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About Applegater. (Jacksonville, OR) 2008-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 15, 2024)
Applegater Extra Edition November 2024 EXT E X T R R A ! A! 1 Photo by Linda Kappen EXTRA EDITION November 2024 Celebrating Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine ~30~ Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 13,500 Donate in November and December and your contribution will be doubled. An extra edition for an extra special cause: Keep the Applegater coming! Each year since 2021, we have published an extra edition of the Applegater. And each year you, our readers, have stepped up to the plate to donate when it means the most—during the annual matching funds drive beginning November 1. We can't thank you enough for keeping the Applegater alive and well, especially now, when we are celebrating the newsmagazine's 30th year! From November 1 through the end of 2024, every donation you make to the Applegater will be doubled—up to a grand total of $15,000! Thanks to our membership in the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), we have again qualified for INN's annual NewsMatch program, where national funders interested in supporting community publications will match local individual donations (up to $1,000 each) made in November and December. We rely on these donations to cover most of the costs of publishing the Applegater. Especially helpful are ongoing donations to the Applegater. Pledges of even $5 a month go a long way toward ensuring the stability of our operations. Plus, during the NewsMatch period, if you make a recurring pledge, NewsMatch will match the full annual value of your pledge—a 12-to-one bonus! (Just hit the donate button on the applegater.org home page, then click on “Make this a monthly donation.”) Four times a year—at no cost to recipients—24 pages of articles appear in more than 12,000 mailboxes throughout the 700 square miles of the Applegate Valley, bringing you news and information about the neighborhoods you live in. Even more copies are distributed to dozens of local businesses. What makes that possible? You do. The Applegater is published by a nonprofit organization—Applegate Valley Community Newspaper, Inc.— established by Applegaters, for Applegaters, and supported by our generous donors and advertisers. Whether you donate online with a credit card or write a check and use the envelope included in this issue to mail it to the Applegater, we appreciate your support for the only news source delivered free to your doorstep that covers the many communities of the Applegate River watershed and provides information about your neighbors and your neighborhoods you won’t find anywhere else. To keep the Applegater coming, please send your check ($1,000 is the maximum individual donation that can be matched)—made out to the Applegater—to PO Box 14, Jacksonville, OR 97530, and mail it in the reply envelope inserted in this extra edition. Be sure to date your check between November 1 - December 31, 2024, or your donation cannot be doubled. Credit cards are accepted at applegater.org. Look for the yellow “Donate” button on our home page (or click on the “Support the Gater” link at the bottom of the list in the far left column). Thank you! You are the Gater! With much appreciation, Applegater Board of Directors gater@applegater.org • applegater.org Years Applegate Valley loses long-time community leader Ray Prag, Pacifica Garden cofounder After fighting a battle with severe progressive multiple sclerosis for more than two years, Ray Prag passed away peacefully on August 8, 2024. Ray and his wife, Peg, cofounded Pacifica Garden, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation covering 540 stewarded acres of natural beauty open to the public in Williams, Oregon. Ray was born in 1947 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin and received a National Science Foundation grant to pursue a master’s degree in horticulture and botany at the University of California- Davis (UC-Davis). Working under Professor Andrew Leiser, Ray studied growing plants for revegetation. Ray and Peg met at UC-Davis, moved to Williams in 1974, built a house, and Ray Prag, community leader and cofounder of Pacifica Garden. Photo: Courtesy of Peg Prag. started Forestfarm Nursery. Totally in awe of plants and their diversity, Ray and Peg grew Forestfarm from their passion of growing native plants—in used tin cans collected from restaurants—to one of the top mail-order nurseries in the country, growing 5,000 different kinds of plants and providing plants to zoos, arboretums (even the White House), and people all over the country. This was, of course, with the help of a large family of “forestfarmers,” See RAY PRAG, page 3. Community sponsors and supporters gathered at the Swine and Wine fundraiser to celebrate the acquisition of a new wildland fire engine for the Applegate Valley Fire Department. Photo: Kjlakinmedia. Campaign for a wildland fire engine—job done! BY LIZA CROSSE Almost a year ago, at a fire district spaghetti dinner, a man named Bill Borah came up to me out of the blue and said, “I’d like to cook a pig for you.” I was a bit surprised by this unusual proposal, but it quickly became clear that the Friends of the Applegate Fire District (Friends) were being given a gift—one that would lead to a wonderful string of events. The Friends realized that a pig roast could be a fun way to engage See FIRE ENGINE CAMPAIGN, page 3. ISSUE EXTRA EDITION ECRWSSEDDM Local Postal Customer Nonprofit Org US Postage PAID Permit #125 Medford OR
