NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Community Kindness of Eastern Oregon expands into two-story operation
By DAVIS CARBAUGH
The Observer
LA GRANDE — Things are
moving up at La Grande thrift store
Community Kindness of Eastern
Oregon.
The store at 1315 Adams Ave.
recently concluded an upstairs
expansion that added 6,600 square
feet of space. With a new look and
more room for services and dona-
tion intake, the store is ramping up
operations to serve as a focal point
for the La Grande community.
“What we want to do is really
establish ourselves as a hub to help
people,” said Liz Meyer, who runs
the store alongside her husband
Grant Meyer. “We decided to go
for it. How could we not, for the
community? We were getting a bit
crowded, we need to make people
feel more relaxed and have a nice
atmosphere and get more stock out.”
Community Kindness of Eastern
Oregon underwent the expansion
this winter, officially opening up
the new area to the public in early
March.
The added space allows the thrift
store to create an extensive clothing
area, while anything from dishes,
electronics, records and furniture
can still be found in the downstairs
area. In addition to the expansive
new clothing area, the space now
includes two dressing rooms, a
backroom for preparing the cloth-
ing and a meeting room for employ-
ees and board members. The added
upstairs area increased the store’s
clothing capacity significantly,
allowing for a variety of brands,
clothing types and even unique
Alex Wittwer/EO Media Group
Liz Meyer, co-owner of Community Kindness, says the thrift store’s newly renovated upstairs serves as a way to
offer clothes to a wide variety of customers from casual wear to wedding dresses.
items like wedding dresses.
In a large thrift store, the intake
of donations can be an overwhelm-
ing task. The new backroom area
now helps Meyer and the staff
meticulously organize the items
through the process of donation,
cleaning, cataloging and shelv-
ing for sale. Every item in the new
upstairs clothing area is itemized
and color blocked for convenience
to the customer.
“You have to be organized for it
to be right,” Meyer said.
Meyer initially expressed
concern over ADA accessibility
in adding an upstairs section, but
the staff came up with a solution
that makes the shopping experi-
ence easier for any customer in
Community Kindness of East-
ern Oregon. The thrift store uses
a tablet that lists the shop’s inven-
tory, and personal shoppers pick out
clothes from the upstairs section for
customers.
“I want it to be nice for people,”
Meyer said. “It’s been a really rough
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
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SATURDAY
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SUNDAY
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Mostly cloudy with
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PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
61° 43°
63° 44°
67° 47°
66° 48°
61° 41°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
65° 40°
67° 42°
70° 46°
71° 47°
OREGON FORECAST
66° 42°
ALMANAC
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PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
58/46
55/39
60/35
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
60/43
Lewiston
65/43
60/43
Astoria
58/42
Pullman
Yakima 61/40
56/39
62/43
Portland
Hermiston
64/45
The Dalles 65/40
Salem
Corvallis
63/42
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
62/41
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
65/44
70/41
68/43
Ontario
70/40
Caldwell
Burns
66°
39°
61°
35°
79° (1940) 19° (2013)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Normal month to date
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Last year to date
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Albany
63/43
0.00"
0.88"
0.56"
1.94"
1.70"
2.56"
WINDS (in mph)
68/40
69/35
0.00"
1.14"
1.00"
3.58"
3.28"
3.69"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 60/38
64/42
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
61/43
67/41
63°
39°
58°
36°
74° (1960) 20° (1904)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
55/39
Aberdeen
54/37
57/38
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
54/42
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
74/42
Fri.
NE 4-8
NNE 6-12
SW 4-8
NW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
72/33
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Sunrise today
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Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:51 a.m.
7:13 p.m.
2:15 a.m.
10:33 a.m.
Last
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Full
Mar 24
Mar 31
Apr 8
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NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 91° in Plant City, Fla. Low -17° in Yellowstone N.P., Wyo.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
three years for people.”
The renovation process involved
a group effort, as local entities made
a difference in the process. Carpet
One Floor and Home donated and
installed the carpeting on the new
staircase, while former businesses
Bealls and The Peanut Gallery
donated shelves and racks that
adorn the upstairs floor. The renova-
tion involved in-house work as well
as volunteer work and contractors.
Founded in 2019, Community
Kindness of Eastern Oregon Thrift
store is the main fundraiser for the
Community Kindness organization.
