, Education, Adventure,
Direction is one of those programs.
“They reach out to low-income
youth and provide them with opportu
nities to do adventure activities, like
white water rafting and horseback rid
ing, that build leadership skills,” Liv
ingstone said.
Another local program the group
funds is the Juneteenth Celebration.
Juneteenth is celebrated on June
19 and commemorates the day the
news of the end of the Civil War
reached Texas.
“It’s a celebration of freedom,” Pow
ell said.
The Juneteenth Celebration Com
mittee provides scholarships for high
school seniors.
The Black United Fund has provid
ed more than 750 grants to nonprofits
since 1980, Livingstone said. She fur
ther emphasized that in spite of the
fund’s name, the money isn’t just for
organizations that serve African-Amer
ican communities.
“Our focus is the low-income com
munity,” she said. “We want to make
sure that we are reaching out to those
communities and that they don’t fall
through the cracks.”
moriahbalingit@dailyemerald.com
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-e y e
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Cathouc Charities Web site
To each his
own need
Site
I
Catholic Community Services helps
people become self-sufficient by
distributing aid tailored to each person
BY AMANDA BOLSINGER | NEWS REPORTER
f00D9
Lauren Wimer | Senior photographer
First time patron David Spencer, 27, grabs a bag of food at the Catholic Community Services at 1095 W. 7th Ave. on Monday afternoon.
The service donates 7 tons of food each week to both Eugene and Springfield, totaling 1.4 million pounds every year.
Thirty thousand people receive aid
each year from Catholic Community
Services. From food and electricity to
housing and parenting classes, the serv
ice center reaches out to community
members in need of assistance, tailoring
the aid to the individual.
“They believe that each person has
unique gifts to share. Therefore, their
staff works to recognize and cultivate
the giftedness in every person they
serve,” according to the Catholic Chari
ties Web site.
Catholic Community Services’ goal is
to help each person obtain self-suffi
ciency and become participating,
healthy community members.
The organization is the single largest
distributor of food in the Eugene
Springfield area. Through different dis
tribution sites, they provide 7 tons of
food each week in both Eugene and
Springfield, which amounts to 1.4 mil
lion pounds of food each year. The food
goes to low-income families and indi
viduals who would not otherwise have
enough food and groceries.
As well as providing food, CCS pro
vides energy assistance to low-income
community members who cannot af
ford to pay their bills.
“A lot of people don’t have money for
food, rent and energy bills,” said Ed
Emonks, executive director of CCS.
“Most local utilities have programs to
help people pay bills and programs to
encourage others to contribute to the
fund for those who are unable to pay.”
One program that CCS works with is
the Low Income Energy Assistance
Program, which helps pay the energy
bills of many of its low-income clients.
For many clients, however, having
bills to pay means they at least have
a home. Catholic Community Services
has a variety of housing options,
such as the Murnane Mutual Home,
located near campus. The home is
for young mothers who are in sub
stance abuse recovery programs. The
home offers up to six months of stable
housing while the women learn
job skills, continue their education
and participate in substance recovery
classes.
Other housing programs help low-in
come families pay rent while they work
on reaching the goals of self-sufficiency.
As well as offering housing for
young mothers, CCS has parenting
classes that teach healthy parenting.
Many of the classes guide young par
ents in nutrition and household man
agement, as well as help them find
jobs and homes.
“One class is for young fathers,”
Emonks said. “We teach the rights
and responsibilities that come with
fatherhood.”
For many low-income people, one
obstacle to employment is reliable
transportation; CCS helps by providing
bus tokens or bus passes. They will
also donate $10 toward a Greyhound
bus pass.
Other services provided by CCS
are those that many people might take
for granted.
“We have a free phone and can pro
vide information,” program coordina
tor Stephanie Talbott said. “We also
help with things like getting prescrip
tion medications and ID cards that
people need.”
Catholic Community Services has 30
paid employees and approximately 40
active volunteers.
“We run with comparatively low ad
ministrative costs,” Emonks said. “We
are under 10 percent, which is pretty
darn good.”
Employees are dedicated to helping
low-income families.
Talbott started working for CCS two
years ago.
“I was in the corporate world,” said
Talbott, who was on the CCS board of
directors for 17 years and has been the
executive director for almost two. “It
was all about cutting wages and saving
money so the CEO could make an eight
figure salary instead of seven. I didn’t
want to be a part of that.”
abolsinger@ daily emerald, com
nuw i u ncLr
To donate to the Oregon Youth Soccer
Foundation, the TOPSoccer Program
or the Soccer Start Program, visit:
www.oysf.org/donate/
Call 345-3628 for more information about
Catholic Community Services or to donate.
To donate to the Black United Fund or the
Ron Herndon Scholarship Fund, visit:
Nicole Baker I Photographer
Former Oregon Youth Soccer Association player Katie Abrahamson, now a junior,
says she wrote to college coaches to encourage them to recruit her.
