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SPORTS/1B
NOVEMBER 21-22, 2018
143rd Year, No. 26
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Volunteers, donors keep nonprofits going
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Left to right: Tammy Richter began volunteering in the first season at the Pendleton Warming Station in 2011. Chris Hull is a retired special education instructor,
who now volunteers with the ASPIRE program at Hermiston High School. Susan Badger Doyle has been volunteering at the Umatilla County Historical Society in
Pendleton since 2011. Tina Fox began working as a CASA volunteer in 2016 after a health issue prevented her from working full time.
Season of serving
Volunteers provide the fuel
that powers nonprofits
East Oregonian
It takes hundreds of thousands
of hours to keep non-profits and
charitable programs operating in
Eastern Oregon. While some of those
hours are filled by paid directors and
staff, a host of people volunteer their
time to achieve each group’s mission.
We’ve highlighted four people who
have dedicated their time to making
these organizations better.
Tammy Richter | Pendleton Warming
Station
When the Pendleton Warming Station
closes for the season, volunteer Tammy
Richter usually takes a sigh of relief.
It’s demanding work with long hours
that sees them deal with a homeless popu-
lation that’s often in the midst of struggles
with addiction or mental illness.
But Richter, the warming station’s
kitchen director, said she can’t help but
feel a little sad when she doesn’t get the
chance to serve food to people looking for
a warm bed and a hot meal.
She started volunteering during the
warming station’s first season in 2011 not
knowing what to expect, but she quickly
became hooked on the work.
Early signs
point to better
local giving
“Once you start doing this, you can
dread doing this and regret coming in, or
you can put your whole heart into it,” she
said.
Richter, 56, has volunteered at a home-
less breakfast feed and at the Pendleton
Animal Welfare Shelter, but she’s spent the
past few years focusing on the warming
station, especially after her husband died
in 2013.
Richter volunteers at the station four
times per week, cooking dinner for the
facility’s residents during a shift that usu-
ally spans about three hours. She runs a
daycare service during the day, and she
often drives directly to the warming station
Leaders of local charities expressed opti-
mism about an uptick in giving this year but
remain cautious after years of downturns.
Kricket Nicholson, executive director of
the United Way of Umatilla and Morrow
Counties, has wrapped up her annual pitches
for contributions. She said a few more people
were present than in the past couple of years.
She also said she noticed folks who usually
gave $10 bumped that to $20 or even $50.
“This year seems a little up, a little more
positive feeling,” she said.
The United Way of Umatilla and Mor-
See VOLUNTEERS/12A
See GIVING/12A
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
PENDLETON
Happy Thanksgiving
Due to the postal holiday,
there will be no newspaper
delivered on Thursday.
How a PHS senior
‘Beat the Odds’
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton High School senior Keyshawn Jack-
son was awarded a $16,000 college scholar-
ship from Stand for Children Oregon.
Keyshawn Jackson’s friends
like to joke that he’s getting the
star treatment.
The Pendleton High School
senior’s compelling life story
has led to a polished promo-
tional video, sudden phone
calls that cause him to excuse
himself from company, and a
special award that only a select
few receive.
Keyshawn didn’t set out for
this kind of treatment, but a per-
sonal essay helped him secure a
$16,000 “Beat the Odds” schol-
arship from Stand for Children
Oregon, a nonprofit education
advocacy organization.
The scholarship wasn’t
on Keyshawn’s radar until
ASPIRE coordinator Jill Gregg
informed him about it.
Gregg said it was a tricky
application because it was due
at the beginning of the school
year, meaning she needed to
approach high school juniors
about starting to work on it.
The title of Beat the Odds
scholarship is meant to be
self-explanatory. According to
Dan Lindner, Stand for Chil-
dren Oregon’s marketing and
communications director, the
scholarship is awarded to stu-
dents who have overcome
obstacles like broken homes,
gang violence and other life-al-
tering challenges to succeed.
Gregg said she knew Key-
shawn was from a single-par-
ent home and a low-income
family, but she didn’t know the
depth of Keyshawn’s past expe-
riences. Like many of his class-
mates, Keyshawn didn’t openly
broadcast his home life for
everyone to see.
Keyshawn
remembers
not wanting to write the per-
sonal essay, but under Gregg’s
encouragement, he followed
through.
He wrote about his early
childhood, which was spent
bouncing around from an ency-
clopedia’s worth of North-
west cities: Bend, Arlington,
Stanfield and White Salmon,
Washington.
He and his family were able
See ODDS/12A