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A6 — THE OBSERVER
RETIRE
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“Margaret has remark-
able vision. She was able
to see several years ahead
with an accurate under-
standing of what Commu-
nity Connection needed
to be as an agency and the
personnel and skill sets
that would be necessary
to eff ectively serve,” said
Thomas, who now works
for the Oregon Department
of Transportation.
Communication skills
are another part of David-
son’s skill set, Thomas said.
“Margaret is a master
communicator. I’ve seen her
convey complex topics on
everything from economics
to policy and engineering
specifi cations on a housing
project, and always in a way
that’s accessible to a broad
audience,” he said.
‘Flagship programs’
Davidson said most
AID
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Alina, fl ed Kyiv in late
February, relying on help
from the Dempseys in their
travels through Poland,
Italy, Spain and eventu-
ally to Mexico. The family
was able to link up with
Ian Dempsey at the Cali-
fornia border in early April
after staying at refugee cen-
ters in Tijuana. Stasiuk and
her daughters, ages 10 and
2, have since taken shelter
with the Dempseys in
Colorado.
“A big thing was not
knowing what the process
would be once they got
to Tijuana,” Ian Dempsey
said. “That was a bit of a
challenge, because I did not
want to scare them from
not making the trip. I really
thought it was the best thing
to do.”
Reaching out
The Dempseys are
exhausting all resources to
help other people fl eeing
Ukraine and those still
residing in the country. The
couple are working with
friends in Ukraine to get
donations, such as those
collected in La Grande, to
those leading humanitarian
eff orts in the country.
“The folks that we’re
connected with in Kyiv
are church organizations
mostly,” Ian Dempsey said.
“We’ve given some money
to friends in need, like a
friend who has fi ve kids.
When they evacuated, they
were not able to bring most
of their clothes and most of
the kids did not even have
a pair of shoes when they
left.”
One of the church orga-
nizations, in West Ukraine,
is housing roughly 60 refu-
gees from the eastern side
of the country. Another
church receiving funds is
holding more than 400 ref-
ugees and loading vans
full of supplies to take into
the most dangerous and
devatated areas of Ukraine.
The Dempseys are also
assisting refugees who left
everything behind to escape
to freedom.
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Margaret Davidson, executive director of Community Connection
of Northeast Oregon, poses in her offi ce in La Grande in April 2022.
Davidson is set to retire at the end of the month, concluding a 40-
year career with the Eastern Oregon nonprofi t.
people know Community
Connection for its trans-
portation and meal pro-
grams because they are
visible and serve many.
Community Connection’s
Northeast Oregon Public
Transit program has pro-
vided more than 300,000
rides to the public in Union
County over the past two
decades, and its senior
meals and food bank pro-
grams serve hundreds of
people daily across the
region.
“They are our fl agship
programs,” Davidson said.
She noted, though, that
Community Connection
provides a variety of ser-
vices, many that have been
added or greatly expanded
in the last two decades.
“I think what people like
about the way we’re sending
money is that it’s really
cool to see the pictures of
these people that have spe-
cifi cally received money,”
Ian Dempsey said. “To be
able to see things getting
directly into the hands of
the Ukrainian people gives
a full sense of who it’s going
to and who it helps.”
The donations are going
toward medical supplies,
food, gas for supply dis-
tribution, bedding for ref-
ugees, fi nancial support
for individuals fl eeing the
country and defensive gear
for Ukrainian fi ghters.
In addition to Anne Mor-
rison, other La Grande res-
idents have ties to Ukraine
and are putting together
eff orts to garner donations
to reliable sources. Fuji and
Jim Kreider lived in Odesa,
Ukraine, for a year in 2003,
and have stayed in touch
with a close friend, Nataly
Kartasheva, who is now
living in the Netherlands
and helping refugees aff ord
transportation, temporary
residence and safe traveling.
Arie Farnam, a La
Grande resident who came
from the Czech Republic,
has been helping in eff orts
to aid disabled individuals
in Ukraine.
Continuing the eff orts
Those involved and in
close contact with frontline
Ukrainians see no imme-
diate end in sight to the dis-
pute with Russia,
Ian Dempsey noted that
donations go a long way —
the average monthly salary
in the country is roughly
the equivalent of $200 in
the United States.
The Anne Morri-
son-Ukraine Fund is
accepting donations through
PayPal, which can be sent
to amorrison@eoni.com.
The Kreiders’ trusted friend
helping refugees fl ee Ukraine
can be helped via PayPal at
pranzhu@gmail.com.
“No one really knows
how this will end, or when,”
Dempsey said. “I pray that
free countries around the
world continue to come
together to help these
people in need.”
La GRANDE AUTO REPAIR
975-2000
www.lagrandeautorepair.com
TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022
They include a housing
rehabilitation program that
provides loans for home
improvements, a housing
resource center that helps
fi rst-time home buyers, a
rental assistance program
and in-home services for
veterans.
Recent major expan-
sions made by Commu-
nity Connection include
a new and much larger
food distribution center in
Island City for the North-
east Oregon Regional
Food Bank it operates. The
8,500-square-foot remod-
eled former Pendleton
Grain Growers building
is eight times larger than
the food bank’s previous
storehouse.
The new distribution
center is making it possible
for Community Connection
to store its food longer. The
total cost of the new food
center project was $1.064
million, which included
the purchase price of the
building. The funding has
been provided by grants,
by Community Connection
and by donations from indi-
viduals and businesses.
MORE INFORMATION
A retirement party for Margaret
Davidson will be conducted
Friday, April 22, at the Union
County Senior Center, 1504
N. Albany St., La Grande. The
party, open to the public, will
start at 3 p.m.
Calling it a career
Davidson said much of
Community Connection’s
growth is due to its excel-
lent staff .
“Years ago I recognized
that our agency’s staff
members are our greatest
assets,” Davidson said.
“I believe in treating my
staff as people fi rst and
employees second.”
Her concern for staff
members is refl ected in
the opportunities she pro-
vided them for career
advancement. Thomas said
Davidson developed career
ladders for employees,
making it possible for
people to rise to high posi-
tions in the agency while
acquiring skills that would
serve them well if they
moved on from Commu-
nity Connection.
“I’m not alone in having
BOOK
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grab anything available to
record them.
“Sometimes I would
even write on napkins,”
Hopkins said.
He said that such steps
were critical because
memories can be fl eeting.
“Often I would hear
my fellow educators laugh
and share what one of
their students might have
said, and remark that they
would never forget that
special moment,” Hopkins
said.
But, he noted, “Time
takes its toll, so I have
attempted to record
another collection of these
comments in my second
book.”
Most of the stu-
dent comments in Hop-
Margaret to thank for the
skills and opportunity
that took me on to a happy
career in public service
after Community Connec-
tion of Northeast Oregon,”
Thomas said. “The system
of continuous improvement
she developed and the
encouragement she off ered
to at least three genera-
tions of public servants is
now paying dividends all
over the state, and likely
all over the country.”
Davidson said she will
miss not seeing employees
and those her agency
serves on a daily basis.
“Saying goodbye is
extremely diffi cult,” she
said.
kins’ new book are
ones he heard person-
ally, but there are others
that were shared with
him, including by his
wife, Mary, also a retired
educator.
Hopkins gathered the
comments in his books
during his time serving as
principal of Huntington
Elementary School and
North Powder Elementary
School.
Then
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