FROM PAGE ONE
Saturday, February 19, 2022
tHe ObSerVer — A7
FOOD
Continued from Page A1
monetary goal.
The month-long event
is a part of a larger state-
wide month of giving ini-
tiative, which targets food
insecurity in Oregon.
Eastern partners closely
with Community Connec-
tion of Northeast Oregon,
which assists in distributing
the food throughout Union
County. The food drive also
gives back to students and
faculty at the university
who could benefit.
A big emphasis for
Gekeler has been student
involvement, which she
says has been instrumental
in coming up with new
ideas to collect donations.
“They are so hands-on,”
she said of the students.
“When we were thinking
about different ways to raise
funds, they were involved
in the planning and the
building, and they are
incredible.”
Students have partici-
pated in the food drive in a
number of ways, including
gathering donations outside
of Safeway every Friday.
Regan Braden, a junior
at EOU, noted that asking
for donations was a bit of
an unusual experience at
first, but seeing the com-
munity’s involvement
firsthand has been a prom-
ising experience. Braden
played a big role in orga-
nizing the food drive’s
donation efforts.
“I think it shows how
amazing this community
is,” Braden said. “As a
person who was asking for
donations and speaking
with the people who were
contributing, they were
all very willing and very
interested in it.”
Gekeler and Braden
noted that a dollar donation
equates to four pounds of
food that can be donated.
Communicating this equa-
tion has helped them pro-
mote their efforts and also
created a shift toward mon-
etary donations during the
food drive.
“A lot of people maybe
don’t have four pounds
of food to easily donate
in their pantry, but most
people have a dollar or
change in their car they can
add to our donation fund,”
Gekeler said.
alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Organizers and volunteers with the Eastern Oregon University annual food drive pose for a group photo outside Loso Hall on Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. The group is nearing its goal
of collecting 1,000 pounds of goods and $5,000 in cash to donate to local food banks.
“Student involvement is an important
element of this fundraiser because they
directly benefit from its proceeds. A
portion of the proceeds and donations
goes to the county’s food bank while a
portion goes to EOU’s food bank. On
top of this direct benefit, the drive is a
good opportunity to get EOU students
connected to the community.”
bank. On top of this direct
benefit, the drive is a good
opportunity to get EOU
students connected to the
community.”
Coming from a back-
ground in a big city, she
noted that the month-long
fundraising effort has illu-
minated the sense of com-
munity in La Grande.
“I think that it shows
how caring the EOU and La
Grande communities are,”
Jamison said.
Student body president Alexa Jamison
Raising awareness
In addition to gathering
donations on campus and
in La Grande, Eastern ath-
letics programs are involved
in the food drive — the
event has become a compe-
tition to see who could raise
more donations. At the bas-
ketball games on Feb. 12,
the teams raised $500 on
raffle tickets. The football
team gathered upward of
750 pounds of food, while
the basketball teams gath-
ered enough money for 780
pounds of food.
“It’s just so amazing
to see how we can all
come together for a good
cause,” Braden said. “I
think it really just shows
the love and good in the
community.”
Student body president
Alexa Jamison helped orga-
nize student efforts for the
food drive, from garnering
volunteers to fundraising
events.
“Student involvement
is an important element
of this fundraiser because
they directly benefit from
its proceeds,” she said. “A
portion of the proceeds and
donations goes to the coun-
ty’s food bank while a por-
tion goes to EOU’s food
Another on-campus ini-
tiative to raise funds for the
food drive involves a direct
deduction from employees’
paychecks. Faculty mem-
bers can choose an amount,
large or small, to deduct
from their compensation by
the month or one time. The
system aligns with Commu-
nity Connection and puts
the donation directly to use
in Union County.
Gekeler noted that the
food drive accomplishes
two important tasks, spot-
lighting an awareness of
food insecurity in Union
County and the importance
of looking out for your
DROUGHT
Continued from Page A1
Farther south, the North
Fork John Day River at
Monument is recording
83% of its 30-year median.
The basin has one strong-
hold for water: Camas
Creek near Ukiah at 346%
of the median.
The Grande Ronde-
Burnt-Powder-Im-
naha Basin is averaging
between 83% and 95% of
the 30-year median with
one anomaly: Bear Creek,
outside of Wallowa, is at
216%.
Snowpack has been
holding up, despite the lack
of precipitation in the last
five weeks.
In the Blue Moun-
tains between La Grande
and Pendleton, Emigrant
Springs has 45 inches of
snowpack and is 148%
MASKS
Continued from Page A1
“The number of cases are
still significantly higher
than they have been for
most of the pandemic, but
the decline over the past
week provides relief for
hospitals operating under
severe strain.”
Gov. Jay Inslee of Wash-
ington said that he would
order indoor-mask man-
dates dropped March 21, a
day after Oregon’s projected
date. Inslee said his order
would include schools.
New Mexico dropped
indoor-mask mandates
immediately on Feb. 17.
California announced plans
to move COVID-19 from
pandemic to endemic status,
meaning it would be han-
dled as a major but manage-
alex Wittwer/eO Media Group
A dwindling snowpack rests atop Mount Harris, near Imbler, on Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. Several weeks with-
out significant snow or rain are creating concerns of another drought year.
above average with 10%
snow water equivalent.
High Ridge Snotel east
of Pendleton has 52 inches
of snowpack, 5% below its
average, but with 33% snow
water equivalent. Milk-
shakes Snotel on the Wash-
able ongoing risk.
“We’re going to live with
this,” California Gov. Gavin
Newsom told the New York
Times. “We’re not in denial
of the hell that has been the
last two years. This is not
like World War II, where we
can have a ticker-tape parade
and announce the end.”
