4 A
❘
WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ JUNE 1, 2016
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
Showing support for our Coast Guard
F
lorence hosts Lane
County’s only sea port
and we have an active
Coast Guard unit stationed
on the Siuslaw River. We
have approximately 34
active duty personnel and
their families as well as
some extended families.
We feel that they make a
significant contribution to
our community both in terms
of community involvement
as well as economically and
that their contribution is
often not recognized.
The U.S. Coast Guard has
a “Coast Guard
Cities” pro-
GUEST VIEWPOINT
gram to recog-
B Y J OE H ENRY
F LORENCE M AYOR
nize a city that
makes special
One important aspect
efforts to acknowledge the
of the application is
professional work of the
letters of support from
Coast Guard men and
women assigned to its area. I elected officials, local busi-
nesses, military support
believe that Florence could
groups and community
and should be designated as
members. We would like to
a “Coast Guard City” and
ask the community to help
our City Council recently
with this effort by writing a
approved the submission of
letter of support for Florence
an application on behalf of
the City of Florence to work to become a “Coast Guard
City.”
toward that achievement.
Letters can
be addressed
“To whom it
may concern”
and sent to me
c/o the City of
Florence, 250
Highway 101,
Florence, OR 97439.
Letters could include actu-
al experiences with the Coast
Guard and mention things
that the community has done
to support the Coast Guard.
Another thing that we will
be doing to show our support
is to sponsor a Coast Guard
appreciation dinner for Coast
Guard personnel and their
guests. It will be a formal
affair and will be funded by
donations from these same
elected officials, local busi-
nesses, military support
groups and community
members and organizations.
We will be asking for
donations to support this
event and tickets will be
available once the event has
been scheduled. Any dona-
tions in support of this event
will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your support.
E XTRAORDINARY P EOPLE
C ATHERINE J. R OURKE
For the Siuslaw News
_____________
Gilmar Ortiz
said. “But it teaches you the most
important life skills… like how to
get along with anyone.”
In a culture that idolizes academic
degrees and mighty suffixes behind a
name, that shuns manual labor and
reduces it to the bottom of the work-
place hierarchy, most people aspire
to white collar “professions” in pres-
tigious industries. Not Gilmar.
Instead, the native Guatemalan,
who moved to the United States with
his family at age 6, yearned for a
steady income instead of years of
student debt. Fueled by determina-
tion and good old-fashioned hard
work, he took low-wage jobs as a
teen growing up in Los Angeles.
“I have no regrets about starting
out as a dishwasher,” Gilmar said.
“It was very humbling, but I wanted
to learn an industry from the ground
floor.”
Gilmar got what he asked for and
ended up in the basement, with piles
of dirty dishes, long shifts on his
feet, plus plenty of the hot grease
and tempers of the trade. But he also
got something else: a “PhD in
human psychology, without the col-
lege loans.”
“Restaurants offer such a great
education,” Gilmar said. “They have
taught me everything about life … to
stay flexible and adapt to every per-
son and circumstance.”
“W
hen you start at the
bottom, there’s
nowhere left to go
but up.” That vision paved the road
to redemption for Gilmar Ortiz, who
catapulted from debt-ridden dish-
washer to budding entrepreneur with
his own restaurant in just four record
years.
While things are certainly looking
up for Gilmar, who opened the doors
of Fresh Harvest Café in January,
there was a time when he felt
trapped down in the depths of
despair. After moving to Florence in
2011, broke with nothing but a bed
and an unbroken spirit, he gladly
took the only job he could find,
washing dishes at a trio of establish-
ments owned by Florence restaura-
teur Marianne Brisbane.
Armed with persistence and perse-
verance, Gilmar would climb to the
top of the restaurant pyramid, rising
above the steam, scum and sweat of
the most unheralded yet critical posi-
tion in the food-and-beverage busi-
ness. Without a dishwasher, most
restaurants would fall apart.
Somebody’s gotta handle the nasty,
soggy, filthy
task of the
“I want to inspire people that they
dreaded dish pit.
Working long
can always do better as long as they
hours in split
stay focused on their dream.”
shifts, Gilmar
—GILMAR ORTIZ
bravely faced
the grunt work
of scrubbing and mopping in a world
Now his diligence has paid off
of constant grit and grime. The first
with a business providing a steady
worker to arrive in the morning, he
pipeline. But the journey actually
was usually the last to leave at night.
began with pipes of another sort.
“People often look down on folks
Long before scrubbing plates on
who work in restaurants,” Gilmar
Bay Street, Gilmar worked as a jour-
neyman plumber in Southern
California, earning a good income to
support his wife, Angela, and two
children. Then the economy crashed
and his plumbing business “went
down the drain.”
“We lost everything we had
worked so hard for,” he said. “It was
devastating.”
With nowhere else to turn, Gilmar
and Angela moved in with relatives
who had resided in Florence for 20
years.
“We came here with nothing but
our bed and a garage to stay in,”
Gilmar said. “I knew I would have to
start from the bottom all over again.”
Living in a garage with two kids
for a year wasn’t easy, but the family
endured hard times with hard work.
Instead of wallowing in regret,
Gilmar saw dishwashing as a spring-
board to move forward.
“People told me that I was going
backwards,” he said. “There were
times I felt like I was in the gutter,
but I knew that this was the catapult
to propel me forward. That’s how I
kept my spirits up.”
After a year, Gilmar moved to the
front of the house, rotating as a
busser between the Waterfront
Depot, Restobar and Spice. Two
years later he advanced to bartender
and then became a host and food
server.
“I had to know three different
menus at the same time,” he said. “It
was physically and mentally intense.
We saved every penny and paid and
paid and paid. Florence was a huge
turning point in our financial recov-
ery.”
Finally, after settling their debts,
the couple felt ready to purchase a
home in 2015. Then a business ven-
ture appeared last December with a
turnkey opportunity.
“Instead of buying a house, we
bought a restaurant,” he said.
PHOTO BY CATHERINE ROURKE
Fresh Harvest Cafe owner Gilmar Ortiz worked his way to success
from the bottom up with a great education in the dish pit.
“Angela and I feel overwhelmed at
how the community has supported
us. And we are very thankful to
Marianne for her mentorship.”
Understanding the ebb and flow of
restaurant tides — the feast and
famine, the back of the house and
the front of the house, the best pur-
veyors and suppliers, the subtle
nuances of pleasing customers and
the qualities to look for in hiring his
crew — provided Gilmar with a
crash course in success.
“You have to leave your ego and
problems at the door,” he said. “You
have to believe in yourself even
when everything falls apart. It’s the
toughest business but also the most
rewarding.”
If you’ve dined on Bay Street in
recent years, chances are that Gilmar
showed you to your seat, poured
your beverage, took your order,
served your meal, removed your
soiled utensils, packed your doggie
bag or washed your dirty plate.
Continuing that enthusiastic serv-
ice, Gilmar still works long days that
begin at 5 a.m., and he still rolls up
his sleeves in the dish pit when nec-
essary. But now he enjoys a long-
held goal: sharing dinnertime with
his family.
“Caring for others is the most
important thing in my life,” he said.
“If I can make a good life for my
kids, I’ll have a good life. I want to
inspire people that they can always
do better as long as they stay focused
on their dream.”
______________________
Catherine J. Rourke is an award-
winning writer, journalist and book
editor who teaches creative writing
at the Florence Regional Arts
Alliance. She may be contacted at
CJReditor@gmail.com.
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