6A | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2020 | SIUSLAW NEWS
BASKETS from page 1A
If people would like to do-
nate, contact Bennett at 541-991-
3455. Donations will be accepted
through December.
As for the Christmas Food Bas-
ket Giveaway, it will operate sim-
ilar to the past. People will enter
Siuslaw Middle School from 27th
Street, tell volunteers how many
people are in their households —
usually between 2 and 8 — and re-
ceive a free basket of food with all
the fixings for a holiday dinner.
Each Community Christmas
Basket contains either a turkey or
chicken; stuffing, dinner rolls and
canned vegetables; fresh potatoes,
carrots, apples and oranges; eggs,
butter and milk; applesauce and
fruit cocktail; and pantry items
such as crackers, peanut butter and
jam. Plus, each box also contains
cookies and candy canes.
A majority of the items are
pre-packaged and will be handled
by volunteers wearing masks and
gloves. For the items that will be
bagged onsite, including the apples
and oranges, masked and gloved
volunteers will carefully ensure
sanitation.
“We have enough space that we
can spread out the stacks of foods
on the pallets,” Bennett said. “We
have the ability to separate those by
six feet.”
Volunteers, also masked and
gloved, will fill shopping carts
with items from each of the sta-
tions, gathering up the boxes, cans
and other goods depending on the
number of people in a household.
Just like in a normal year, the peo-
ple receiving their baskets won’t
have to get out of their cars.
Bennett said she is complying
with every piece of advice she can
to keep the food recipients and vol-
unteers safe.
“This may be the new norm for
what we have to do in the future,”
she noted. “Who knows? I want it
to work, and I don’t want anybody
to be sick.”
The Christmas Food Basket
Giveaway regularly sees nearly 100
volunteers working to organize and
staff the event.
“This is a big project, and the
Soroptimists have never done it by
ourselves,” Bennett said.
Local groups including Kiwanis
Club of Florence, Rotary Club of
Florence, Florence Elks, Florence
Masonic Lodge and Camp Flor-
ence have provided volunteers and
other support.
“We just coordinate it,” Bennett
said. “Somebody from our group
contacts stores to order the food,
find the location and collect some
money. But it has always been the
caution,” Brown said. “When
we are able to address com-
munity spread early on,
the more likely we are to be
successful in curbing that
spread. While OHA offers
support and resources to
help county officials pre-
vent further case spikes, it
remains up to all community
members to do their part.”
Florence City Manager
Erin Reynolds emphasized
the need for continued vig-
ilance at Monday’s meeting
of the Florence City Council.
“As many of you have
heard, we are in a new state
of COVID for Lane County.
That means we are encour-
aging everyone to do what
you can to be creative and
safe and enjoy the upcom-
ing holiday of Halloween,”
Reynolds said. “Do what you
can outside and enjoy the
holiday with your close fam-
ily and your COVID circle.”
Meanwhile,
neighbor-
ing
Douglas
County’s
COVID-19 Response Team
similarly appealed to the
COVID from page 1A
The University of Oregon
had reported 270 cases for
the first three weeks of Octo-
ber when the governor’s of-
fice made its announcement.
As of Friday, the universi-
ty had seen 421 total cases
since June 1, illustrating a
63-percent increase of cases
at the university since Oct. 1.
Counties are placed on
the watch list when there is
a “sporadic case” rate of 50
or more per 100,000 in the
preceding two weeks and
the county has more than 5
sporadic cases in the same
timeframe.
Sporadic cases are those
which cannot be traced to a
source, indicating communi-
ty spread.
According to data from
OHA released Oct. 20, there
have been 633 COVID-re-
lated fatalities in the state.
OHA also reported 346 new-
ly confirmed cases, bringing
the state’s total to 40,136.
“The watch list signifies
community.”
The Christmas Food Basket
Giveaway was started by a Florence
Soroptimist more than 30 years
ago, who started keeping food and
toy donations in her shop for peo-
ple in need.
“It started out of the back of a
station wagon, and now we can’t
do it out of the station wagon any-
more,” Bennett said.
The baskets continue to be free
to the community, with a value of
approximately $60 worth of food
inside.
“They get a pretty good box of
food,” Bennett said. “Our goal is
not just for dinner, but to feed them
for the day, at least.”
She said that was why each box
has peanut butter — “that’s a good
protein” — and snacks that kids
can put together themselves.
Even the box of cookies included
in the basket is special. Donated by
Little Dutch Boy Cookie Company
from Draper, Utah, the cookies are
festive and delicious. All the Sorop-
timists have to pay is freight.
The Christmas Food Basket
Giveaway also requires no paper-
work from recipients.
