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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 2015)
16 Summer 2015 Applegater NONPROFIT NEWS AND UPDATES — Applegate Food Pantry — The Applegate Food Pantry is doing well and continuing to support this community, but our role in managing it is coming to an end and this will likely be our last update (more about that later). The new manager, Charlotte Knott, is doing a great job, and we thank her for her efforts and wish her well. There is an ongoing need for volunteers, particularly to help in the back room filling boxes with canned and boxed goods and bringing them to our clients. If you can spare a few hours on a Monday, even just once a month, please call Charlotte at 541-899-8381. Some people have been dropping off non-food items (like old electronic equipment) by the loading dock of the Ruch School where the pantry is located. Please don’t leave non-food items there. The pantry is able to accept donations of food items only and cannot accept other types of items, nor does the school have the resources to deal with them. There are electronic recycling locations in Jackson County where these can be discarded at no charge. (For more information, go to roguedisposal.com/e-waste-disposal.) The green-bag program is continuing, but since the number of bags being turned in at the Applegate Store has dwindled to a very small number and it’s a long extra drive for Charlotte, please drop off your bags at the Ruch Store only. The remaining drop-off dates for the rest of the year are: June 13, August 8, October 10, and December 12. Summer hours: From June 15 to September 7, the pantry will be open from 10 to 11:30 am on Mondays. Then regular hours from 11:30 am to 1 pm will resume. Now for a personal note: It has been 12 years since Arlene first wrote an article for the Applegater about the trials and tribulations of moving to the country for us former city folks, and nine years since we began volunteering at the food pantry. It has been a wonderful journey and of all the places we have lived, this is probably the place we have felt most connected to. This is a wonderful community, and we were thrilled to make so many friends here. The Applegate is a very special place. So it is with much regret that we are leaving and moving to Medford. Taking care of a seven-acre property and a large tri-level home and commuting into town several times a week have just become too difficult for us. We probably could have held out a little longer, but we chose to make the move while we are still young and healthy enough to do so without it becoming an overwhelming task. We know it’s the right time for us, but we will certainly miss the quiet beauty of rural living and our friends (though we don’t intend to lose them). We will miss waking up in the trees and the best weather in southern Oregon. We also know that we have experienced more kindness and generosity than we could have imagined. Of course there are a few things we won’t miss, such as poison oak, the constant battle to find deer-resistant plants (I am convinced there are none), the turkeys pooping on our hot-tub cover, and the occasional bat that found its way into our home to dive bomb us! Thank you all for being part of our Applegate experience. Claude and Arlene Aron 541-951-6707 — Applegate Valley Community Grange — Something new at the Applegate Grange The Applegate Valley Community Grange (Grange) is hoping to be more open to the community by having monthly potlucks and community nights at the Grange. No meetings or business, just a social get- together with everyone invited and all sorts of possibilities: game nights, music jams and dancing, speakers and presenters, or whatever other suggestions we receive. We’re looking for input on how to move forward, and welcome suggestions from anyone in the community. We have the facility and want it to be used to benefit the community in any way possible to enhance all our lives. On May 10, we held a special Mother’s Day Brunch at the Grange with the Cantrall Buckley Park Committee, which benefited the playground structure at the park. Thank you for your support of all community nonprofits. We are the community we create! For more information, contact Paul Tipton or Janis Mohr-Tipton at 541-846-7501 or applegategrange@gmail.com. — For Love of the Applegate — Paying it back…or forward Once again, we want to share some of the wonderful work and opportunities about the many (more than 28) nonprofit- type organizations that make our lives in this valley so rich! Perhaps you should think about joining in on the efforts and become part of one or more of these groups. Here is what several of these groups are providing to you and what they need right now: The Applegate Trails Association (ATA) is a nonprofit Oregon group formed by community residents to develop a system of hiking, mountain-biking and equestrian trails in the mountains of the Applegate Valley. ATA is cooperating with public land agencies, community organizations, and private landowners to preserve and connect historic trails for future generations and to conserve our valley’s valuable resources— the land, the views, and the biodiversity— for nonmotorized use by people