A6
COMMUNITY
East Oregonian
COMMUNITY BRIEFING
Music scholarship
applications open
PORTLAND — Appli-
cations for the Oregon Music
Hall of Fame college schol-
arship program are available,
with a deadline of May 15.
Each applicant should be
a student studying music and
graduating spring 2021 from
an Oregon high school and
continuing to college in the
fall of 2021 with a major or
minor in music.
Thanks to the generous
contributions of EPB&B
(eighth year in a row), schol-
arships rose from $1,000
each to $2,500 each (four
total) for 2021.
Any questions may be
emailed to: info@omhof.
org, visit the website at http://
www.omhof.org, where an
online version of the appli-
cation is available.
All items must be mailed
together, in order to qual-
ify, to Oregon Music Hall of
Fame, P.O. Box 82173, Port-
land, OR 97282.
Hermiston-area
scholarships
to benefi t from
chowder sale
HERMISTON — The
Hermiston Lions Club is
again selling Mo’s Famous
Clam Chowder, through
March 8, this time to help
support their annual college
scholarships program for
students from the greater
Hermiston area.
Not only is the famous
clam chowder “base” being
sold (just add milk), but also
Mo’s Homemade Bread and
Mo’s Garlic Cheese Butter.
The chowder base is $12 per
quart, bread is $6 per loaf,
and garlic cheese butter is $6
per pint. The chowder base
can be frozen for later use.
As was done during their
sale in late October 2020,
orders may be placed and
paid for online at https://
forms.gle/yNVgCvUULR-
2B3Y4CA, by contacting a
local Lions Club member,
or by calling 541-567-8301.
Payment also can be made
at the time of pickup.
To make pickup easy
and reduce contact due to
COVID concerns, orders
will be picked up at the
West Park Elementary
School parking lot, 555 S.W.
Seventh St., on March 16
from 4-6 p.m. Club members
will hand orders through the
vehicle window.
For more information,
call 541-567-8301.
Fishtrap Fireside
honors Women’s
History Month
ENTERPRISE — A
special Women’s History
Month episode of Fish-
trap Fireside, celebrating a
multi-generational lineup,
comes to you on Friday,
March 5, with work from
three Wallowa County writ-
ers, Lynne Curry, Talia
Galvin and Janie Tippett.
Watch it online, and learn
more about the authors, at
Fishtrap.org.
Fireside is a monthly
reading series featuring
diverse voices from around
Wallowa County. And this
year, you can watch Fireside
wherever you are and when-
ever you want at Fishtrap.org
and on Fishtrap’s YouTube
channel. Each month’s
episode offers a fresh look
at what people of the West
are thinking about and writ-
ing down.
Literacy program grows young readers
ERIN
MCCUSKER
LIBRARIES PROVIDE —
COUNT Y WIDE!
P
art of a library’s
purpose and desire is
to build and support
lifelong readers. The most
important years for build-
ing literacy for a child are
from the time they are born
until they enter kindergarten.
Giving children a strong start
by reading to them every
day is a proven indicator of
success in school and in life.
The Take Off! Program of
the Umatilla County Special
Library District (UCSLD)
focuses on early childhood
literacy development, partic-
ularly for children and their
families who cannot get to a
public library easily because
of transportation issues or
work confl icts.
Early Literacy Program
Manager Monica Hoffman
serves over 60 Head Start,
— EO Media Group
preschool and registered child
care classes within Umatilla
County. She also provides
storytimes and storytime
resources to our public librar-
ies as they request. During
typical years, she serves well
over 70 classes, delivering
over 16,000 items to children
every month.
The Take Off! Program
has a multi-pronged approach
to building early literacy
skills. The fi rst is the provi-
sion of carefully selected,
age-appropriate materials,
including books and learn-
ing manipulatives deliv-
ered to the classrooms. The
books and manipulatives are
grouped in themed boxes,
such as Friends, Farms, All
about Me, Oregon History
and more. Secondly, children
in a class hear a wonderful
story delivered by Monica,
seamlessly integrating early
literacy development tech-
niques.
Children get to hear and
participate in a fun story, not
noticing that they are devel-
oping literacy skills. Addi-
tionally, she models these
skills for parents and care
providers who are attending.
There are also sites that
ask the Take Off! Program
to come to parent nights
— at these events, Monica
shares books and early liter-
acy development tools with
parents so they can continue
their learning at home. Peri-
odically, Take Off! deliv-
ers training to child care
providers through modeling
of and sharing the techniques
for building early literacy
in their students. There are
also storytime kits in a bag
for library staff, preschool
teachers and care providers
to use with a full, ready-to-go
themed storytime complete
with books, puppets and early
literacy tips.
