COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
|
AUGUST 20, 2020 |
5A
Honoring a local
veteran with a
‘Quilt of Valor’
At age 100, Cottage Grove resident
Robert Grimes, a veteran of World War II,
received a quilt from the nonprofit
group Quilts of Valor on Tuesday. The
ceremony took place as Grimes’ home.
“[He] was very touched by being hon-
ored with the award of a Quilt of Valor
made for him,” said Quilts of Valor State
Coordinator Bobbie Sanford. The
group’s mission is to offer comfort and
healing to service members and veter-
ans touched by war with its high-quality
quilts.
COURTESY PHOTOS
South Valley Resource Alliance moves to new location in Cottage Grove
South Valley Resource
Alliance (SVRA) an-
nounces that the Fri-
day Food Share, serving
South Lane county res-
idents who experience
hunger or food insecuri-
ty, will begin distributing
food from its new loca-
tion in Cottage Grove to-
day, Aug. 21.
The group will join
other community-mind-
ed organizations operat-
ing from the Rural Orga-
nizing Project building at
632 Main Street.
The ongoing Covid-19
pandemic forced SVRA
from its location at the
Community Center and
since April the group has
from A1
be on Main Street.”
Neigh herself was mo-
tivated to move to Cot-
tage Grove when she first
passed the intersection
and caught sight of down-
town.
“Driving by right here is
what sold me on moving
to this town,” she said. “So
that was my reasoning for
wanting to be here.”
The new location in-
cludes a large space for
parking in the back, which
Neigh hopes will encour-
age visitors to take a stroll
through the area.
Along with the move,
Neigh is interested in up-
grading the technological
Move
working on finding a new
location for some time,
said Neigh, and she was an
advocate for moving the
chamber to the bustling
corner as she felt it was the
best return on investment
— especially in terms of
tourism.
“I thought the chamber
needed to be more visu-
al so that we could really
represent the businesses
in a place that would have
more eyes on us,” she said.
“And I always though the
tourism portion of the
chamber should definitely
served the community
from an outdoor loca-
tion at the Health Hub on
Main and 11th streets.
The next Friday Food
Share is scheduled for to-
day, Aug. 21, at the new
location on Main and
Seventh streets.
SVRA and its dedi-
cated core of volunteers
sorts and packages about
4,000 pounds of food
received from Food for
Lane County every other
Friday, feeding about 180
people during each Fri-
day Food Share.
Individuals and fami-
lies with incomes up to
300 percent of the pov-
erty level are welcome to
take advantage of the free
program.
Prior to March of
this year, Food for Lane
County estimated that
nearly 42 percent of Lane
County households suf-
fered from some sort of
food insecurity.
That number has
grown dramatically since
the outbreak of the pan-
demic along with busi-
ness closures and mass
layoffs.
SVRA relies on the
generous support of our
community to provide
the Friday Food Share.
Contact us at svra4cg@
gmail.com to volunteer
or donate.
6-day
weather forecast
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
78° | 55°
84° | 51°
Partly Cloudy
Partly Cloudy
SUNDAY
MONDAY
85° | 53°
87° | 53°
Sunny
Sunny
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
85° | 53°
Sunny
87° | 53°
DAMIEN SHERWOOD/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL
The new Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce office is located at the entry into the city’s historic down-
town district, with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony scheduled for early September.
side of chamber, including
the website.
“With the website up-
grade, it’s going to include
a lot more advertising
possibilities for our mem-
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bers,” she said. “It’s just go-
ing to be an easier way for
them to advertise.”
Already, she said, peo-
ple are frequently using
the visitor center and
picking up pamphlets for
businesses and activities
around town. It’s a trend
Neigh would like to help
along.
“We’re lucky enough
to live in an area where
there’s so much to do and
remain socially distanced,”
she said.
Using funds from last
year’s Concerts in the Park,
Neigh intends to create
videos based off tourism
pamphlets. Five are cur-
rently scheduled, which
should come out within
the next few months.
“So instead of people
coming in to get a pam-
phlet, people can access
it from their phones and
do the tours,” explained
Neigh.
The chamber is also
looking into establishing
youth mentoring pro-
grams in partnership with
local businesses.
“It would be interesting
to work with the kids and
businesses and show them
what it’s like to work in a
trade,” said Neigh, adding
that she is interested in
breaking stigma and help-
ing youth who may prefer
learning a skill to receiv-
ing a college education.
“They can earn a good
living and it’s not some-
thing to be ashamed of,”
she said.
The idea, however, is
dependent on the future
state of public health re-
strictions due to the coro-
navirus pandemic.
The chamber is open
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday,
though public health re-
strictions for volunteers
has slowed the process
of moving in and a rib-
bon-cutting ceremony is
tentatively planned for the
beginning of September.