of all ages and levels of ability. Their most ambitious project, the Applegate Ridge Trail, will follow the ridgeline along the middle Applegate Valley, offering glorious panoramic views and displays of wildflowers. ATA has a hike every month and would love to have you join them. Please visit www.applegatetrails. org to see photos of the beautiful views from these hikes, maps of the trails, and the hiking schedule. The ValleyCats, one of the newer musical groups in the Rogue Valley, performs in a variety of styles: light jazz, classic pop and standards, their interpretations of 60s rock favorites and of composers and performers of our time, with a little bluegrass, folk, and Broadway show tunes thrown in for good measure. The group, consisting of Kristi Cowles and Clint Driver, welcomes Crystal Reeves, who brings with her a lively violin, mandolin, and sweet vocal harmony. The ValleyCats enjoy performing for friends (present and future) and have been known to sing and play for their supper. Mostly, though, they donate their talents and ask audiences (or hosts) to donate to nonprofit organizations in which they are involved—the Applegate Food Pantry (ACCESS), Habitat for Humanity, and local public libraries and schools. To schedule a performance, please contact Kristi Cowles at 541-846-7391. The McKee Bridge Historical Society is a small group of volunteers who have tirelessly cared for McKee Bridge, one of only four covered bridges left in Jackson County (out of the original 100 or so). McKee Bridge was used for mining and logging traffic beginning in 1917. Then, in 1956, the bridge was declared unsafe for vehicular traffic. With the help of many other organizations, the bridge was restored for pedestrian use in 1965. The years do take their toll, and once again major repairs were needed to keep the bridge safe. The McKee Bridge Historical Society raised over $62,000 in matching funds in three years to accomplish this— and will be celebrating the opening of the newly restored bridge and cutting the ribbon on June 13 with their best party ever—a quilt show on the bridge, ribbon cutting with county officials, great food, music, vendors, ice cream floats, children’s crafted boats in boat races, prizes, bake sale, craft sale, and a 50/50 raffle. What a great community event for the young and old alike. For more information, contact Robert Van Heuit at 541-499-6132 or http://www. mckeehistoricalcoveredbridge.org/. Please check out For Love of the Applegate’s calendar on our website for more information about the happenings in the Applegate Valley along with contact information for all those organizations. Thalia, Erika, Audrey and Kristi www.forloveoftheapplegate.com Wayside parking lot: Reflections from the GACDC “Sargeant” Fran Hopkins sets up the food for the Mother’s Day Brunch. Photo by Tom Carstens. Teri Caldwell pulls a casserole out of the oven at the Mother’s Day Brunch. Photo by Tom Carstens. Happy Fourth of July As many of you are aware, the former Wayside Park in “downtown” Applegate has new owners with exciting development plans. The Greater Applegate Community Development Corporation (GACDC) is delighted that these plans include community access to the swimming hole at the park. The GACDC was entrusted with the title deed to the Wayside parking lot in 1999. We are charged to see that usage of the property we know as Wayside Park is maintained in a way that provides for community use of the swimming hole. The GACDC worked with the last proposed buyer of the park property in 2013. Unfortunately the plans for “Oh Oregon Frontier Park” did not pan out, and the park and parking lot have continued to sit dormant. The GACDC desires to work with the new owner of the park property to provide parking and community access to the swimming area. We are fully supportive of the use of the parking lot in conjunction with the new owner of the park, who is assuring community access plans for the swimming hole but is not able to put that commitment in writing. There has been some misunderstanding about our position: in a nutshell, the parking lot is not ours to sell, but ours to share. For the sale of the parking lot to occur, the same community access conditions would be legally attached to assure community access to the swimming hole in perpetuity. Communication became strained because the new owner of the park property could not accept those conditions of sale. We are now working with the new owner to agree on the least- restrictive long-term lease of the parking lot in conjunction with community access to the swimming hole. “Let our people swim” mirrors our sentiments exactly. The many letters—filled with passion and pride— that we’ve received urging our support of the new park development plans have been most welcome. Your support strengthens our resolve to maintain community access to the swimming hole for ourselves and future generations. And for any of you folks interested in becoming a board member of GACDC, you are highly encouraged to contact us through our website at www.gacdc.org and consider a commitment with us. The more community representation we have, the better able we are to carry out our mission. Board of Directors GACDC www.gacdc.org/contact-us.html
