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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 9, 2019)
B Wednesday, October 9, 2019 The Observer & Baker City Herald Small-business & Ag HAPPENINGS Ag community may reserve free tickets for Farmer- Merchant Banquet LA GRANDE — The 71st annual Union County Farmer-Merchant Banquet will take place Nov. 7 at the Blue Mountain Conference Center, 404 12th St., La Grande. The evening will include live mu- sic, food (Island City Market & Deli), onsite bar (Benchwarmers Pub & Grill), photo booth and child care. A no-host social begins at 6 p.m., followed by the banquet at 7 p.m. This year’s theme is “The Roots of Union County.” The event is hosted by the Union County Chamber of Commerce to honor those in the agriculture industry. Members of the ag community may attend the banquet free, but tickets must be reserved in advance. Tickets for the general public are $30. To make reservations, call the Chamber at 541-963-8588. It’s time to get your holiday marketing plan in order LA GRANDE — Ignite, 104 Depot St., La Grande, invites local business owners to attend “Spruce Up Your Holiday Marketing Plan,” a Google livestream, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Oct. 16. Topics will include: Google My Business listings, online advertising and email marketing. According to orga- nizers, the workshop will be “jam-packed with good information. Come ready to take notes.” The holiday marketing workshop is hosted by Ignite and the Northeast Oregon Economic Development District. There is no cost to attend, but reservations are ap- preciated. For more information, go to www. ignitemybusiness.org. Learn to digitally promote and grow your business BAKER CITY, ENTERPRISE — The Blue Mountain Community College Small Business Development Center is hosting “Promoting and Growing Your Business Digitally” for local and regional businesses. Participants will learn about social me- dia platforms, digital media advertising, budgeting, reporting and managing social communities. The class will be held from 9 a.m. to noon Oct. 24 at 3275 Baker St. in Baker City and from 9 a.m. to noon Nov. 19 at 107 SW First St. in Enterprise. The courses will be led by Michael Met- tler, founder and director of strategy at MCM Strategic + Communications, a mar- keting and management consulting fi rm based in Walla Walla, Washington. Each class is $39, payable by cash or check made out to BMCC. For more information and registration, call Andrea Fowler at 541-278- 5833 or visit BMCC SBDC on Facebook. Producers: Don’t delay in fi ling Adjusted Gross Income Certifi cation WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Farm Ser- vice Agency reminds producers that they may experience delays in receiving Agricul- ture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments, Loan Defi ciency Payments (LDPs) and Market Gains on Marketing Assistance Loans (MALs) if they have not fi led form CCC-941, Adjusted Gross Income Certifi cation. No program See Happenings / Page 2B Sabrina Thompson/EO Media Group Shown is the Life Reformation Counseling team of Catie Johnson, left, Jamie Matteucci, center, and Luke Matteucci. LRC adds to its team By Sabrina Thompson EO Media Group Located off Island Avenue across from Dutch Bros. Coffee, Life Reformation Coun- seling wants to help people with their men- tal health needs. Luke and Jamie Matteucci opened their practice in La Grande in 2013 and have grown since then, with the recent addition of Catie Johnson as the clinic’s new- est counselor. “There is a huge need in numbers for mental health assistance, but not enough resources,” Jamie Matteucci, the offi ce man- ager for the center, said. Luke Matteucci and Johnson serve as counselors, helping in treating a variety of mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, trauma/PTSD, addiction, traumatic brain injury, bipolar disorder, life transitions, grief and family and couples counseling. They are licensed professional counselors with years of experience. Luke Matteucci focuses on cognitive behavioral therapy treatments, while Johnson specializes in dialectical behavior therapy — however, they are both fully equipped to treat a vari- ety of mental issues. The newest member of the team, Johnson has training in crisis counseling and brings a complementary set of skills and experience to the center. Also, some clients feel more comfortable working with a female therapist. “Catie approached us, and she fi t a need that we had,” Jamie Matteucci said. See LRC / Page 2B Rosewood Cottage joins Pat’s Alley businesses By Trish Yerges For EO Media Group Pat’s Alley welcomes Rose- wood Cottage & Gallery into its mini-mall family of businesses at a grand opening from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 11 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 12 at 1414 Adams Ave., La Grande. All the Pat’s Alley businesses will participate in the shopping gala to welcome Rosewood