A8
BUSINESS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
GREAT ideas for the local economy
By Richard Hanners
Blue Mountain Eagle
The
Grant
County
Resource
Enhancement
Action Team remains active
in the community after a
quarter-century
support-
ing local businesses and
entrepreneurs.
Incorporated in 1992 as
the Upper John Day Com-
munity Development Corpo-
ration, the nonprofit organi-
zation later changed its name
to GREAT.
The organization started
out handling capacity-build-
ing grants that were used to
fund an economic develop-
ment coordinator, Treasurer
Eagle file photos
King Williams said. The
county took over that posi- GREAT serves as the fiscal agent for the Saturday farmers market in John Day.
tion in 2012.
GREAT’s
19-member members to vote by email,
The impact of one new profits, such as the John Day
board includes represen- Williams said.
job here is like 250 in west- Farmers Market and the John
tatives from Grant Coun-
The organization’s vision ern Oregon’s urban areas, Day Community Garden.
ty’s nine cities, the cham- is to be a catalyst to build- Williams said, noting that The group provided $1,000
ber of commerce, county ing a strong diversified local former Grant County Eco- to the garden in 2010 to final-
court, state and federal agen- economy, and its mission nomic Development Coor- ize city water service. It also
cies and professionals from is to increase and enhance dinator Sally Bartlett’s mis- arranged for $4,900 in fund-
agriculture, timber and edu- the economic stability of sion was adding “one job at ing for the David Romprey
cation. Getting a quorum at Grant County by attract- a time.”
Oregon Warmline telephone
meetings sometimes can be ing, retaining and expanding
GREAT often serves as counseling service.
difficult, so the bylaws allow businesses.
The organization also
a fiscal agent for small non-
O utlook
acted as the fiscal agent for
$50,000 in funding for con-
struction of the Prospector
Trail along Canyon Creek
through sale of a house
donated by Wells Fargo in
2010. The goal was to pro-
vide a safe route for school-
children, Williams said.
GREAT also has served
as a fiscal agent for startups,
such as the Blue Mountains
Forest Partners. In 2009,
GREAT asked Congress
to appropriate $7.7 million
for restoration and hazard
fuels reduction projects on
400,000 acres of the Malheur
National Forest and another
$2 million for the heritage,
botanical and road access
studies or surveys needed
for the stewardship projects.
Blue Mountains Forest Part-
ners is now a registered non-
profit and no longer needs a
fiscal agent, Williams said.
Progress is sometimes
slow. In 2001, GREAT was
awarded $133,500 by the
Forest Service to purchase
mill equipment to prove val-
ue-added use and market
viability of small-diameter
wood products.
The doweling machine,
however, lay dormant due
to a shortage of needed For-
est Service timber sales,
Williams said. Iron Trian-
gle acquired the machine in
2017, and it was put to work
in Seneca making fence posts
as it was originally intended,
he said.
GREAT also finds fund-
ing for economic studies.
In 2001, it received $28,155
from the Forest Service
to develop a final market-
ing plan aimed at increas-
ing winter tourism in Grant
County. GREAT hired Green
& Christofferson Market-
ing of Enterprise to write the
report.
In
2010,
GREAT
expanded its micro-loan pro-
gram to assist local busi-
ness startups from $2,500
to $5,000. Beneficiaries of
the program over the years
include a woman who started
a medical transcription busi-
ness and David Irwin, the
owner of Environmental
Measurement in Mt. Ver-
non, which manufactured the
ThermaFan woodstove fan
kit.
SENI R
PRAIRIE CITY –
Welcome to spring in
Grant County! One
week two feet of snow
and the next week all
the creeks are over their
Rose Coombs
banks. After that we
have 75 degree days to
get everyone excited
about yard work only to have it rain the next day; typical Grant County
weather. For you newcomers, we have two adages: always take a jacket
and if you don’t like the weather wait a minute… The spring flowers
are all a-bloomin’ and the bees are a-buzzin’. Nephew Ivan gave us a
bouquet of beautiful and fragrant daffodils from his yard, thanks so
much; their sweet scent filled the house.
Jay Colson led the flag salute and Tom Roark asked the blessing. Carlos
and Jay made the home deliveries and Bonnie Lake was the winner of
the gift certificate donated by Chuck’s Little Diner.
The ham for our Easter meal today was donated by Huffman’s Market
as part of our entrée program. Thank you, Blaine and staff, it was
delicious! Along with the ham, we had scalloped potatoes, carrots,
deviled eggs, Jell-O with cherries, a roll and muddy buddies for dessert.
Now, I had never heard of muddy buddies, but lots of others had. Must
be a new item from the recent past… like 25 years ago, ahem.
Before we sat down to eat, we had an Easter egg hunt. Tom had hidden
little plastic eggs all over the dining room and library. He said, “Why
should the kids have all the fun?” You should have seen them rushing
about as all and sundry jumped up and started grabbing eggs. Tom had
put little candies inside of them, so you got rewarded for finding them.
Lots of fun.
Bob Meador has returned from his winter in the south and a newcomer
to our area is Dennis Scott who has joined us for the last couple weeks,
welcome to you both.
We were blessed to have son number one and family join us for Easter
weekend. They took a scenic route through Maupin and Antelope and
encountered a big thunderstorm in that area. There certainly is a
difference between a gentle shower and a ‘gully-washer’. Kind of took
the fun out of the trip, but it is one that they will remember.
