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About Wallowa County chieftain. (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1943-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 27, 2019)
A16 NEWS Wallowa County Chieftain Wednesday, November 27, 2019 Community Connection offers a number of services By Steve Tool Wallowa County Chieftain Community Connection manager, Connie Guent- ert, addressed the Rotary Club of Wallowa County on Thursday, Nov. 21. Guen- tert noted that Commu- nity Connection (CC) is the local agency on aging and the local community action agency as well. In a nutshell, they help seniors, individu- als with disabilities and low income individuals with a variety of state, federal and local programs designed to meet specifi c needs of each demographic. Community Connection has a number of senior pro- grams including an in-home care program to assist seniors to remain in their home as long as possible and a family caregiver support program to provide care- giver respite, and programs for disease prevention, liv- ing with chronic conditions and other evidence-based programs, which means the instructors are required to receive training and keep up their certifi cation. Guentert considers senior meals the fl agship of the agency, which include the meal sites at Wallowa and Enterprise as well as Meals on Wheels. “Those two programs and the Food Bank are what everyone knows us for in this county,” Guent- ert said. “Meals on Wheels is the most essential pro- gram we offer.” She thanked the volunteers who give out about 100 meals (per day or week?) because they volun- teer their expenses as well as time, even though mileage reimbursement is available. Volunteers also offer another gift: socialization. “That volunteer not only comes to the home and hands them a meal, but offers friendship, compas- sion and an ear. It might be the only personal interaction they get that day.” Lesser known are low income programs. Heating assistance is important and offers a one-time payment to the recipient’s fuel ven- dor. The agency’s ministe- rial fund helps seniors with heating bills whose incomes are slightly too high for other heating programs. The agency’s energy assistance programs are budgeted at $150,000. Guentert said her orga- nization also manages two food banks: one each in Enterprise and Wallowa. Neither has a dedicated funding source. People are allowed to access the food banks once a month for USDA products. “There have been times when the need has been so great that Community Con- nection has upped it to two times a month,” Guent- ert said. “We just absorb it out of donations rather than USDA.” She said the orga- nization helped 1204 house- holds and 2664 people with food. That doesn’t include church food banks or the Fresh Alliance program with Safeway, which recovers food from the grocery chain that expires that day. “When I say we put out tons of food into the com- munity, I mean tons,” Guen- tert said. The manager also addressed the housing short- age and homelessness in the county. “We have families who are facing homelessness every month because they can’t pay their rent; they can’t pay their power bill, they can’t pay their water bill,” she said. She noted the lack of affordable housing in the county for families work- ing two minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. She said those two jobs would not support two parents and three children when their housing costs are $1200 per month. Guentert said her agency offers some tenant- based assistance as well as funds earmarked for veter- ans and Continuum of care funds. “If the families meet the fi nancial basis of it, some of those programs can pay a portion or all of the rent for six months for that family to help them on their feet,” she said. The funding generally comes at the end of August or early September. This December 7th, 2019 Shops open for business Light the burn barrels W Vis for arde P it h coff ot coc ark coo ee and oa, kies ! Close the streets 2:00 3:00 4:00 5:00 5:20 5:30 Santa Central Opens Barrel train starts Hot cocoa and cookies at Santa Central Chestnut Roasting Begins Chili Feed - Enterprise Fire Department Santa leaves for the parade Parade begins to leave the Cloverleaf Hall Parade hits downtown * Parade winners will be selected prior to leaving the Cloverleaf and announced as the parade is going down Main Street 6:00 Santa Central moves to tre! OK Thea Steve Tool/Wallowa County Chieftain Community Connection manager, Connie Guentert, addresses the Rotary Club about the latest services her organization off ers. The local Community Connection is one of may chapters of an Oregon-wide non-profi t. Ellen Morris Bishop Community Connections Assistant County Manager Danielle Brockamp checks out the Community Connections bus. Scheduled (dial-a-ride) trips are now free to anyone in Wallowa County. The free ride service is a signifi cant help to many in the county. year the agency received about $30,000 and only has about $1000 left to cover the rest of the year. “I did not think home- lessness that we see in Port- land or other large cities was in Wallowa County,” she said. “I didn’t think we were facing this, but we are.” One of the communi- ty-wide services the orga- nization offers is free bus transportation. The program got a recent boost from the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund, which comes from a .001 percent Extravaganza SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 9:00 Noon of employee taxes, which includes Wallowa County citizens. “The money that’s gath- ered in Wallowa County stays in Wallowa County,” Guentert said. She added that legislation allowed for counties with small popu- lations to still get funding from their larger west-side counterparts, which keeps the county at a $100,000 level. The funds are used to cre- ate new or increased trans- portation services. Guentert said that the parameters are very specifi c to low income individuals and the general public. The agency held sev- eral public meetings and other outreach and identifi ed the most important projects to the public. “Free fare is a big deal,” Guentert said. “It’s a big deal.” She added that the grant improved increased response demand services, such as the shopping-style bus that picks up passengers at their homes Many people are still con- vinced it’s strictly for seniors and Guentert is unsure why that is as the agency took pains to let the public know it’s open to everyone. She added the program likes to have 24-hour notice for rides in order to facilitate scheduling. The Tuesday and Thurs- day shopping bus is designed to support the lower Wal- lowa Valley and Lostine to get people to Joseph or Enterprise whether it be for shopping or doctor and den- tal appointments or even visiting friends. That bus starts a little later than the other three weekday buses because of different popula- tion needs. Although fi nanced by a separate ODOT grant, the inter-city bus that runs between Wallowa County and La Grande is going strong. Guentert said that ridership drives the program and if use is up, La Grande journeys will increase. 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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT LACEY MCQUEAD OR GINA BIRKMAIER AT 541-426-4196 WWW.MYENTERPRISEOREGON.COM • WWW.ENTERPRISEOREGON.ORG All sale discounts are off regular retail price and sales are limited to stock on hand. $9.99 Schrade 2-PC Combo Knife Set SKU# 4435623050 Reg. $15.99 $54.99 Primos Trail Camera 12MP SKU# 1013500001 Reg. $84.99 WALLOWA COUNTY Sale i NOV. good 29 - DEC 1 s HOURS: M-F 8AM-6PM • SAT 8AM-5PM • SUN 9AM-3PM Hurricane Creek Road • Enterprise • 541-426-3116
