SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JULY 15, 2017
Recognition from 1A
Plus, it was really hot there.
As her parents settled on
Florence to retire, she happily fol-
lowed.
She didn’t come without a job,
however. Since 1994 she’s been the
features editor of the print publica-
tion International Travel News, a
job she did online. In fact, she still
does that, working days at LCC and
journeying home to get right back
on the computer to edit stories.
“I don’t sleep much,” said admit-
ted.
Habian first started at LCC to
break up her at-home work routine,
manning the front office phones one
day a week.
The administrative specialist
position opened just a short time
afterward, which she filled in as an
interim. Soon, she took over the job
officially and has stayed there ever
since.
“I really like working here. It’s
stressful, but in a good way. It’s nice
to be able to help the students to
succeed. Everybody here is on the
same team, keeping the students in
mind,” Habian said
Because Florence is a rural loca-
tion, Habian believes LCC is vital to
opening options to higher education
that would otherwise be limited.
“I’m surprised at just how much
this campus means to people in this
area, more-so than a big city. I’m
always surprised at how many times
students come in and say, ‘Thank
you for the encouragement,’ or
‘Thank you for helping and answer-
ing the questions,’ because they
don’t have outside support,” she
said.
That, Habian believes, is what
makes working at LCC worthwhile,
despite the little sleep she receives.
“I remember one student
coming in and talk to another
employee, saying, ‘Thank you so
much for telling me I can do this,
because nobody in my family told
me I could.’ So many people don’t
have outside support sometimes. It
breaks my heart, but (education)
completely changes somebody’s
life. That’s what I enjoy about being
here,” she said.
PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON/
SIUSLAW NEWS
LCC Florence facul-
ty, staff and stu-
dents work togeth-
er to surprise Beth
Habian with an
award recognizing
her years of service.
Reporter
2066 Highway 101, Florence
541-997-0343
Woody Woodbury
Independent Owner/Operator
Florence Grocery Outlet
1SPEVDFt%BJSZ%FMJ
)FBMUI#FBVUZ
'SP[FO'PPETt'SFTI.FBU
)PVTFXBSFTt#FFS8JOF
0SHBOJD/BUVSBM'PPET
BOENVDINPSF
We have ample RV parking!
from 1A
including the Siuslaw and
Mapleton school districts,
Dunes City Council and local
clubs and organizations.
“I consider myself extraor-
dinarily lucky to get this job
at Siuslaw News,” Anderson
said. “In this job, I get to
interview, write stories and
take photographs to visually
represent those stories. It’s
everything I trained for and
always wanted to do.”
At the University of Utah
in Salt Lake City, Anderson
studied film and theater with
an emphasis on playwriting.
Since then, he has worked in
a variety of fields, including
as the officer in charge of
the Deadwood Post Office,
as an instructor at Lane
Community College Florence
Center and as the education
director at City Lights
Cinemas.
“I still plan on doing edu-
cation shows at City Lights
every once in a while,”
Anderson said.
Film and video may also
continue to be part of his cov-
erage of people and events in
the area.
“The primary goal of video
media is to look at the basic
story and to tell that visually.
It will help in my writing in
finding the story. It’s pretty
much the same medium,
which is storytelling; it’s just
a different way of doing it,”
Anderson said.
Throughout his childhood,
when his father moved the
family several times while in
the U.S. Coast Guard,
Anderson kept up his passion
of storytelling.
“I was writing stories when
I was 6 years old. When I was
16, I was chosen to be a
Sundance playwright and got
into playwriting and theater,”
he said.
NO N-PROFIT SPOTLIGHT
Food Backpack for Kids (FB4K)
Q: Describe your organization.
A: FB4K began in 2012 and is a 501-c-3 non-profi t food
program, unique to Florence/Mapleton, created and designed
to feed local students at risk for w/e hunger. We provide three
meals for each w/e day that are nutritious, shelf stable and easily
accessible for little hands.
Our program volunteers partner with local school districts
in a blind trust for distribution to the most food challenged
students, to protect their privacy.
All operational expenses are underwritten, there is no paid
staff . 100 % of public donations are spent to purchase products
placed in food bags.
Q: What are your greatest accomplishments so far, this year?
A: Since 2012, our only purpose remains the same today…to
feed every local, hungry child on school year w/e’s as long as the
need exists.
To facilitate that going forward this year:
We partnered with the Florence Chamber of Commerce,
Florence PTA, and Siuslaw News.
FB4K intention is to participate in and become part of this
amazing community, especially where it helps our future leaders.
We strengthened and refi ned our marketing and operational
infrastructure for perpetuity.
Entered a FB4K “Th ank you for FIVE years!” fl oat in the
Always Ready to Rhody parade…and, to our amazement, won
two awards!
Q: Do you have a personal story that describes the impact
your organization has had in the community?
A: Yes! As a representative of our Volunteers, I rode on FB4K
Rhody Parade fl oat. From the very beginning to the end, huge
crowds of adults and children cheered loudly in recognition,
saying “Th ank You” in so many ways. I was overwhelmed,
humbled and close to tears…our purpose for the fl oat was to
thank them…our friends, donors and generous partners, for
their support.
Q: What is your current greatest need?
A: We need a grant writer and someone to operate our new
www.backpackimpact.com website. All need to be volunteers…
of course!
Q: Describe your organizations personality in three words.
A: “Compassionate, focused, dedicated
Food Backpack for Kids (FB4K)
1380 Tenth Street/P.O. Box 3347 • Florence, OR
541-997-2497
He began to pursue docu-
mentary playwriting by con-
ducting interviews with
diverse people.
“I would take those inter-
views, take the broad sub-
jects, and distill it down into
the basic core concepts of a
cohesive hour and a half
story,” he said.
Over time, Anderson found
less and less time to focus on
story — until now.
In his three years in
Florence, Anderson has set-
tled into life far different
from Salt Lake City or the
“big cities” of his youth.
“What I started to find out
is that you can do things in a
small town you could never
dream of in a big city. I’ve
been able to teach film, work
for a movie theater, write for
a newspaper and do all these
things you could only do in a
very limited capacity in a big
city, since there’s so much
competition,” he said. “Here,
it’s amazing the things you
can do if you have a good
knowledge base and are moti-
vated.
“The community has been
very open and receptive to a
lot of things that I’ve done.
I’ve gotten to know a lot of
people here, and it’s been so
much fun. I’ve just fallen in
love with it here.”
Anderson joins the editori-
al team of Hickson; Chantelle
Meyer, features editor; and
Mark Brennan, city reporter.
City
from 1A
In the coming weeks, the
city will present the official
Coast Guard City announce-
ment in a press conference
at Oregon Oregon Coast
Military Museum.
Then, on Wednesday,
Aug. 16, there will be a
Coast
Guard
City
Celebration at the Florence
Events Center.
“The program is in the
planning stage, but it will be
an awesome event with the
possibility of many digni-
taries form outside our com-
munity,” Henry said. “We
are all pretty excited.”
HARDWARE
UN
G
l
a
t
To
ION
T
A
D
I
LIQU LE
SA
!
NOW
All Creation’s Construction
Florence Pharmacy
Chad Clement, D.D.S., P.C
County Transfer & Recycling
First Baptist Church
SPONSORED
BY:
Jack Mobley Construction Inc.
Oregon Pacifi c Bank
Swanson Pest Management
Florence Heating & Sheet Metal, Inc
7 A
Siuslaw
News
+
off
%
0
2 arms
all fi
re
Dunes Village Shopping Center
Highway 126 at Highway 101
Florence
541-997-8024
www.shoppelocal.biz