Kicking away
soccer’s obstacles
The Oregon Youth Soccer Association provides
scholarships to cover the high costs of club soccer
and helps rural and urban areas start soccer clubs
www.Duror.org/ ways_io_give.mm
"1 was in the corporate
world, It was all about cut*
ting wages and saving
money so the CEO cotud
make an eight-figure salary
instead of seven. I didn’t
want to be a part of that."
Stephanie Talbott
Catholic Community Services program coordinator
BY MORIAH BALINGIT | NEWS REPORTER
It’s not uncommon for a trauma sur
geon to pull a 30-plus hour shift.
Junior Taneesha Greene, a general
science major who dreams of becom
ing a trauma surgeon someday, is no
stranger to long hours. When she was
a senior in high school, she worked up
to 35 hours a week at Taco Bell while
attending classes and volunteering at
a local hospital.
“I got used to it,” she said. “Staying
up all night is easy because I used to
do it in high school.”
Greene was one of six Ron Hern
don Scholarship recipients in 2001, a
scholarship funded by the Black
United Fund, a philanthropic organi
zation that provides grants to non
profit groups that serve Oregon’s
low-income communities. In addi
tion to helping several students at
tend the University, the scholarship
BY MORIAH BALING!! | NtWS KtrUKItK
The coming of fall doesn’t only mean the leaves turn colors;
for some, it also signifies the beginning of the soccer season — an
hour or so a week of disorganized ball chasing, a frustrated
parent-coach, orange slices at halftime and, of course, end-of-season
pizza parties.
But for some young players, soccer is a considerably more serious
— and expensive — endeavor.
“It can cost up to $5,000 to play on a highly competitive soccer
team,” said Kelly Ward, Oregon Youth Soccer Association director of
Administrative Services.
For some of these players, soccer is a ticket into college. Ward
said if a player wants to get the attention of a college recruiter, he
or she has to be in the Olympic Development Program, the state’s
most selective soccer team. Besides making it through the team’s
highly demanding tryouts, players often have to fork over $1,000
in membership fees just to play for the team.
“The older you get, the more expensive it gets,” University soccer
player and former OYSA player Katie Abrahamson said. “You have to
market yourself... and you have to play club soccer if you want to
play in college.”
Abrahamson, a junior from Portland, said she remembered travel
ing as far as Phoenix and San Diego to play in tournaments when
she played for an OYSA club team. For a typical weekend tourna
ment, she’d have to pay for hotels, airline tickets, food — “everything
that goes into a four-day weekend,” she said. She also spent the sum
mer before her senior year writing college coaches to encourage them
to recruit her.
Not surprisingly, many families find that they can’t shoulder
the burden. OYSA provides scholarships for those who find the costs
too steep.
Ward said soccer can be too expensive even for those who don’t
have aspirations of playing in college. Some families have difficulty
with the $150 fee required to play recreational soccer in the fall. For
tunately, OYSA provides scholarships for these players as well. In
some leagues, up to 80 percent of the players are supported by schol
arships of some kind.
Additionally, the OYSA assists people in inner-city and rural com
munities start soccer clubs of their own through a program called
Soccer Start. Without this program, Ward said, children in these areas
wouldn’t have the opportunity to play soccer.
Another program OYSA sponsors is TOPSoccer, which provides
opportunities for children with disabilities to play soccer for free.
The program also provides them with specialized equipment, such
as larger balls, so that these children can reap the same benefits as
other children.
Soccer has many peripheral benefits, even for those who don’t
have college aspirations, Ward said.
“The way (OYSA) looks at soccer is ... when (players) are chal
lenging themselves, they’re developing as an individual their self-es
teem and their fitness,” she said.
Abrahamson said playing soccer has made her a better student.
“It’s helped me to organize my life,” she said. “I have to prioritize
my schoolwork and other activities to stay well-rounded ... It’s
helped me be disciplined.”
Soccer can indirectly help a student get into a university even if he
or she will not play college soccer, Oregon United Soccer Academy
President Tom Macha said.
“It’s the factor that may keep them focused so they can get into
college,” he said.
Macha added that soccer has simply kept many players out
of trouble.
“Without that they would have had a lot of free or unstructured
time and that wouldn’t do them any good,” he said.
In the end, Abrahamson said the most valuable benefit she has
gained from soccer is the relationships she has developed.
“The friendships ... have kept me in this game,” she said.
moriahbalingit@dailyemerald.com
Typical prices for playing competitive soccer:
Uniform, warm-ups: $190
Soccer ball: $100
Cleats: $100
Shin guards: $30-$40
Club membership: $1,000
Tournament fees: $1,500
Additional traveling fees: $500
Source OYSA
“The older you get, t he more
expensive it gets, You have to
market yourself,,, and you have
to play dub soccer i f you want
to play in college'’
Katie Abrahamson | University soccer player