The Siuslaw news., July 05, 2017, Page 5A, Image 5

SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017
5 A
Wings & Wheels weekend
PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON AND MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
Power
from 1A
“This is Kaylee’s seventh and
final year of organizing the Power
of Florence,” Shannon said.
“Seventh-grader Ava Glowacki will
officially be taking over the Power
of Florence next year. They are
working together as a team again
this year, and the work will contin-
ue.”
Instilling the spirit of caring in
the community is one of the main
benefits of the Power of Florence,
according to Mayor Joe Henry.
“From the efforts of an amazing
young person and with the support
of her family, the Power of Florence
has grown from an ambitious idea
to a real force in the City of
Florence,” Henry stated. “I am very
proud of Kaylee and Ava Glowacki
and her family. ... I am also proud
and thankful for all the volunteers
and the support of business and
organizations in the community.
This is the spirit that makes
Florence the premier coastal city
that is.”
The spirit the mayor refers to has
been important to the many 501(c)3
nonprofit organizations in town that
have been the beneficiaries of
Power of Florence efforts.
One example of this is the food
pantry at Florence Food Share,
which has collected and distributed
240
HOURS
Is your family prepared?
If an emergency happens in your community,
it may take emergency workers some time to reach you.
You should be prepared to take care of yourself and
your family for a minimum of 240 hours.
Get your emergency kit started with
these essentials:
❑ Pen and paper
❑ Money
❑ Address and phone numbers
❑ Work gloves
❑ Basic tools
This message brought to you by the West Lane
Emergency Operations Group. www.wleog.org
IDENTIFY • PREPARE • SURVIVE
more than 14,000 pounds of food
from events directly tied to the
Power of One.
Also during this time, groups
have undertaken 79 civic projects
and raised more than $42,000 in
cash donations, which have then
been distributed directly to local
nonprofit organizations.
Siuslaw
School
District
Superintendent Andy Grzeskowiak
said he believes that the movement
started by Graham exemplifies the
spirit of giving and concern for
those less fortunate.
“Kaylee is one of the most gen-
uine and sincere people I have ever
had the pleasure of meeting. Her
organization and direction of the
Power of Florence community serv-
ice events is done in the best spirit
of volunteerism. It is a grassroots
effort to benefit the community and
serve others,” he said.
Kaylee has also been influential
in other ways in the school district
and in the community. She started
the Kindness Club, which gives
younger students the framework
and the opportunity to get involved
helping others by, primarily, being
nice.
“This is not a ‘filler’ on a
resume,” Grzeskowiak said. “The
Power of Florence is a concept and
practice that Kaylee truly believes
in and stands behind. You would be
hard pressed to find another com-
munity organizer, of any age, that
could put together an event like
Kaylee has and keep it vital for 7
years.”
This year’s Power of Florence is
shaping up to be another opportuni-
ty for community members to make
a difference in the lives of others
while knowing that they con-
tributed to this growing Florence
tradition.
According to the Grahams,
Power of Florence will start July 15
with a free pancake breakfast host-
ed by Florence Unite Methodist
Church. Next will be the Power
Walk through Old Town with
Mayor Henry complete with a
Florence Police escort.
Other events include Oregon
Coast
Humane
Society’s
Hamburger and Hotdog BBQ, Van
Fans Pie and Ice Cream Social, a
kitten adoption, the Lions Club Free
Health Screening, Scotch broom
removal with the U.S. Forest
Service, park clean-ups, Stuff the
Van with pet food and more.
Events will take place in Historic
Old Town and areas in and around
Florence. Several combined events
will take place at the Grocery Outlet
parking lot, 2066 Highway 101.
For more information or to get
involved in this year’s Power of
Florence
events,
go
to
www.PowerofFlorence.org.
Helping
she was making about $72 an hour.
Then she got bit by a mosquito
which gave her some kind of dis-
ease. There was no cure for it and
it’s slowly killing her.
“She’ll eventually go to a blank
look and pass away.”
Erwin said the woman lost her
job because she could not do it any-
more. In addition, because the lady
worked all over the world, she only
qualified for $720 a month in
Social Security.
“Your heart just breaks some-
times,” said Erwin.
While the physicist’s descent
into poverty was slow and painful,
Lawson’s came as a quick shot to
the gut.
“I’m homeless because of one
hole in the wall,” she said, explain-
ing how her son had a fit and
punched a hole in the wall. It
caught the attention of the man-
agers.
“They threatened to call 911
because he was just throwing a fit.
People want you to paint a rosy pic-
ture, but no family is perfect,” she
said.
Lawson said, as a result, she and
her son were evicted. Lawson’s
financial situation was dire. She
was living off of social security,
which was tight.
The job market was even tighter.
She had savings but lost them
prior to the eviction.
“I never thought we’d be in this
situation. I never thought for a
moment that I’d be homeless. Did I
ever think I would ever be using
Helping Hands? No. In the blink of
an eye, things can change,” she
said.