Since that point, Meyer and the staff
have placed a large emphasis on
giving back to the community. The
store’s manager hopes to continue
sponsoring local organizations,
churches, care facilities, schools
and everything in between.
“This is my contribution to my
community, which accepted me
21 years ago,” Meyer said “People
come in and smile. They love it. If I
can make people happy and smile,
that is what I always want to do.”
Meyer is originally from
England, which is made evident
by the store’s British flags adorn-
ing the exterior and the shelf full
of candies and food items from her
home country. Since joining on at
the thrift store, Meyer has placed an
emphasis on serving as a commu-
nity centerpiece that gives back.
The store’s manager works
roughly 60 to 70 hours per week,
strictly on a volunteer basis. Meyer
credits a steady flow of hard-work-
ing volunteers in bringing Commu-
nity Kindness of Eastern Oregon to
where it is now.
“I absolutely love what I do. I
couldn’t imagine doing anything
else,” Meyer said. “If we can make
a difference in someone’s life, then
this is what we’re going to do.”
Upon completion of the expan-
sion project, Community Kindness
of Eastern Oregon is currently back
on its regular schedule and open to
the public.
“It’s a very generous commu-
nity,” she said. “I couldn’t do this
without them. It’s a community
teamwork experience.”
Baker County gets $280K for needed
upgrade to emergency radio systems
By JAYSON JACOBY
Baker City Herald
BAKER COUNTY —
The mountains and canyons
that add beauty and variety
to Baker County’s landscape
also pose obstacles for the
people who respond to emer-
gencies ranging from miss-
ing hunters to car crashes to
wildfires.
The county’s rumpled
topography creates “dead
spots” where the radio signals
that link emergency respond-
ers can’t always reach, Sher-
iff Travis Ash said.
But a recent inf lux of
federal and state government
dollars will help to strengthen
that electronic connection.
Ba ke r C ou nt y h a s
received $280,000 in three
separate grants to install new
radio repeaters on 10 moun-
taintop sites, and to replace
the outdated radio consoles
at the Baker County Consol-
idated Dispatch Center at the
sheriff’s office, Ash said.
Dispatchers there commu-
nicate with officers from the
sheriff’s office and Baker
City Police Department, as
well as with the county’s
many volunteer fire protec-
tion districts.
Oregon State Police and
federal agencies, including
the U.S. Forest Service and
Bureau of Land Manage-
ment, have their own radio
networks, but those agencies
also can use the county’s
system if needed, Ash said.
The largest, and most
recent, grant is $190,000
included in the final funding
package from Congress for
Baker County Sheriff’s Office/Contributed Photo
A $190,000 allocation from the federal government will al-
low Baker County to replace 17-year-old radio consoles.
the 2022 fiscal year.
President Joe Biden
signed the bill into law on
March 15.
“The sheriff’s office
appreciates this opportunity
which will allow us to update
radio infrastructure, improv-
ing communications among
first responders (EMS, fire,
and law enforcement) and
also with the dispatch center,”
Ash said. “These upgrades
will not only increase officer
safety, but will also enhance
the services provided to
those we serve throughout
our community. This project
will truly be a benefit to all.”
Combined with $60,000
from the Oregon State Fire
Marshal’s Office, money that
the Greater Bowen Valley
Fire Protection District
applied for, and $30,000
from the federal Department
of Homeland Security, the
$190,000 should be sufficient
to replace the repeaters at all
10 sites, said Chris Galisze-
wski, chief for the Bowen
Valley district and the sher-
iff’s office’s radio technician.
Several of the mountains
have two repeaters — one for
fire districts and one for law
enforcement.
Ash said the new repeat-
ers should improve radio
signal coverage in the county,
although some dead spots
likely will remain.
Work on the repeaters will
start when the snow melts
enough to allow access to the
sites, Galiszewski said.
The county also will
replace the radio consoles
that dispatchers use to
communicate with emer-
gency responders, Ash said.
Those consoles, which
date to 2005, are increas-
ingly troublesome because
parts are harder to come by,
he said.
The sheriff’s office has not
ordered new consoles and
there is no firm timeline for
that part of the project.
IN BRIEF
Dayville Fire receives
$1,500 donation
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