SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2017
Van
from 1A
“We are blessed by the many
Van Fans and drivers that we
have,” Grove said.
The members drive the
patients to and from the medical
facilities, hold fundraisers and
assist clients with other issues.
“However, we need new driv-
ers on a regular basis and anyone
wanting to get involved can
call,” Grove said.
Grove said although there are
Millennials,
from 6A
Cont.
Despite an area population of
over 10,000 people, only 2,600
full-time
workers
were
employed in the city.
While the numbers would be
traditionally considered stark,
and all the millennials inter-
viewed for this article believed
more job opportunities were
important, they weren’t panick-
ing.
27-year-old Brynne Sapp,
who works as a part time gym-
nastics instructor for Coastal
Fitness, believed the millenni-
als were able to find their own
way.
“I feel like more and more
young people are moving here
as there are more options avail-
no other members remaining
from the group’s inception in
1985, the need for the friends’
services, as evidenced by the lat-
est need for a new van.
Van Fans work in small ways
in the community year-round to
collect the money needed to con-
tinue offering trips.
“The Friends of Florence is a
local organization that exists
solely for the purpose of raising
funds to keep our buses run-
ning. They hold card parties
and ice cream socials every
able for us to make a living.
Working online is a big one.
Who wouldn’t want to do that?
Have your work at home, on
your computer, and be able to
live in this beautiful place in
this sweet community,” she
said.
“I know people here who
have jobs that are mostly
online. I have one friend who
writes for WebMd and National
Geographic. My friend Kelly
does a line of skin care prod-
ucts out in Ada. She makes
them all herself and does them
online. I think to be successful
in a place like this you have to
be creative.”
Many community leaders are
looking at bringing back blue-
collar work to the area, but gen-
erally millennials haven’t
warmed up to these types of
Let me Showcase your property.
Melody Beaudro
Principal Broker
541 991-2151
Mercer Lake Road #2900 – Bare land located in
the Enchanted Valley subdivision with potential
lake view, and locked and gated Mercer Lake ac-
cess to boat docks. 3 parcels totaling 6.2 acres.
City water and power available. Seller terms pos-
sible. $229,999. #2486-15601213
1749 Highway 101 • 541-997-1200
need of new members, as we
are all getting older. Our oldest
active member is 95 years
young. ... New volunteers and
new fund raising ideas are
always welcome.”
The friends meet once a
month on the first Wednesday
for lunch at the Shorewood to
plan activities.
For more information on the
Friends of Florence, or to find
out how to get involved, con-
tact member Barbara Filiatreau
at 541-902-0505.
Van Fans have been driving cancer
patients to treatment since 1985, racking
up more than 1.5 million miles on these
trips of mercy.
year and have been doing this
for around 25 years. To date,
they have raised over $350,000
dollars and are very important
to our continued operation,”
Grove said.
The forces of time and nature
cannot be denied, even for
those doing the admirable work
of the friends. Grove is asking
the commu-
nity for help
in continuing
the impor-
tant
work
done by his
organization.
“The Van
Fans
are
presently in
positions.
“I think that physical labor is
less and less the form of work
we want,” Sapp said.
Lokic believes that this may
have to do with how millenni-
als were raised.
“I think part of it has to do
with the idea that you have to
go to college out of school and
that’s something that has been
ingrained in younger people’s
minds the last 20 or 30 years.
After high school, you go to
college and get a degree.
“Now we’ve seen this big
push back to promoting these
blue-collar opportunities with
trade schools, but when all you
hear is ‘Go to college, go to
college,’ eventually you’re
going to say, ‘Okay, I shouldn’t
be doing this, I should be going
to college,’” he said.
Statistically, millennials are
the most educated generation
ever, with 40 percent of all 25
to 29-year-olds holding a bach-
elor’s degree, compared to 26
percent of boomers at the same
age, according to a 2016 Pew
Research Center study.
Lokic found a deep satisfac-
tion in city planning and his
degree, but if he wasn’t doing
that, and his parents had pushed
more blue-collar work, he
would have become a carpen-
ter.
This is not to say that blue-
collar millennials are perpetual-
ly unhappy. Tanner Burnem,
19, doesn’t have his dream job,
but he’s not deterred.
Burnem, who grew up in
Florence, works at the Florence
Pharmacy as a technician.
“My job is nice,” he said.
“It’s really fun, actually. When
I first pictured the job I thought,
‘Ugh, pharmacy technician.
That’s going to be really lame
and boring.’ I was just going to
be one of those guys who is
yelled at by angry customers. It
turns out I am one of those who
guys who gets yelled at by
angry customers, but my
coworkers are nice and we have
fun and a good laugh.”
When asked if he could
make pharmacies a career, he
wasn’t sure.
