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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2019)
8A | WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2019 | COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Kahane is also happy with the crowd it regularly draws. “And then it’s good for the Axe & Fiddle,” he said. “So it’s a win-win-win all around. It’s good for Habi- tat, it’s good for the Axe & Fiddle and it’s good for the musicians.” In terms of fundrais- ing, the event sees wide monthly variations in the amounts it pulls in, but there’s no questioning its impact if Kahane’s esti- mates are correct. “We’re somewhere be- tween 10 and 20 thousand dollars — I don’t know what the exact amount is,” he said. “We’ve had nights where we’ve gotten over $1,000, but then we’ve had nights where we’ve been lucky to get 50. I would say we average a little under $200 a typical month.” With some of that do- nation money, Habitat has plans for the Cottage Grove community. Sarah-Kate Sharkey, board president for Habi- tat for Humanity of Cen- tral Lane, performed in this month’s open mic and spoke at the event. “We have four [units] on 11th Street in Cottage Grove that we’re in the be- ginning stages of planning and development there,” Sharkey said. Though the nonprofit no longer has an office in Cot- tage Grove, Sharkey main- tained that Habitat hasn’t forgotten about its rural communities. “We intend to still be physically here in the com- munity frequently,” she said. Habitat for Humanity merged its Cottage Grove and Springfield-Eugene operations to create Habi- tat for Humanity of Central Lane in 2017. Concerns that the nonprofit wouldn’t be able to fulfill the needs of the Cottage Grove com- munity naturally followed. “We take those concerns very seriously and have come together as a board to intentionally maintain a strong presence here in Cottage Grove,” Sharkey said. “We feel that we can still do an excellent job serving the community even without an office here. We plan to be involved vis- iting here frequently, com- ing and being involved in the community groups and the events happening here, and staying in close contact with our volunteers and donors and supporters in gressed, a number of other youth issues were brought to the surface such as treat- ment for LGBTQ+ youth, the overuse of plastic in cafeterias, the difficulty in finding jobs and the strug- gles for youth to find direc- tion and meaning through deeper connections with their community. On academics, students voiced their preference for earlier introduction to health and sex education. On drugs, many panelists and youths agreed that education should be em- phasized over prohibition. On climate change, youths expressed their desire for the city to better combat pollution. Educational moments arose for both audience and panelists by the end of the town hall. Perhaps most useful among them was Baas’ revelation and repeated urging of youth to petition their school board for the changes they’d like to see in their schools. YAC member Fernando Soto-Cruz was impressed with the amount of topics discussed and hoped to touch on more issues in fu- ture town halls. “For the first time doing it, I think it was a really good first trial,” he said. “Once we hit some topics people had a passion for, people started to ask more questions and that led to other questions. I think we could have gone a while longer.” YAC member MJ Raade walked away with a better perspective on which is- sues her group can focus on. “Mental health in our schools, there’s a lot more being done than I thought there was,” she said. “Plas- tics, I didn’t realize we were so passionate about that, but I got that we are.” Youth turnout to the event was an impressive el- ement in its own right, re- vealing an oft-overlooked energy within the commu- nity. “It was surprising the youth that did show up that aren’t part of the advi- sory council,” Raade said. “It was good to see them being involved in that way, and seeing them not just in the school environment but in the community envi- ronment.” Other youth in the au- dience felt the experience had given them a new tool to deal with obstacles. “We now know what to do if an issue comes up,” said fifth-grader Nicole Wilhour, “and we can talk about and share our ideas.” Panelist impressions from the evening were largely a mixture of cele- bration for youth involve- ment and an inclination to reflect on their own contri- butions to the issues raised. “In general, the engage- ment around really every topic like substance abuse, housing, how we can sup- port our fellow students, was all just really impres- sive,” Hampton said. “It was rejuvenating in a way to be in a group of people that are passionate and excited and curious and inquisitive – how inspiring for adults to be in a room filled with that passion.” As the youth town hall came to close, Buch ad- dressed the young people in the audience. “On the county level, we never see anybody under the age of 18 come into a meeting and talk about what’s important to you and I think that’s a huge shame,” she said. “We know that you’re going to be in our positions eventually and making important de- cisions for your own com- munity.” Buch encouraged youth to continue coming to council meetings and town halls to speak about issues pertinent to their genera- tion. “It reiterates in my mind Habitat from A1 with its Eugene-Springfield counterpart. “That’s the primary rea- son why we’re here, is to get donations for Habitat,” Kahane said, “but we want to have a good time while we’re doing it.” While not involved di- rectly with Habitat in any other way, Kahane sees fundraising for the non- profit as a shared benefit for the community. “I like doing this because I think everybody wins,” he said. “It’s good for Habitat because we raise money for them and … we also give them publicity. It’s good for the musicians because, anywhere you go in the world, and Cottage Grove is no exception — you’re going to find people who play music at home. And nobody ever gets to hear them except for their fam- ily and few friends. This is an opportunity for those people — home musicians, and a few professionals show up, too — to put what they do on stage in front a forgiving, friendly audi- ence.” from A1 YAC communication link be- tween city council and youth in the community, organized the event with the intent of gathering in- formation and creating discussion around topics which pertain to youth in Cottage Grove. The collective experi- ence of the panel served to answer questions on the topics of YAC’s agenda including homelessness, mental health and addic- tion. Through a session that lasted nearly two hours, questions came from an engaged audience of young people. Discourse soon broke from agenda topics and, as the evening pro- DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL Standing from left: Performers Jimmy Schäper, Hank De Simas, Jon Lee, Dale Combes, Roger Kahane, Rachel Dyer, Sarah-Kate Sharkey, Nancine McDonald and volunteer Jason Kristiansen (front center) celebrated the 150th “month-aver- sary” of the benefit. Dentistry is our profession, people are our focus. Birch Avenue Dental Dentistry is our profession, people are our focus. Birch Avenue Dental 1325 Birch Ave. 541-942-2471 • General Dentistry • Implants the area.” The four units on 11th Street have yet to start con- struction, though Habitat has received a grant from the Oregon Association of Realtors for planning and has begun survey work at the site. As of yet, there are no estimates on when building might begin. The nonprofit states that it has completed 14 homes in the Cottage Grove area, and a total of 72 houses in the greater Central Lane service area as well as 21 Cottage Grove home re- pairs through the small- scale repair program known as A Brush with Kindness. The repair program will open applications for homeowners later this summer. In the meantime, Kah- ane encourages attendance, as an audience member or performer, to his monthly fundraiser. “If you live in the area and you play music at home, consider this an in- vitation,” he said. Open mic events start at 7 p.m. and Kahane recom- mends musicians to arrive at 6:30 p.m. to sign up. that we need to have some- thing available at the coun- ty level for youth to give in- put, because that effects the way we make policy for our community,” she said. Baas was also enthused with the youth involve- ment and encouraged YAC to articulate more of their thoughts into a plan for action. “There’s a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up and a group like your group is ideally situated to start taking some steps,” he said. Though the school year has come to a close, most current YAC members are likely to return to the group as seniors next year and many expressed in- terest in organizing other town halls. Many panelists, too, saw the utility in hold- ing similar events again. “Asking the questions and knowing who to ask the questions to is so im- portant,” said Hampton. “[It was] absolutely an in- credible opportunity for middle school and high school youth in Cottage Grove.” • Sedation • Financing 1325 Birch Ave. Cottage Grove birchavenuedental.com 541-942-2471 Tammy L. McClung DDS • Park W. 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