“There are no requirements, and
that’s a really important thing,” Ben-
nett said. “There’s nothing they have
to fill out to get this box. All they
have to do is come to the school
county’s residents this week
to help curtail the spread
in light of recent increased
metrics. Though Douglas
County has had a relatively
low case rate during the pan-
demic and is still far from be-
ing considered for the watch
list, there has been a marked
increase since mid-Septem-
ber — including in sporadic
case counts.
In the response, Douglas
County Public Health Offi-
cer Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer
stated that almost all the
county’s cases were from
different sources and that
he anticipates numbers to
remain high and possibly in-
crease through the rest of the
fall season.
“It appears that Dr. Red-
field and Dr. Fauci are likely
correct that the vaccine will
not be available for wide use
until the second or third
quarters of 2021,” he said,
referring to the directors of
the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention and the
National Institute of Allergy
and say they need a box and tell us
how big a family they’re trying to
feed. … Because we don’t require
any qualifications, it doesn’t reduce
what they can get from food share.”
People eligible for food from
Florence Food Share get 12 boxes
a year.
“This doesn’t count as one of
those boxes,” Bennett stated.
That’s not to say that the Sorop-
timists don’t work with food share.
They get guidance on their num-
bers from the organization, and
donates leftover food at the end of
distribution.
In addition, any additional funds
raised go right back into the Sorop-
timist’s account for next year’s bas-
ket giveaway.
“We’re very careful about what
we spend our money on. It is public
money and we have to be careful,”
Bennett said.
It is also a public event. People
who want to be involved can con-
tact Bennett about volunteering, or
just show up on the day of the event
around 9 a.m. Masks will be re-
quired, but the Soroptimists will be
providing gloves and disinfectant
wipes. People should also dress for
December weather, which is often
cold and rainy.
Also new this year, volunteers
will need to sign in and provide
contact information. Bennett said
and Infectious Diseases, re-
spectively.
The Douglas County re-
sponse team pointed to an
upswing of cases since Labor
Day as “worrying” consider-
ing the time of year — warn-
ing of severe health, educa-
tional and economic impacts
should cases continue their
upward trend.
“This should be very con-
cerning for everyone as we
enter into the busiest social
and cold/flu season of the
year,” said Dannenhoffer.
“We not only think we have
reached a critical juncture
with COVID-19 in Douglas
County, we know we have.
If we do not take action to
stop the spread now, the vi-
rus could potentially wreak
havoc and residents run the
risk of seeing these real-life
consequences.”
County health officials re-
mind residents to maintain
health practices that can re-
duce the spread of the virus:
• Make a habit of washing
and sanitizing your hands.
this is important if people do get
sick so the Soroptimists can trace
people’s contacts.
It’s a reality of 2020.
Bennett also acknowledged that
the decision to focus on the food
baskets may disappoint people
who were looking forward to the
toy giveaway.
The Soroptimists are willing to
give advice to the groups putting
together toy donations.
“I don’t want to discourage that,
but we can’t do it this year. But we
can do this,” Bennett said. “And I
think this is equally as important.
If I have to choose between a kid
getting a toy and getting fed, he’s
going to get fed.”
Soroptimist International of
Florence is also working to adapt
to 2020. Members meet virtually
through Zoom meetings and gath-
er the board of directors. They also
are concluding their rose sale on
Friday, Oct. 23, where people can
buy a dozen roses for $20. These
will be delivered on Nov. 3. People
can call Soroptimist Jo Hine at 541-
997-2233 to order.
People can mail donations for
the Christmas Food Basket Give-
away to Soroptimist International
of Florence, PO Box 1209, Florence
OR 97439. They can also contact
Bennett at 541-991-3455 or dump
lady@hotmail.com.
That means washing after
you eat, touch new surfaces,
go to the bathroom, go to the
store, go to the post office or
after a meeting. Remember
also to try to avoid touching
your face as much as possi-
ble.
• Stay at least six feet apart
from anyone that is not from
your immediate household.
This means paying attention
to the distance stickers at the
store, the bank, at restau-
rants and at businesses.
• Stay home from work,
school and play if you are
sick. This includes not run-
ning errands or going shop-
ping or inviting visitors to
your home. If you need help,
reach out to friends, family
or utilize an app or business-
es that offers no contact de-
liveries.
• Minimize travel, espe-
cially out of the state, and
limit visitors to your home.
• Wear a mask where rec-
ommended.
In addition, OHA has is-
sued new guidance on the
use of masks. It has deter-
mined that the use of face
shields are not recommend-
ed with the exception of
when dealing with the hear-
ing impaired. The OHA fa-
vors masking instead. Face
coverings are now required
in all private and public
workplaces and are required
for outdoor and indoor mar-
kets, street fairs, and private
and public schools and col-
leges.
More COVID-related re-
opening information for
the State of Oregon can be
found at govstatus.egov.com/
reopening-oregon.
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