OHSU’s forecast showed
a strong trend toward sig-
nificantly lower infections,
hospitalizations and eventu-
ally, deaths.
OHSU said Oregon
masking rates have
remained among the highest
in the nation, with surveys
showing roughly 80% of
residents have continued to
cover up indoors.
Oregon was one of the
last states to drop out-
door-mask mandates when
Brown lifted the restriction
in November.
Graven said the fore-
cast was starting to show
state residents have started
gathering indoors again
with people outside of their
households.
“Those rates have begun
to tick up,” the OHSU state-
ment that accompanied
Thursday’s forecast said.
Graven cited Denmark as
an example of where omi-
cron seemed on the way out,
only to rebound because of
the public getting ahead of
pandemic policies.
“They gave up on public
health measures at what
they thought was the peak
— and it turned out not to
be the peak and they had
even more people hospital-
ized,” Graven said.
The highly contagious
omicron variant was first
confirmed in Oregon on
Dec. 14.
ington state line has 71
inches of snowpack, which
is 87% of normal with 35%
snow water equivalent.
BOND
Continued from Page A1
The proposed ath-
letic and academic center
has been a popular topic
since Wednesday, Jan.
12, when the La Grande
School Board unani-
mously passed a res-
olution giving voters
a chance to approve
or reject a bond for
the facility in the May
election.
Passage of the pro-
posed bond would not
raise the total school
taxes paid by prop-
erty owners, Justice
said, because of the
recent refinancing of the
20-year $31.5 million
bond voters approved in
2014 for capital construc-
tion and maintenance.
neighbors.
“There are people
hungry in our community
and we’re responsible for
each other,” she said. “I
think in the last two years
or so, people are really get-
ting on board more than
ever.”
The food drive also takes
place in the winter, which
is considered a peak time
for food insecurity. Gekeler,
who has a background in
social services, noted that
limited job opportunities
and colder weather during
the winter months con-
tribute to the trend.
“In the winter months,
food insecurity gets signifi-
cantly worse,” Gekeler said.
“Having the Union County
Warming Station as another
area I touch on, we see that
people are struggling in the
winter more than ever.”
Since its establishment
more than 20 years ago, the
food drive has collected
more than 180,000 pounds
worth of food donations.
“I always focused on a
theme of basic household
food security, meaning
some certainty of supply,”
Grigsby said. “As far as
wealth in this country, there
is no reason why anyone
should be worried about
their next meal, or actually
even going hungry.”
EOU food drive vol-
unteers throughout the
month will continue to
collect donations outside
of Safeway and Grocery
Outlet on Fridays as well as
organize on-campus collec-
tions. Donation pickups can
be coordinated by emailing
Gekeler at kegekeler@eou.
edu, and students looking
to get involved can contact
Jamison at aspres@eou.edu.
EOU’s student-run emer-
gency food bank can be
reached at 541-786-3663.
“I think as employees
of EOU, our job is to
work with the students
and help them,” Gekeler
said. “They’re learning
so many things from their
professors that are going
to prepare them for their
careers. Efforts like this
prepare them as human
beings. We want to have
that next generation of
compassionate leaders
who are going to go out
and change the world and
rally the troops.”
In the Wallowas, Mount
Howard has 27 inches of
snowpack, 25% below
average with 32% snow
water equivalent. On the
south side of the range,
Moss Springs Snotel is
recording 49 inches of
snowpack, which is 15%
below average with a snow
water equivalent of 32%.
In Baker County,
Schneider Meadows Snotel
is recording 22% below
normal precipitation and
has 55 inches of snowpack
with a 33% snow water
equivalent.
While the snowpack and
water levels look pretty
good right now, North-
eastern Oregon is facing
down the barrel of another
drought year, according
to the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Admin-
istration. According to
www.drought.gov, Wal-
lowa County was down
0.69 inches of precipita-
tion in January. The entire
county is considered to be
in severe drought status,
and 44.36% of the county
is experiencing extreme
drought conditions.
Union County is down
0.27 inches of its average
precipitation. The entire
county is considered to be
under severe drought con-
ditions while 4.3% is expe-
riencing extreme drought.
And Umatilla County is
down 0.2 inches of pre-
cipitation from a normal
January. This puts all of
the county under severe
drought conditions, with
33.77% considered to be
under extreme drought
conditions.
The extended forecast
for Northeastern Oregon
calls for 33% to 40% below
normal precipitation with
a 40% to 50% chance of
above normal temperatures.
The building would be
a pre-engineered metal
structure that would be
available for public use
and would meet Ameri-
cans with Disabilities Act
standards, which the cur-
rent Annex building does
not.
The aging Annex
building is adjacent to
the district’s mainte-
nance, facilities and
grounds structure —
built in 1911 — that
would also be torn down
if the bond is approved
by voters. The district’s
maintenance, facilities
and grounds services
would be moved to a
10,500-square-foot struc-
ture the school district
would rent on Adams
Avenue at the Adams
Professional Plaza.
The school district is
facing a deadline because
in December 2021 it was
awarded a $4 million
Oregon School Capital
Improvement Matching
grant from the state for
the building of the aca-
demic and athletic center.
The school district
will receive the $4 mil-
lion matching grant
only if voters approve
the new $4.845 million
bond. Voters would have
to approve the bond in
May because this was the
election date specified by
the school district in its
application for the grant.
Joseph Waite, the La
Grande School district’s
facilities manager, said
if voters approve the
bond, construction of the
new multi-use building
could start as early as the
spring 2023.