Polk County News
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • January 18, 2017 5A
Help the homeless
Community forum to address needs, resources
By Emily Mentzer
How can you help?
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — With one of
the coldest winters on
record and snow still on the
ground, citizens of Dallas
began a community discus-
sion: How can we help those
who are homeless?
Brent DeMoe, director of
Polk County Family and
Community Outreach, and
three other organizations
will host a forum on home-
lessness Thursday from 6:30
to 7:45 p.m. at Valley Life
Center in Dallas.
DeMoe said the point of
the meeting isn’t to sit and
listen to what agencies have
to offer, but to have a conver-
sation with people who want
to help immediately, help in
the near future, and make
plans for down the road.
“This is 100 percent in-
spired by Facebook and so-
cial media and this commu-
nity right here,” he said. “We
cannot solve this issue in
one 90-minute meeting, but
it’s to get things started.”
On Jan. 4 at the Dallas
Service Integration Team
meeting, someone from West
Valley Housing Authority said
the organization could use
some coats, hats and gloves.
County Commissioner
Mike Ainsworth was there
and challenged the group to
collect some — and quickly.
“It really just snowballed
in such a positive way from
there,” said DeMoe.
It started with a post on the
Dallas, Oregon Community
Bulletin Board that morning.
By noon, it had been shared
89 times, DeMoe said.
Donations poured into
the Academy Building Re-
source Center, where West
Valley Housing Authority is a
partner organization.
“Conservatively, we had
500 coats donated, hats,
scarves, gloves, clothing —
new and used — boots,
shoes,” DeMoe said. “We got
six brand new clothing racks
What: Community
Forum: Local Solutions to
Address Homelessness.
When: 6:30 to 7:45 p.m.
on Thursday.
Where: Valley Life Cen-
ter, 1795 SE Miller Ave.,
Dallas.
Of note: Free child care
and refreshments will be
offered.
donated to us. Now we can
display things. We can or-
ganize things.”
The donations were or-
ganized by volunteers and
will be distributed to Central
Resource Center and to Falls
City and Grand Ronde, also.
DeMoe said he shouldn’t
have been surprised about
how effective Facebook is in
getting the word out about
needs of the community —
he uses Facebook regularly,
himself — but he and his
staff at Family and Commu-
nity Outreach had never
thought to post needs on the
social media website.
He and his wife, Lisa,
started going through the
community bulletin to an-
swer any question they
could about what resources
are available to people in
need.
“What I’m finding is there
are people who don’t know
about the resource center,”
DeMoe said. “There are peo-
ple who don’t know about the
health clinic. There are peo-
ple who don’t know even
about parent education.”
A second Facebook page
focused on helping home-
less was created on Jan. 5,
and that’s when DeMoe real-
ized he and his department
and partners could help.
The community member
who started the homeless
page suggested getting a
group together to discuss ways
to help, DeMoe said.
“I’m thinking, why is it her
that has to suggest that? Why
aren’t we getting a group of
people together? And why
don’t we include all of these
people?” he said.
The Community Action
Agency, Salvation Army, and
the only shelter program in
Polk County, Interfaith Hos-
pitality Network, will join
DeMoe at the forum on
homelessness.
“I hope to say, if you’re in-
terested in warming shelters,
Pastor Heather Wright’s sit-
ting right there; go to that
table,” he said. “If you’re a
church and you want to do
this, get over there and do
that. If you’re here from a
school and want to do a coat
drive, start tomorrow. Get
coats of all sizes and we will
get those coats to everybody
who needs them through
these partners.”
In Polk County, West
Salem is No. 1 for homeless-
ness, followed by Falls City
and Independence, but
that’s not to say Dallas and
Mo n m o u t h d o n’t h a v e
homeless people, DeMoe
said. The forum is meant to
be countywide, not just for
people in Dallas.
Free child care and re-
freshments will be available
at the forum, donated by
Mid-Valley Parenting and
Country Financial.
RSVP is not required, but
would be appreciated to Alin-
na Ghavami via email at
Ghavami.alinna@co.polk.or.us.
POLK COMMUNITY CONNECT for the/ Itemizer-Observer
Free rides to the Polk Community Connect event at Valley Life Center on Jan. 25 in
Dallas are available at the above locations and times.
Community Connect on Jan. 25
dental care, basic health screen-
ings, pet care, bike repair, hair-
cuts, clothing, backpacks, and
camping items — all at no cost
to those who need them most.
The clothing, backpacks
and camping items are first
come, first served.
Other resources will be
available from a variety of
providers including children
and youth services; education
information; job assistance;
housing programs; veterans
services; benefits information;
behavioral health; and com-
Itemizer-Observer staff report
DALLAS — On Jan. 25, Val-
ley Life Center, 1795 SE Miller
Ave., in Dallas, will be busy
with volunteers feeding,
clothing, and otherwise help-
ing those Polk County resi-
dents who are homeless, or at
risk of homelessness.
It’s the Polk Community
Connect, which runs from 9:30
a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Transportation is provided
to and from the event for
those who cannot make it.
Services available include
munity mail service.
Free meals will be provided
to those who need it.
The day also serves as the an-
nual point in time homeless
count, where volunteers in cities
and counties all over the nation
take a physical count of all they
can find who are homeless.
To serve as a provider for
the event, contact Alinna
Ghavami, Service Integration,
503-623-9664 ext. 2457. To
volunteer: polkconnectvolun-
teer@gmail.com, or call 971-
599-3845.
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Itemizer-Observer
147 SE Court St, Dallas • 503-623-2373 • www.polkio.com
GRAND
OPENING!
Dallas Retirement Village celebrates the grand
opening of Lodge Residences and Clubhouse
To mark its 70th anniversary and celebrate the much-anticipated
grand opening of the Lodge Residences and Clubhouse, Dallas
Retirement Village is having a special event for the public on
Wednesday, January 25 at 11:00 am
The fun begins with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at
11:30 am. Afterward, guests are invited to tour the
new Lodge Residences and Clubhouse — with
wine tasting and coffee sampling in the Clubhouse
lounge, movie and snacks in the theatre and a
performance by our resident drum collaboration.
Appetizers and refreshments will be served.
For more details, call 503-623-9211
503-623-9211
225 NW Jasper St, Dallas, OR 97338
www.dallasretirementvillage.com
Dallas Retirement Village is a faith-based, non-profit organization open to all.