Despite all of this, Lawson was
able to catch a break, finding a
home for her and her son.
“Because of the house, I feel like
a weight was lifted. I want my son
to focus on school. He’s going to be
17 and we want to make it all bet-
ter.”
Children needing the care of
Helping Hands is not a rare occur-
rence.
On the day of Lawson’s inter-
view, two families with three chil-
dren each dined at the church —
impeccably dressed and smiling
while they finished the last bite of
their frosted chocolate cake.
But other children don’t come
in.
“Kids who come through here,
they don’t go to school,” said
Lawson. “They’re in crisis and the
parents can’t get them to come in
here. And they need it the most. But
they’re so scared to come in here
because someone will see them.”
The fears about this are visceral.
Lawson said she feels that if the
children are recognized, the parents
could be blamed for neglect, and
the children could be sent off to
foster care.
“I got a kid and I’m scared to tell
anybody I’m homeless because
they can take him away. As a parent
I feel like such a dirtbag,” she said.
Children are at the heart of why
so many residents oppose the relo-
cation to Highway 101, or any
other neighborhood for that matter.
“They say they’re not going to
be around except for certain hours
to feed them, but they’re going to
be hanging around,” Unruh said.
“The school buses come. They drop
the kids off twice a day. At lunch
time, and again at 3 and 3:30 p.m.”
Lawson has a different view.
While she worked hard to pro-
tect her son during her trials, she
believes others don’t. She has wit-
nessed poverty-stricken parents
with drug addictions neglecting
their children.
“Their kids have soiled clothes.
They’re out there hunting for drugs,
leaving their kids in the car. I’m
sorry but I have no empathy for
them,” she said.
The fear is, if these individuals
cannot keep their own children pro-
tected, how are they going to treat
those of others?
The statistics don’t back up
these fears, however. In fact, those
who are homeless generally end up
being the victim, not the perpetra-
tor, in crimes.
A 2012 study performed by the
National Coalition for the
Homeless stated that between the
years of 1999 and 2010, there have
been 1,200 reported acts of vio-
lence committed by housed indi-
viduals against the homeless, rang-
ing from beatings, rapes and even a
reported case of decapitation.
As for families, a 2016 study
from the Family & Youth Services
Bureau found that in just one day in
2015, more than 31,5000 adults and
children were forced into tempo-
rary housing because of domestic
violence in the home.
The causes of homelessness,
drug addiction and poverty are vast
and incalculable. Helping Hands
sees a vision for themselves that
would work to combat this.
They have already worked to
provide hundreds of clients help
with Social Security benefits, cloth-
ing and temporary housing. This
assistance has been given to anyone
who asks, whether they live in a
permanent home or not.
For the future, Helping Hands
sees itself growing its capabilities
to include tutoring and mentoring
— working hand-in-hand with
other local organizations to build a
robust network to help those in
need.
Poverty and homelessness will
always be a part of Florence,
whether there is a Helping Hands
or not.
The question for many in the
community is whether striving to
build up those who are are in need
could simultaneously tear down
other aspects the community has
worked so hard to build.
While the community of
Florence decides the fate of
Helping Hands and continues to
struggle with the larger ramifica-
tions of these issues, Lawson sits in
the eating area.
She has a smile across her face,
talking of the day after when she
will again have a roof over her
head.
She pauses and looks outside the
window to others in her situation;
sitting on the front steps, smoking
cigarettes, conversing, laughing.
She’ll always come to Helping
Hands, she says.
To eat. To volunteer. To give
away blankets. To help any way she
can because, she feels, the program
saved her life.
“I understand where [the busi-
nesses] are coming from,” she said.
“I just don’t know what the answer
is.”
Florence City Council will hear
an appeal from Helping Hands
Coalition during the July 31
Florence City Council meeting,
5:30 p.m. at Florence City Hall,
250 Highway 101.
from 1A
In fact, some feel they went
through the same thing.
Kristi Unruh, who lives down
the street from Helping Hands’ pro-
posed site, used to have a thriving
motel in Washington and a success-
ful contracting business. Then the
recession hit and they almost lost
everything. Banks would not help
them.
“It just sucked the wind out of
everybody,” Unruh said.
During her difficult period,
Unruh believed she worked hard to
climb her way out to a better cir-
cumstance. She feels others should
do the same. In fact, in her opinion,
it’s the only humane — and perma-
nent — solution to the problem.
“Are we helping them? I mean
yes, we need to give them food. But
they smoke and they have pets. We
need to get them in a home, get
them working somewhere back on
their feet,” Unruh said. “How many
young people are we just going to
watch go down this path? It’s hard.
What are they going to do for the
rest of their lives? It scares me.”
Jim Erwin, a Helping Hands vol-
unteer, believes reality is more
complex. Sudden economic down-
turns aren’t the only catalysts for
homelessness and poverty:
“I know this physicist who had
been all over the world. At the time
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