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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022 | SILVERTONAPPEAL.COM PART OF THE USA TODAY NETWORK Businesses struggle to find employees Labor shortages persist in Mid-Valley Bill Poehler and Claire Withycombe Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK Delivery drivers. Salespeople. Police officers. Policy analysts. Oregon needs a lot more of them. Employers in the Willamette Valley are scrambling to find people to fill posi- tions as the COVID-19 pandemic sub- sides and the economy expands. The share of Oregon workers seeking jobs is nearly as low as it was before the pan- demic, businesses are growing quickly, and baby boomers are leaving the work- force at a faster rate. A stroll through downtown Salem re- veals the need for workers, from Kue- bler's Furniture to Thai Orchid and the Straight From New York pizza shop. Home Depot is hiring hundreds of workers for its stores in Salem and throughout the Willamette Valley for positions in sales, store support, freight, merchandising and warehousing. Stay- ton's police department is hiring offi- cers. In Oregon's capital, where state gov- ernment is the area's largest employer, dozens of positions such as policy ana- lysts and fleet support are advertised by Oregon Housing and Community Ser- vices. Experts say it will be a while until they find the number of workers they are seeking. The need for workers is so great, and was even before COVID-19 set in, that the Oregon Legislature passed and Gov. Kate Brown Tuesday signed into law an infusion of $200 million in state and federal funds known as Future Ready See LABOR, Page 4A A help wanted sign is posted at Kuebler's Furniture on Tuesday, April 5 in Salem. ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL Artist Stephanie Juanillo’s search for home Shelters amid the ashes Dianne Lugo Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK This is part of a weekly series introducing readers to individuals who are passionate about our Mid- Valley community. Stephanie Juanillo is still unsure of where she will call home in the near future. It is an uncertainty she explores in a new installation at the Bush Barn Art Center titled Mi Cuerpo Es Mi Hogar. Currently a senior at Linfield University, Juanillo said she’s known she was going to be an artist since she was 3. It is a career that her parents and family have been supportive of. The studio art program at Linfield is small, she said, but students get a lot of one-on-one time with the professors. After graduation, she will be continuing her edu- cation and she has applied to two graduate schools. One program is in Vancouver, Canada, and another in Chicago. That is why she was eager to accept the invitation from the Salem Art Association to be a featured artist at the gallery. “I might be moving soon and I thought it’d be cool to do an installation here in Salem,” Juanillo said. The meaning of home Above: Diana McGuire stores personal belongings in a shed she received through the project on Saturday in Lyons. McGuire’s home and garage burned down in the Beachie Creek Fire. Top: Volunteer Tim Long builds sheds for Santiam Canyon residents who were affected by the fire on Saturday in Stayton. PHOTOS BY ABIGAIL DOLLINS/STATESMAN JOURNAL Volunteers build sheds for victims of 2020 wildfires Whitney Woodworth Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK Many Santiam Canyon residents who lost their homes in the 2020 wildfires are still waiting to re- build their lives. Some like Diana McGuire, who lives near High- way 22 and the Santiam River, returned to their home in ruins. She and her husband once had a workshop, thriving garden, chicken coop and 1936 home. “It was our little bit of heaven,” McGuire said. But when the Beachie Creek Fire swept through the region, all that remained was her barn and chicken coop. Everything else was a loss. “It was totally burnt down,” she said. The stress of losing their home took its toll on her husband. He died four months later, just after the couple was able to design a new home to rebuild. Since October 2020, McGuire’s been living in an “It’s a godsend. I don’t know what I would have done without it.” Diana McGuire Received one of the sheds after her home near Highway 22 and the Santiam River burned down in the Beachie Creek Fire RV on her land while construction on her home is underway. The cramped quarters meant she had no place to store the feed for her chickens who mirac- ulously survived the blaze, her canning tools to use once her garden is back and her other belongings. Just as she was debating giving up the chickens, Juanillo said she has spent her senior year fo- cused on exploring the concept of home and what that means for immigrants. “For a lot of us, we’ve had to redefine the definition of home,” she said. For Juanillo, home is tied to family. She was raised in Perrydale and has been living in McMinnville while attending Linfield. The prospect of moving far from her tight-knit family for graduate school has been difficult, she said. Her installation focuses on finding home within your body. “For most of my life, I’ve searched for the meaning of home. Attempting to understand whether home is a place, a person or a feeling. As much as my concept of home is tied to my family and community, I also believe that home is inside each of us,” reads her art- ist statement. The exploration of Juanillo’s heritage is promi- nent in the symbols she has chosen to display. Large monarch butterflies migrate and surround the photo of a two-year-old Juanillo, similar to the way mil- lions of monarch butterflies migrate each year thou- sands of miles to the same forests in central Mexico. Monarch butterflies are incorporated in almost all of her work, she said. Both of her parents are from Mexico and the butterflies are another way of com- memorating and honoring them. The yearly migra- tion is a natural wonder that also frequently coin- See JUANILLO, Page 4A See SHEDS, Page 2A 2020 primary election: Fluoride in water, school bonds, levies to be decided Bill Poehler Salem Statesman Journal USA TODAY NETWORK This is part of a series of stories on the issues in the May 17 primary election. Ballots will be mailed to vot- ers April 27. Sublimity is a serene city. Located 15 miles east of Salem off Highway 22, sur- rounded by farms and near the Santiam State Forest, the city of 3,106 boasts homes with big front porches on large lots in quiet neighborhoods, charming restau- rants and rural tranquility with a close-knit, small- town vibe. How much longer it will have fluoride in its drinking water is an open question. On the May 17 primary election ballot, its voters will get a choice after 67 years if they want fluoride in the water that is piped into their homes, schools and busi- nesses. That issue is among the ballot measures, bonds and levies that voters in Marion County cities such as Ger- See ELECTION, Page 2A Vol. 141, No. 18 Online at SilvertonAppeal.com News updates: h Breaking news h Get updates from the Silverton area Photos: h Photo galleries Serving the Silverton Area Since 1880 A Unique Edition of the Statesman Journal ©2022 50 cents Printed on recycled paper QEAJAB-07403y Stephanie Juanillo works on her exhibit called "Mi Cuerpo Es Mi Hogar," at the Bush Barn Art Center on Thursday, March 31, 2022 in Salem, Ore. ABIGAIL DOLLINS / STATESMAN JOURNAL