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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 2018)
SEASIDE SCORES PAYBACK IN WIN OVER HENLEY SPORTS • 10A DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2018 146TH YEAR, NO. 46 ONE DOLLAR Astoria schools offer students free breakfasts Meals could help student performance By EDWARD STRATTON The Daily Astorian Astoria is joining the ranks of school districts offering free breakfast to all students in an effort to increase student participa- tion and improve academic performance. The school district has been offering free break- fast at Lewis and Clark and John Jacob Astor elemen- tary schools. Michael Kelly, the district’s director of food services, said that while one- third of students at the ele- mentary level took advantage of school breakfasts, only 16 percent of middle and high schoolers who were eligi- ble for free or reduced-price meals did. Across most school dis- tricts, educators see a lower number of older children accessing subsidized meals. “By opening it up to every- body, we’re kind of hoping it gets through stigma,” Kelly said. Other school districts, such as Warrenton-Ham- mond and Seaside, have offered free breakfast to all students for a number of years. On average, more than half of the families in the county have a low-enough income to qualify for free and reduced-price meals. An estimated 22 million children nationally utilize free and reduced-price lunches, along with 12 million for breakfast and 4 million for summer meal programs. Students who start their day with a healthy breakfast saw an average increase of 1.5 days in attendance and a 17.5 percent increase in stan- dardized test performance, according to No Kid Hungry, a national campaign to end child hunger. The hope is that as stu- dents socialize in the morn- ing, they will draw in friends to get breakfast, Kelly said. His hope is to bring partici- pation at the middle and high school levels in line with that of elementary schools. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Kevin Widener rides the bus from Seaside to Cannon Beach. Elected and homeless Transit district board member struggles to find housing By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian ANNON BEACH — Kevin Widener enjoys sitting on the Sunset Empire Transportation District board. It’s a role he’s well- suited for as a loyal bus rider him- self, a fact he campaigned on when he was first elected in 2013. But it would be a lot easier to serve if Widener had somewhere to live. For the past month, he has been homeless. “It would just be nice to have an address in the county I represent,” he said. Some of the difficulties are what one would expect. “What’s difficult about prepar- ing for a meeting?” he asked. “Not being able to take a bath and wash my hair when I don’t have a shower or hot water, is something.” But perhaps what is most dif- ficult, Widener said, is a sense of confusion over how he got to this crossroads in the first place. “It’s a strange relationship,” he said. “Feeling like I’ve been able to help others and not be able to help myself.” C The Daily Astorian Michael Kelly, the director of food services at the As- toria School District, said he hopes to double the rate of children getting free school breakfasts at the middle and high school level. New musical festival coming to Cannon Beach A fundraiser for local arts association By BRENNA VISSER The Daily Astorian CANNON BEACH — For the first North Coast Music Festival, Cara Mico wants to start small. Scheduled for Sept. 29 ABOVE: Kevin Widener waits for the bus to arrive at a stop in Sea- side. BELOW: Kevin Widener’s bus arrives at a stop in Seaside be- fore heading toward Cannon Beach. in the city park, the Can- non Beach Arts Association will host local band Adams and Costello along with The Beatniks from Seattle to open what Mico hopes to grow into a community tradition. “The idea is to have a few of these throughout the year to get people excited, to build interest, to get people excited about a new idea,” said Mico, The struggle Originally from eastern Wash- ington, Widener moved to See WIDENER, Page 7A See FESTIVAL, Page 7A Woman to bike across Oregon to honor parents Hardaway’s parents died of lung cancer By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian an. 12, 2018 marked 15 years since the death of Liz Hardaway’s father from lung cancer. It also was the start of one of the most remark- able challenges she has ever accepted. That was the date she signed up to bike from Cannon Beach to Boise, Idaho, to raise money for cancer research. J Hardaway, 47, of Wilsonville, also lost her mother to lung cancer 23 years ago. “For me it was a very per- sonal, ‘Why?’” she said. “I thought this was just a great way to honor my parents.” Hardaway, an access and reimbursement manager at pharmaceutical company Bris- tol-Myers Squibb, will cere- moniously dip her toes in the Pacific Ocean on Wednes- day near Haystack Rock. Then, Hardaway and a team of co-workers will ride 225 miles east toward Boise. The team represents the first leg of the fifth annual Coast 2 Coast 4 Cancer Ride. After Boise, six other teams and a total of 109 riders plan to stop in Salt Lake City, Denver, Indianapolis and Kansas City before reaching the Atlantic Ocean in Long Branch, New Jersey, on Sept. 25. The goal of the ride is to raise $1 million for the V Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes cancer research. More than $466,000 had been raised as of Friday afternoon on the ride’s website. Hardaway’s team, Mission Possible, had raised more than $61,400, more than $5,000 of which came from her own fundraising through friends, family and neighbors. “You realize how important what you’re doing is for the patients dealing with cancer,” Hardaway said. Hardaway had little expe- rience riding bikes, save a few short biking trips on the Ore- gon Coast. When she started training in the spring, learning how to stay upright was one of her first hurdles. See HARDAWAY, Page 7A Liz Hardaway will ride from Cannon Beach to Boise to raise money for cancer re- search.
