COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL APRIL 5, 2017
11A
Vets Continued from A1
“That’s where we’ll put the pigs because they smell,” he says.
It’s part of the vision—pigs, service dogs, beehives, gardens,
yoga, counselors, fi shing trips and a place to call home.
“Americans account for 5 percent of the world’s population but
25 percent of the incarceration rate,” he says. And of those currently
in Oregon’s state detention centers and prisons, 24 percent served in
the armed forces at one time or another.
“I saw what it did for the low-risk inmates here. Having a sense
of purpose and I used to tell them, if you want to get high, get high
on life,” Buckwald said.
Approximately 20 volunteers came out to the remote camp on
Saturday, April 1 to get their hands dirty tackling cobwebs, plumb-
ing issues, leftover inmate materials and other remnants of the fa-
cility’s previous life.
“This is what we call a second call to action,” said Buckwald. The
group advertised the work day on social media and had responses
from all over Lane County.
Cottage Grove Mayor Jeff Gowing began work just before 10
a.m. hauling wheelbarrows full of debris and disposing of barrels
full of forgotten fertilizer and rain water.
“Veterans need a place to transition back to reality,” he said.
Cottage Gove Planning Commissioner and current active duty
member Alan Widener joined Gowing in the clean-up and noted
that he had heard of the effort and wanted to lend a hand.
“It’s important to pay it forward,” he said.
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“If you do that, I can donate
the batting.”
“I gather them up and cut
them up and get the quilters to
turn them into blankets.”
“I love that idea but absolute-
ly, nothing that says inmate.”
It’s a spontaneous conver-
sation that erupts when Buck-
wald fi nds Becky in the kitchen,
scrubbing at the old stoves. He’s
known her since his rookie days
when she taught him everything
he knows. But it’s when Molly
Patterson interrupts the reunion
that the impromptu organizing
begins. She’s found a stockpile
of old jeans and coats used for
the facility’s prior tenants. She Volunteers spent their Saturday cleaning and organizing the remnants of the former inmate camp in
says they’ve never been worn preparation of a new venture: housing veterans and helping them work through PTSD.
and to throw them away would
be a waste; thus the hurried con-
versation of batting and quilters.
“I just don’t want anything
that says inmates. These aren’t
inmates,” Buckwald says. The
conversation illustrates the core
of the Veteran Legacy’s efforts:
still taking shape but with the
intention to shepherd the camp
from its past into the future.
Under the county’s control, up
to 120 inmates could be housed
at the camp in bunkbeds and
communal showers.
“We don’t want to cram them
in so the most we would do is
probably 50,” Oberle says. The
bunkbeds will be disposed of
and custom beds with built in
drawers will take their place.
“The veterans will have their
with calisthenics and then a group may cook, another may clean
own space and we want space for a service animal as well because followed by time in the garden, refl ection, counseling or building
it’s important,” Buckwald said.
maintenance.
The new bunks will also be getting more sunlight with correc-
“Every moment will be for a purpose and sometimes that purpose
tion-grade windows on the schedule to be replaced by bay windows will be recreation or rest or refl ection,” Oberle said.
and lockers will fall aside for individual, personalized spaces divid-
John LeBow is the president of the board of directors for Veterans
ed by cubby walls.
Legacy. When researching different organizations that the group
“It’s important that they have their own space and this be differ- may be able to reach out to for help, he went to Veterans Affairs.
ent from when the inmates were here,” Buckwald said. “When an
“They basically told me, no one is doing this,” he said, noting
inmate would be out in the yard at 2 a.m. someone would say, ‘Hey that there are residential programs and farming programs and coun-
get back in bed.’ But here, sleeping is a problem for veterans with seling but to his knowledge, nothing that puts all of those aspects
PTSD and if someone’s out at 2 a.m. there will be someone there to together.
say, ‘Hey, let’s get some coffee, let’s sit and talk.’”
“We would like for this to be the pride of Lane County,” he said.
“And maybe even a prototype for the rest of the country.”
Completion of the camp is funding dependent, according to
Oberle. Work days, he says, can clean up and repair the majority of
the camp but the group will still need to hire staff to get it up and
running.
Veterans Legacy was awarded a fi ve year lease with an option for
“We’ve seen different numbers but there are anywhere from
fi ve more and the hint of an op- 30,000 to 38,000 veterans in Lane County and most of those are
portunity to purchase the prop- employed. If we could get just a percentage of those to become
erty from the county outright: members, that’s our operating cost,” he said. Memberships in Vet-
but not yet.
erans Legacy cost $60 for an individual and $100 for a family per
“None of us have ever done year with the money going directly to the camp.
anything like this before,” Ober-
“Grant funding comes and goes,” LeBow said. “But if we can get
le said noting that the specifi cs this donation-based where it’s a yearly donation people make, we
of the day-to-day routine are would be in a good place.”
still being settled.
Veterans may begin their day
LEGACY
Please join us for our annual
EASTER SUNDAY
CELEBRATION
Quilters, volunteers, donations
need for veteran project
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
HUMANE SOCIETY
OF COTTAGE GROVE
Th anks our sponsors for
sponsoring our successful
Jamboree that was held in
Creswell on March 25th.
April 16, 2017
Delight Valley Church of Christ
33087 Saginaw Road East, Cottage Grove
541-942-7711
9:00 - 10:30am
9:00 - 10:30am
& After Service
10:30 - Noon-ish
11:00 - Noonish
Noonish
KNND Radio
PRT USA Growing Services
Banner Bank of Cottage Grove
Jonathan Backer, DDS
Marvin Smith Automotive
Free Breakfast
Free Easter pictures
Props available,
pictures received
on the s pot!
Worship Service – in the Gym
Kid’s Program – in the Chapel
Easter Egg Hunt
(after Worship Service lets out)
Easter Egg Hunt (Doesn’t last long, come early)
10,000 Candy or Toy fi lled Eggs!
Body Works Salon
Dirt Cheap Copies
Wall to Wall Carpet Cleaning
Cottage Grove Sentinel
Cascade Home Center
Creswell Chronicle
Tammy McClung, DDS
Cottage Grove Lions Club
Creswell Fastmart
Humane Society of
Cottage Grove Members
Molly Patterson is asking resi-
dents for help. After discovering
several bags worth of old jeans
and jackets that would otherwise
be thrown away, she's found a
new use for them.
"We'll turn them into quilts or
teddy bears and then sell them
and the profi ts will go to the
camp or store the blankets and
they can be used by the people
here," she said.
The jackets were part of a
clean-up that took place in Vene-
ta to ready an old county inmate
camp into a transitional housing
project for veterans. However,
the jackets were stamped with
the word inmate and organizers
want to rid any trace of correc-
tions from the property.
"We need someone to store
the materials and to help break
them down," Patterson said.
The 'inmate' stamp will need
to be removed from the jackets
and both the jackets and jeans
will need to be broken down to
be used for quilting material.
Batting may be donated as
well.
Anyone interested in joining
Veteran's Legacy to donate to
the camp's completion, or would
be interested in storing materi-
al, donating batting, quilting or
transporting the material, con-
tact Mark Oberle at moberle@
veteranslegacyoregon.com.