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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2018)
10 A SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, APRIL 21, 2018 Volunteers from 6A From giving out home-cooked meals three times a week to sim- ply lending an ear and warm embrace, the volunteers of Helping Hands have been mak- ing the world a better place for those who’ve fallen on hard times. “It feeds people that are hun- gry,” Thies said about the pro- gram. “It gives them a place to have camaraderie and friendship. “We’re human beings. We all need contact. We all need food. We all need friendship. Touch. It’s important. Believe it or not, most of us are huggers, so we give a lot of hugs. It’s important because you can see the people appreciating it.” Thies is a snowbird, living six months in Arizona and six months in Florence, moving back and forth with her husband. Thies is a former accountant, but those days are behind her. She’s also seen her fair share of hard times. “I was a single mom for five years,” she said. “When you have kids who drink a gallon of milk every day, stuff like that gets hard. Did I reach out for help? No. Because I was one of these stubborn people who thought they could make it on their own. But it was really diffi- cult. “And if there was a program like this, I’m not even sure I would have gone myself out of pride. God forbid people know we’re struggling, right? Because we lived in a small town where everybody knew everything. But I’ve been where a lot of these people are. I didn’t live in my car PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON/SIUSLAW NEWS From left, Robert Orr, James Dale Guy and Jo-Anna Thies are just three of the Siuslaw region’s many volunteers. Florence celebrated volunteers during National Volunteer week, April 15 to 21. and wasn’t homeless, but I was dead poor.” Before she came to Florence, Thies worked at Meals on Wheels. Arriving here, she heard about Helping Hands and decid- ed she could lend her own hand. Except, she called the wrong group. “I called the Methodist Church by mistake,” she said. “I ended up I volunteering there.” She was speaking about the Florence Community Suppers program, which she still volun- teers at to this day and loves every minute of it. Five years ago, the former president of Helping Hands came in to help at the suppers and invited Thies to lend her hand at Helping Hands as well. Now she works both programs, along with volunteering at Florence Food Share. Why does she do it? “Because I can,” she said. “Because it’s needed. When I worked for Meals on Wheels, I saw how important it was when you’re the only person they’ll see all day. It’s just something I thor- oughly enjoy. I go home happy and exhausted. I don’t think there’s ever been one time that I went home not happy. I don’t think ever.” Most of Thies’ time spent at Helping Hands is serving meals. She knows how to cook — she was a mother of four, she points out — but usually leaves that to other volunteers. “Ninety-nine percent of the meals we make are from scratch,” Thies said. “If there’s something going on and we don’t have the facility, Glen will go and get sub-sandwiches. We also have a Friday lunch to go, which has water and food and things that don’t necessarily have to be heated, because people don’t necessarily have the ability to do that.” The program helps a wide variety of people, from locals who are homeless to those who are having difficulty making ends meet. The Sleep You Need GUARANTEED So Comfortable You’ll Never Count These Guys Again.™ www.americasmattress.com 2455 Hwy. 101 310 S. Broadway Coos Bay Florence 541-267-3100 541-991-3700 JOIN US FOR OUR 8 SHEEP LOCAL LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU! Spring VIP Sale APRIL ENDS 30TH 0% APR FOR 5 YEARS 0% FOR 60 MONTHS WITH MINIMUM PURCHASE REQUIRED. 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Right now, the coalition is based out of New Life Lutheran Church on Spruce Street. “They made room for us and they’ve been really kind,” Thies said. “We all have the same atti- tude here — ‘But for the grace of God go I.’” In addition, housing isn’t the only problem that Helping Hands has. The coalition also has trouble finding volunteers, some- thing that Thies sees affecting all the organizations she works with. “All the groups need help,” she said. “You don’t have to be on your feet if that’s a problem. I don’t have an answer as to why [people aren’t volunteering]. People burn out, I guess, but the more volunteers you have, the less burnout you’re going to have.” As for Thies, she doesn’t think she’ll ever burn out. “I feel totally whole doing this,” she said. “In my heart, it’s a good thing because I’m giving back. I feel truly blessed for all that I have.” ASPIRE Student Mentoring — Siuslaw High School Robert Orr had plans for retirement. “I wouldn’t be sitting,” he said. “As my wife knows I don’t sit very well.” He was going to do wood- working in the woodshop he has at his home, taking time to build whatever his house needed. “And sailing is my first love in terms of sports,” Orr said. “I would be doing more sailing and kayaking. And more boating.” Orr and his wife Cindy were teachers by trade, working at their last schools in New Jersey for 13 years. “I loved it, loved teaching,” he said. “Cindy was teaching high school math, more advanced courses like Calculus, and I was teaching middle school algebra and geometry. I was also teach- ing more advanced students, but at the middle school level.” The Orrs bought a home here five years ago, stealing away vacations whenever they had the time. But the “allure of Florence,” as he put it, kept call- ing them. Two years ago, they decided