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.
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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.”
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