“I guess I’m not passionate
about it, but I certainly could. I
could decide to heck with it,
this is what I want to do.
Options are open. If something
else crashes through the door, I
might take it.”
The “up for anything” atti-
tude regarding work is preva-
lent throughout the generation.
In some instances, there’s
almost too much opportunity.
While Sapp is currently
working at Coastal Fitness,
she’s had a wide variety of jobs
and volunteer opportunities
throughout her life.
“I think millennials have
been raised in a different reali-
ty. I think we’ve been given a
lot of options. Times are chang-
ing. There is a lot of pressure to
be successful and everyone
wants to be, but there’s so many
options laid before us. In older
generations, success may mean
getting married, having kids,
raising family, buying a house
and having a good job with
good pay, but success means
something different to this gen-
eration.”
For Sapp, success is finding
something she loves doing.
“There are lots of things I
love and am passionate about
and would want to pursue. It
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
just depends on what comes
first. There are too many things
I want to do to stick with just
one. To love life is to love
many things. I think at this age
I’ve been given the luxury of
having some freedom in find-
ing what it is I really want to
do,” she said.
Sapp is getting to the point
where she feels she needs to
start making more stable career
choices, using her past experi-
ence as a roadmap.
“Personally, working with
kids and doing gymnastics, I
don’t do it for the money, I do it
because I love it,” she said. “It
gives me a sense of purpose.
I’ve considered options like
physical therapy. Just learning
about the body or getting into
that area because I want to
learn. I would be excited for
that, absolutely. It’s a goal I
would consider.”
One of Sapp’s biggest con-
cerns in Florence, and the U.S.
as a whole, is wages.
“It can be hard to make that
happen and succeed and not
just be paddling to stay above
water,” she said.
Burnem is having difficulties
with this as well. At 19 years
old, he’s already married with
one child. His wife, Hanna, is
the co-owner of Lovejoy’s
Restaurant and Tearoom in
Historic Old Town, but only
pulls in an average of $500 a
month. Burnem only makes
$1,300 a month at the pharma-
cy.
While this low paycheck
may be adequate if he was liv-
ing with family, he opted for his
own place because he felt it
was important to raise their
son, Harvey, in their own home.
The rent is $850 a month, near-
ly half their monthly salary.
This discrepancy isn’t new in
Florence, which is currently in
a housing crisis.
“Rentals are a big problem
right now,” Sapp said. “People
Burns’s Riverside Chapel
Florence Funeral Home
Your Community Friend-
Compassionate Care
for you and your loved ones.
2765 Kingwood St.
Florence, OR
7 A
24 Hours
541-997-3416
burnsriversidechapel.com
are having a hard time finding
prices that are reasonable.”
The City of Florence is look-
ing into ways of fixing this
issue (see Siuslaw News Sept.
30, “City Works to Bring ‘Hope
for Housing’ to Florence”), but
development can take time.
Burnem’s spirits weren’t
dampened, despite his tough
economic outlook.
Burnem, like so many other
millennials, has learned from
the mistakes of the baby
boomers.
A
2016
study
by
Northwestern Mutual Planning
and Progress founds that 58
percent of millennials consider
themselves “highly disci-
plined” or “disciplined” finan-
cial planners. They are saving
more than any other generation,
either through 401(k)’s or put-
ting money aside on their own.
Burnem buys nothing with
credit cards, instead putting
away cash in envelopes for
emergencies, a practice his wife
started.
“If an emergency happens,
we have savings and an emer-
gency folder. If something hap-
pens, we have enough money
to solve it or fix it.”
And, like most millennials,
he’s optimistic about the future.
In a 2014 Pew Research
Center survey, seven in 10 of
all Americans felt millennials
have it harder than previous
generations in starting out, but
millennials aren’t deterred.
In a 2016 study by
Northwestern Mutual Planning
and Progress, 86 percent of
millennials are confident they
will achieve their financial
goals.
Even during the Great
Recession, a 2013 Gallup poll
found that 80 percent of mil-
lennials believe their standard
of living was getting better.
It’s not the size of his house
or the amount of possessions
he owns that makes Burnem
happy, a sentiment held by
every millennial interviewed
for this article. It’s what you
do with your life that counts.
“We’re still happy,” Burnem
said. “We don’t need much.
We don’t have Wi-Fi, but we
just go to the library, rent
something, and come back,”
he said.
“I mean, how can we not be
happy?”
In the final part of this series
on millennials, the Siuslaw
News will look at community
spaces, relationships and
social factors surrounding this
unique age group.
To all of our dedicated front-line staff:
You Are Awesome!
Thank you for being the heart and
soul of our organization. We wouldn’t
be a community bank without you!
1355 Highway 101 • www.opbc.com • (541) 997-7121
member