to take the plunge and take on full retirement, moving here per- manently with thoughts of toiling away at their hobbies and volun- teering a little bit here and there. “Apparently, I really wasn’t ready to retire yet,” he said. Orr began to list the number of organizations that he ended up volunteering for. He’s a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), a substitute teacher and is a Dunes City Councilor, which he finds “completely fascinat- ing,” learning how the city oper- ates and what issues faces it. He also volunteers for “some other things,” which he didn’t elabo- rate on. “My wife said that this was practically a foregone conclusion that this would happen,” he said. “She knows that I don’t sit still and that I love this kind of work.” But the biggest volunteering project? The Oregon ASPIRE mentoring program at Siuslaw High School. ASPIRE is a statewide organi- zation that helps students prepare for life after high school. The pri- mary goal is figuring out how to get students into college, includ- ing admissions and financial aid. “Over a year ago, Boudinot Kilgore knew I was interested in volunteering and asked if I want- ed to talk. I was looking for something that I could really spend some time doing and feel good about. So the actual fit was just right. I went from having a couple of students that I was coming in for once or twice a week to being here every day, all day.” He absolutely loves it. “I find that I don’t even like to take half a day off,” Orr admit- ted. “That means that several meetings with students that I could have had can’t happen because I’m not here. “I love the work. The students are wonderful, and so is the staff. They’re great people. Everybody wants the same thing here, and that’s the to give the best to the students.” He said that the work can be complicated for students. “The federal student aid appli- cation is, on the surface, straight- forward. 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Or perhaps they’re living with grandparents who don’t have legal custody of the children,” Orr said. “These kinds of ques- tions can get complicated.” For a student who is working to get good grades, participating in school-sponsored programs, like sports, working an actual job and just enjoying the final years of their childhood, those compli- cations can get, well … compli- cated, Orr said. Especially if they’ve never had any experi- ence in it. “We certainly want them to do what they can on their own,” he said, but even the most organized student can need a helping hand. The complications go beyond just filling out federal forms. Scholarships that are given out locally often require essays, which the staff of 15 ASPIRE volunteers tutors students to write. Volunteers also provide stu- dents with comprehensive lists of the scholarships, reminding them of deadlines and helping them organize all the information they need to provide. “One of the things that we’ve started doing is helping to pre- pare the students for the SAT or the ACT,” Orr said. “The more practice the students can get, and the more information the stu- dents can get about those tests, the better off they’ll be” He has also worked with school counselors to create book- lets on what to expect in college life in a larger city, especially important for youth whose only experience is a small town. “What we gather here are the pieces of the puzzle so that we can provide information to the students that we have gathered in a central location,” Orr said. For Orr, the benefits of ASPIRE go beyond just helping the students discover a path to their future. “I think a healthy community depends on healthy children,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to leave out the possibilities of students coming back, getting some expe- rience and education, and help- ing build this community.” Then he takes it a step further. “We, at all levels of this com- munity, have a need for good jobs. There’s a need for doctors. There’s a need for other profes- sionals. To me, a healthy school that is graduating students who have a direction, who are moving on to things that they want to do, whether it’s college or trade school or work, helps attract other people to the community. I think if the people understand the relationship between the school and the community, there’s a bet- ter chance the community will support the needs of the school, large or small.” And it’s the entire community that helps the ASPIRE program exist. If it wasn’t for the scholar- ships that organizations provide, then the students wouldn’t be able to afford the ability to build the community that the Siuslaw needs. “With the scholarships and the support the students receive, there’s a real blending or meld- ing of purpose,” Orr said. “For that to exist is helpful to many parts of the community. For example, the clubs: Rotary, the Lion Club, the Oddfellows, Kiwanis. These clubs are very much involved in raising funds for their scholarships and in sup- porting the students in other ways. I think that gives people who are involved with these organizations a sense of purpose. So I think that’s good for them.” In all, those organizations exist because of volunteers. “I believe that volunteering provides services to the commu- nity that are needed,” Orr said. “While I happen to be enthusias- tic about this program, I see all the other things done in this com- munity that are hugely impor- tant. “People volunteer for a num- ber of different reasons, but I think there is a great benefit to the volunteers themselves. It gives us a sense of purpose. It gives us a sense of meaning. And I think there are a lot of people who would be lost without their volunteering opportunities.”
