The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, February 2, 1978 NINE
I
Neighborhood Center lends helping hand
by Elane Blanchet
The Heppner Neighborhood Center, located in
crowded quarters on West Willow St., is a place with
a heart.
For senior citizens, single parents struggling to
make ends meet, unemployed persons needing
temporary assistance or any low income family in
Morrow County, the Center offers a helping hand.
The Center, acting as a liason between all social
service agencies and administering a myriad of
federally funded service projects in the county, is,
indeed, a center.
An overflowing storage area
provides donated clothing,
carefully sorted, washed and
mended by volunteers. Also,
there are shoes, toys, house
hold goods, and a stock of
emergency food on hand for
those who need them.
The Center is also used as a
meeting place for a senior
citizens, craft group, social
security advisors, Legal Aid,
adult education classes, and
Comprehensive Employment
Training Act and Division of
Vocational Rehabilitation
(CETA and DVR).
One large project admini
stered through the Center is
the serving of hot meals to
senior citizens of any income
at three sites in the county
twice a week in Heppner and
once each in lone and Irrigon.
The dinners give the seniors
a chance to enjoy the com
panionship of their peers over
tasty, nutritious meals for a
nominal donation. Eleanor
Gonty, assisted by Nellie
Jones, is the cook supreme in
south Morrow County for
meals prepared in the Center
kitchen and transported back
and forth to the Elks Lodge in
Heppner on Tuesdays and
Wednesdays and to the United
Church of Christ in lone on
Wednesdays; feeding about 75
persons total at both sites.
Meals served in Irrigon
each Monday in the Lions'
Club building are cooked by
Opal Cleaver and assistant
Carol Sweeney; 50-65 seniors
attend each week.
Trays for shut-ins and
transportation to those who
need it is also provided.
Pat Brindle, director of the
Neighborhood Center, said she
received only 20 cents per
meal per person from federal
money to buy food; the rest of
teh meal is paid for by the
donations at the door and the
use of donated and USDA
commodity foods. This year
generous donors gave to the
Center 45-50 deer, some elk
meat and fish, stocking six
freezers, three refrigerators
and three lockers. Locally
grown fruit and vegetables
are also donated, with lack of
Storage space a limiting
factor.
( A popular ongoing program
operating out of the Center
and administered by Commu
Sity Action Project office in
Pendleton, is the weatheriza
ion of homes for low income
persons. A two-man crew,
$teve Duncan and Jere Le,
Doux, has weatherized twen
ty-odd houses in the county so
far with more applications
still being recieved. A handy
man, Mike Stickney, does
minor repairs, garden work
and other jobs required
around the house.
The Tri-County Homemaker
Service, an ECOAC program
directed by Suzanne Jepson,
uses the Center as a communi
cation and referral source,
and provides domestic help
according to need to the
bed-ridded, sick, elderly or
other persons who qualify.
Morrow County now has three
homemakers: Charlotte Gray
in Heppner, with 11 clients;
Fern Marvin, lone, One; and
Carol Sweeney in the Board-man-Irrigon
area, who serves
five clients. Cost for the
service is determined on a
sliding scale.
Pat Wright, Morrow County
health nurse, regularly con
ducts blood pressure clinics
throughout the county for
seniors and others who need to
keep a close check on their
blood pressure, with the
Center being a major referral
source.
Volunteers from the Center
go to Pioneer Memorial Hospi
tal each Wednesday to intro
duce craft projects, play
games and visit with nursing
home residents. Mrs. Brindle
feels there is a real need for
other groups and individuals
to spend time in personl
contact with seniors in the
nursing home.
"People there would like to
see someone besides other
senior citizens once in awhile.
Some patients don't even have
family around here," she
commented.
During the Christmas sea
son, activity at the Neighbor
hood Center reaches a peak. It
accepts donations of clothes,
food, toys and money from
individuals, groups and busi
nesses for the 40 or so
Christmas boxes given an
nually to families who need
them, in cooperation with the
Children Services Division.
The Center coordinates all
volunteer labor involved in
making the boxes and deliver
ing them to all parts of the
county.
This Christmas, the Juve
nile Advisory Council, under
the direction of Carolyn Holt,
repaired toys in the old
Library building, while Ma
xine Gray put in 174 hours
cleaning and dressing 47 dolls.
In emergency situations, the
Center is also a place to turn.
Neighborhood Center
Calendar
Monday
Senior Dinner, Irrigon, Lions Club, 4:30, weekly
3rd Monday, Meal Site Council, Irrigon
4th Monday, Senior Citizens Advisory Council, Columbia
Basin, 1 p.m.
' Tuesday
Senior Dinner, Heppner Elks Lodge, 4:30, weekly
Legal Aid advice (with appointment), at Center, 1-4 p.m.
4th Tuesday, Nutrition Project Council-Triple A, Colum-
j bia Basin, 9 a.m.
! 4th Tuesday, Heppner Site Council, 3 p.m.
3rd Tuesday, Blood Pressure Clinic, Degree of Honor
Bide.. Heppner. 2:30-4:30 p.m.
1 2nd and 4th Tuesday, BP Clinic, Irrigon, County Offices, 1-4
Wednesday
Senior Dinner, Heppner, Elks, 4:30 p.m.; lone, United
I Church of Christ, 5 p.m.
1st Wednesday, BP Clinic, lone United Church of Christ,
I 4-5 p.m.