The fi nal element of
the program is a highlight;
children get free books to
take home to read with their
parents. There are so many
good things about reading
with children — time for
bonding, snuggles, the magic
of a wonderful story — and
the best thing is that all of
this develops and sustains
literacy.
As with everything
else, the COVID pandemic
has affected the Take Off!
Program. Currently and
during the last year, Monica
delivers themed book boxes
to program site classes, as
well as distributing free
books for children to take
home and participating in
virtual parent nights. She also
has a social media presence
sharing early literacy tips and
techniques and, best of all,
stories. After COVID restric-
tions ease, the Take Off!
Program will resume story-
times in the classrooms and
with our public libraries.
Get more information
about the Take Off! Program
and how to reach Monica
Hoffman with questions at
https://www.ucsld.org/take-
off-a-preschool-learning-out-
reach-program.
———
Erin McCusker is the
district director of the
Umatilla County Special
Library District. Reach her
at 541-276-6449 or direc-
tor@ucsld.org.
Sometimes being right is not always right
Local makes Dixie
State honor roll
ST. GEORGE, Utah —
Landon Jones, of Hermis-
ton, was among the students
earning a place on the honor
roll at Dixie State University
for the fall 2020 semester.
To earn a place on the
honor roll, students must
complete a minimum of 15
credits with a minimum GPA
of 3.5.
Dixie State University
has grown exponentially
and added 111 academic
programs over the past fi ve
years. With more than 200
programs to choose from,
including four master’s
degrees and 53 bachelor’s
degrees, and small class sizes
at a ratio of 21 students to one
professor.
Thursday, February 25, 2021
CHRIS
HANKEL
LIVING ON PURPOSE
H
ave you ever won an
argument, but in the
end felt like it wasn’t
a win? I can think of many
times I’ve had a disagree-
ment with someone, and
even though my facts were
correct and my logic was
solid, it still felt like I came
out on the losing end.
Why?
Because I was willing to
sacrifi ce our relationship so
I could be right. The need
to win someone to our way
of thinking so often leads
us down a road that brings
hurt and division to our most
important relationships.
Over the past year, I have
heard of so many people
who have allowed argu-
ments over politics, racial
justice, masks and vaccines
to ruin relationships. We
have lost the ability to
agree to disagree. For some
reason, we have decided
that we can no longer
worship with, recreate with,
have coffee with, or enjoy
Thanksgiving dinner with
someone who has a different
perspective.
I believe we are too
quick to sacrifi ce relation-
ships with family, friends,
co-workers and neighbors,
not because they are wrong
but because we need to be
right.
Understand, I love a
robust conversation. My
wife will tell you that I like
to argue, sometimes just for
the sake of arguing. And
there are plenty of issues I
will go to the mat on, but I
have learned, especially this
year, that it is rarely worth
sacrifi cing a relationship
to prove my point. I think
some of it comes down to
what we value.
Jesus made it clear:
There is nothing he values
more than relationships.
Jesus was so committed
to relationship that he was
willing to give his own
life so that our relationship
with God could be restored.
Adopting Jesus’ values and
imitating him often feels
counterintuitive.
For example, he made
this crazy statement in Luke
6: “But I say to you who
listen: Love your enemies,
do what is good to those
who hate you, bless those
who curse you, pray for
those who mistreat you.”
And he put those words into
practice when he asked his
Heavenly Father to forgive
the very people who were
nailing him to the cross.
What would it look like if
we valued the people in our
lives and the relationships
with those people as highly
as Jesus values us?
Maybe instead of focus-
ing on winning arguments,
we should be focused on
building relationships.
That may mean agreeing
to disagree or listening to
someone else’s thoughts
without having to convert
them to our way of thinking.
Perhaps we need to rede-
fi ne what a win is. What if
we can fi gure how to share
our perspective on these
issues without destroying
relationships? That would
be the best win of all.
———
Chris Hankel is the lead
pastor at New Hope Commu-
nity Church in Hermiston.
HEALTH NOTIFICATION!
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This is a wonderful opportunity to determine if hearing help is available for your hearing
loss and get hearing help at a very affordable price.
Call Now and Make a Reservation if you wish to be Included!
THIS WEEK ONLY! Ends February 28, 2021
Hermlston: 955 SE 4th St. Ste. B Hermiston, OR 97838 • (541) 716-5092
Pendleton: 29 SW Dorian Ave. Ste. #6 Pendleton, OR 97801 • (541) 224-8661
Use Code: 21FebHealth