Got a new book at a thrift shop entitled “The Long Road to
Lonesomeville.” It’s about old towns in Eastern Oregon that boomed
back in the late 1800s and up to the mid 1900s but slowly lost
population due to ‘modernity.’ But those places are attracting new
residents precisely because of that. Kind of like Prairie City; new people
come in because they like the slower pace of life and the friendliness of
the people. Even my father’s hometown was mentioned – Drewsey. The
old general store that was there reminds me of how Amazon works
today: you could get anything you wanted there. We came back through
there after our honeymoon in Northern California 58 years ago and the
owner/manager, Sam Burt, who had known me since I was born, gave
us a handmade wooden paddle for future use on children, quite a
wedding gift!
Prov. 22:6 “Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he
will not turn from it.”
JOHN DAY – What a
glorious Easter Sunday He
truly blessed us with. The
sun was shining, birds were
chirping and only a slight
breeze was present! It’s
Dusty Harris
hard to believe that we are
already at the end of
April… time flies when you’re having fun I guess!
On April 15 our greeter was Ron Dowse and there were 39 regular and 40
frozen meals delivered by the lovely team at Step Forward. This time, our
meal was served by the wonderful volunteers from First Christian Church;
we thank all of you!
Yao was our winner of the gift card donated by Len’s Drug and yours
truly won the two free meals!
Speaking of meals, our meal was breakfast, which consisted of biscuits
with sausage gravy, hash browns, link sausages and fruit salad for dessert.
On April 18 our greeters were Gregg, Bonnie and Jeanette and we had 49
total meals delivered by Linda and Dennis Dickerson, and Joel and Joan
Tayles. The meal was served by our great volunteers from the Methodist
Church with M.D. Enterprizes donating the meal; thank you for all your
compassion toward us! We had an Easter hat contest, which was very
fun, and Marllie Mediger won the large rabbit; she had cute little lights
on her hat and it was oh-so-cute!
We also had some little stuffed rabbits to give away as door prizes and
they were won by Billie Bullard, Jean Willey, Bob Meader, Jay Colson,
Tom Roark, Barbara Pollack, Ron Dowse, and Kim Ausland who gave
hers to Louise. Congratulations to all our lucky winners!
For Easter dinner we had glazed ham, creamy potatoes with peas, maple
carrots, relish trays, French bread and honey nut crispies for dessert. As
always, our lovely cooks, Shay and Barbara, outdid themselves and we
are so thankful for them!
On Wednesday, May 15, from noon to 4 p.m., there is a Living with
Alzheimer’s seminar for caregivers at DHS in John Day.
We are so blessed to live in this community and have such wonderful
folks attending our senior meals each week.
Daniel 2:20 “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom
belong wisdom and might.”
Prairie City
Seniors
John Day
Seniors
MONUMENT – We had a
special Easter meal that
was served, compliments
of Larry Vogt and Pam
Callahan. Our cooks were
Terry Cade and Teawna
Soo Yukawa
Jewell. The meal served
was baked ham, scalloped
potatoes, carrots, dinner
rolls and Easter cake. Sounded delish right, well, so did 60 other guests on
the books. Then there were fourteen takeout’s. The cooks were very busy;
we thank them for their hard work.
I’m not sure I have all my details right; I was not present at the Easter
dinner. I was home sick and in misery. Ha. Seriously, I was not well at all
and thank the Lord I finally got over it. I don’t know if I had the flu, or
stomach virus, or what, but I did not step a toenail out the door for five
days. So, bear with me while I try and write from the written notes of my
kind husband who tried to write everything for me.
The North Fork Café has new hours starting April 17-May 21. They will be
open from Wednesday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday 11
a.m. to 4 p.m. They are closed Mondays and Tuesdays. They also have a
new menu with new items like the “take & bake” pizza.
There will be a memorial service for Janet Engle Hardin on Saturday, April
27 at noon with a potluck to follow at the Monument Senior Center.
There will also be a celebration of life for Joanie Howell on the same day,
Monument
Seniors
Saturday, April 27 at 1 p.m. It will be held at the Monument City Park
with a potluck to follow.
On May 4, the Monument SKILS USA, high school organization will be
having a trap shoot to help raise funds for their trip to Nationals in
Louisville, Kentucky. They will be having a taco feed, dessert auction,
silent auction, and have a raffle for a beautiful knife. Please come and
show your support.
Again, on the same day, you can make your rounds and not have to
cook all day; there will be the EMT Cinco De Mayo Fiesta dinner.
There are two seating times, 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. The menu will be
selected by Sylvia Cockrell. There is also a raffle for a Traeger Smoker
and there will be a dessert auction and silent auction. If you would like
to make a donation, please contact Rose Howe.
Lastly, the Third Annual Senior Center Rummage Sale is set for June
14, 15, and 16. A huge amount of items will be there and I’m sure you
will find something you never knew you needed. Ha.
Well, we got baby goats! My sweet Bonnie had twin boys! Sherry Allen
of the Monument RV Park helped me name them. They are Chip and
Dale, cute huh? Dolly had her twin girls two days later. My kiddos
wanted to name them; they are Chevre and Frita. Both sets have one
with ears and one with no ears. They are adorable and I’ve already
banded the boys; they are over a week old now.
Psalm 28:7 “The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted
in Him, and I am helped: Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; And
with my song will I praise Him.”
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