Pioneer Memorial Hospital volunteers, weekly, 2-3 p.m.
j (help welcome)
i Thursday
Senior Citizen social group, 2-4 p.m., at Center
Adult High School and GED classes, 7-10 p.m., at Center
1 2nd Thursday, Neighborhood Center Advisory Council,
I 7:30 p.m., Christian Life Center
Friday
2nd Friday, Social Security, 10-12 a.m., at Center
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Cook Eleanor Gonty serves up a tasty, hot meal to one of
the many Heppner senior citizens who take advantage of the
low-cost, twice-weekly dinners. Meals are also served to
seniors in lone and Irrigon once a week.
Pat Brindle: "Storage space is nil
Free blood pressure clinics are conducted by Morrow
County Health Nurse Pat Wright at three different locations
in the county, with many referrals coming from the
Neighborhood Center. Check schedule for times and places.
with pancakes a flappin9....
Episcopalians to host
Shrove Tuesday fete
An annual congregational effort by the members of All
Saints Episcopal Church, the Shrove Tuesday Pancake
luncheon and supper, will be presented to the community
Tuesday, Feb. 7.
Lent, the forty day period of fasting and preparation for
Easter begins on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 8, as Easter this year
falls much earlier than usual on March 26, instead of in April.
Traditionally households prepared for the Lenten period
of fasting by eliminating any fats and dairy foods from their
kitchens. The name Shrove Tuesday, comes from the ancient
custom of confessing (being shriven) on that day. It is a time
of rejoicing in many countries and communities. It is the last
day of the carnival season of southern Europe, corresponding
to the Mardi Gras of the French and the Pancake Tuesday of
the English.
The public is invited to rejoice at luncheon from 11 a.m.
to 1:30 p.m. and at supper from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the All
Saints Church Parish Hall on Gale Street. The meals will
consist of pancakes, ham, various fruits and a choice of
beverages.
Adults will pay $2, high schoolers, $1.50 and youngsters
under 12, $.75. There will be a family rate of $5 for the entire
family.
Father Kenneth Miller said any profit realized from this
congregational effort goes to the ECW (Episcopal Church
Women) to use for their various charities. He added there
will not be a traditional pancake race in Heppner this year,
as is customary in England, but that this activity may be
considered as a future possibility.
For example, last week a
family with three children and
no money were stranded in
lone with car trouble. Mrs.
Brindle was contacted and she
got medicine and food, inclu
ding formula for an infant, to
the family to help them
through a difficult time. Last
fall, a young, retarded hitch
hiker, in rags and barefoot,
was brought by the police to
the Center, saying he had been
rolled. He was provided with
clothes, shoes, food and $5
from the emergency fund and
sent on his way.
Many of the 12-15 volunteers
who man the Neighborhood
Center office during weekdays
and do a multitude of other
services, are signed up in the
Retired Senior Volunteer Pro
gram, directed by June Wag
ner of Pendleton. Nine paid
employees, including the
cooks, weatherizers, handy
man, and part-time ofice help,
complete the staff.
In addition to services
outlined above, the Center
provides emergency fuel and
medical aid, makes referrals
to such agencies as Morrow
County Mental Health and
Children Services Division,
and tries to connect all eligible
persons with programs de
signed to help them.
One project Mrs. Brindle
would like to see get started in
Morrow County is an 'adopted
99
grandparent' program which
would match children and
senior citizens in a rewarding
grandchild-grandparent rela
tionship. "We just need someone to be
the organizer," she said.
A chronic problem at the
Center, which moved from its
spacious headquarters in the
Gilliam-Bisbee building to
remodeled rooms on Willow
Street last year, is the lact of
room. "Storage space is nil,"
Mrs. Brindle commented.
Crowded or not, the Hepp
ner Neighborhood Center is a
warm, friendly place that
provides services indispensi
ble to any community with a
heart.
0 Lexington news
Delpha Jones 989-8189
Pine Thornburg and daugh
ter, Linda King, were Lexing
ton callers Friday, visiting
friends and relatives. They
make their home in Pendlet
ton. Tom Bradd of Ontario was a
weekend caller at the William
J. Van Winkle home. Mrs.
Bradd, who has been visiting
her parents, returned home
with him.
Mike Kane is spending a few
days with his wife and visiting
other relatives enroute to
Newfoundland, from Alabama
where he has been employed
the last three weeks. Mr.
Kane's headquarters are in
Hoquiam, Wash.
Roy Campbell is a patient in
Pioneer Memorial Hospital.
Wheeler County extension
agent Ken Killingsworth and
wife were the guest speakers
at Morrow County Pomona
Grange held at Willows Hall
Saturday. He spoke to the
group on the various grasses
used for feed, and the breeds
of sheep and cattle raised in
New Zealand and Australia.
The slides shown were indeed
beautiful as well as educa
tional. He spoke of cross
breeding, to produce a better
string o' easy calving animals
which would decrease deaths
at birth.
Preceding the program,
business was conducted by the
Master Bryce Keene. Out-of-county
visitors were Alice
Jackson, Myra Banks, Ethel
Study, Amy Skiles Nathan and
Margaret Thorpe.
Jojean Stevens was in
stalled as musician, Delpha
Jones, secretary, and Art
White, overseerer. The Mas
ter Bryce Keene spoke to the
group about the activities of
Morrow County Road Com
mittee and told the group
cont. on page 12
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