Cottage. Store owner Cozy Barker and daughter Sarah Barker have be- come the newest tenants of Pat’s Alley, but they are no strangers to the community. “We have been in business at 1801 Adams Ave. since Au- gust 1997,” Cozy Barker said. “I opened the store with my daughters Dana Schaad and Sarah Barker. Dana passed away about four years ago. Sarah is still working with me.” Barker explained that while she worked at Rosewood Cottage all those years, she also raised her children, grandchildren and Trish Yerges/For EO Media Group Sarah Barker (left) and her mother, Cozy Barker, have relocated Rosewood Cottage to its new location in Pat’s Alley, 1414 Adams Ave. in La Grande, and will host a grand opening this weekend. a great-grandchild at the store in the back room, their second home. As they grew up, several family members have chosen to help Barker operate the business. “My daughter Bethany has worked for me the last seven years and will fi ll in at the new See Rosewood / Page 2B Conference takes ‘Journey to Equity’ workshop coming place in November NEODD EO Media Group staff ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — The Quivira Coalition, Holistic Manage- ment International and the American Grassfed Asso- ciation are collaborating to gather ranchers, farmers, environmentalists, land managers, scientists, medi- cal professionals, nutrition- ists, students, teachers and others at the four-day Regenerate Conference to explore ideas of “Health from the Soil Up.” The 2019 conference will be held Nov. 19-22, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The health of people, ani- mals, plants, and the whole planet are fundamentally connected. At its root, the source of health is in the land; it provides food, medi- cine, (bio)diversity, tradi- tion and home. Modern agriculture and modern medicine often operate in reaction to symptoms rather than root causes, and they tend to address parts rather than wholes. Regenerative agriculture embodies a shift away from these extractive practices, and towards holism, pre- vention and proactivity. The systemic con- nections between food, medicine, soil and climate impact the health of people and planet. The enormity See Conference / Page 2B ENTERPRISE — Northeast Oregon Economic Development District’s “Journey to Equity” is a two-part workshop for rural nonprofi t staff, board and volunteers who need to take steps to demonstrate their organiza- tion’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and be able to communicate progress to funders and community members. Activities will focus on approaching equity in ways that are relevant to an organization’s mission and programs, and consider what represents meaningful progress toward its specifi c goals for becoming more inclusive and informed. Journey to Equity will be offered at HatchLab Baker in Baker City on Oct. 17 and 31, and at Art Center East in La Grande on Nov. 4 and 18. Each work- shop will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Together participants will examine the complexity of diversity and inclusion in rural Northeast Oregon, how underlying systems relate to equity, and the changes to organizational culture, operations (forms, etc.), structure (board/staff com- position) or policy that may be needed in order to better serve diverse popula- tions. Over the course of the two sessions participants will assess their starting point, describe their motivation and goals for change, identify strategies and tools to make progress and anticipate some of the challenges on the journey ahead. Participants will have the opportu- nity to: • Complete an organizational assessment • Outline an equity plan of goals, activities, and outcomes • Draft an equity statement • Practice using an equity lens to guide decision-making Lisa Dawson and Sara Miller will facilitate the workshop. Both are graduates of the Meyer Memorial Trust “Capacity Builders Learning Collabora- tive” for building nonprofi t capacity to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. Miller is also a graduate of “Leading for Equity and Inclusion,” a systems-based approach to building awareness, chang- ing behavior and taking action. “Learning about diversity and inclusion is not about checking a box,” Miller said. “It is a way to move beyond acknowledging inequity to becoming more equitable and changing the ways we operate.” Nonprofi ts are expected to send at least two participants (board, staff or volunteers) to both sessions. A registra- tion fee of $75 covers the cost for the fi rst two participants from each organization, and additional participants are $25 each. Lunch will be provided. Scholarships are available. To register or for more informa- tion, contact Dawson at 541-426-3598 or Kristy Athens at 541-426-3598 or kristyathens@neoedd.org; or, go to https:// bit.ly/30KLaRc (for Baker City event) or https://bit.ly/330zH1s (for La Grande). This program is available thanks to a grant from Meyer Memorial Trust.
