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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 2015)
A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015 LOCAL NEWS Area food banks prepare for holiday rush By JADE McDOWELL Staff Writer Things are about to get very busy at food banks across the country. 7KHÀXUU\RIDFWLYLW\ZLOO come as no surprise to sea- soned employees and volun- teers. It happens every year as the holidays roll around and suddenly it seems like every school, church and business is sponsoring a food drive. “Around the holidays I’d say we get about 80 percent more donations,” CAPECO Food Programs Manager Di- ana Quezada said. Quezada was preparing for the boost in donations with a growing checklist pinned WR WKH ZDOO RI KHU RI¿FH DW the CAPECO warehouse in Pendleton. Some food pantries like the Agape House in Hermis- ton stockpile nonperishable food to get them through the lean donation times in Janu- ary and February, but Queza- da said CAPECO tries to move everything that comes into its warehouse within a month. As a member of the Oregon Food Bank network, CAPECO can count on ship- ments from the state food bank during months that see fewer local donations. “Just because we don’t have food drives doesn’t mean people don’t get food,” she said. CAPECO distributes about 1.2 million pounds of food each year, some directly to families in need and some through allocations to emer- gency food assistance pro- grams like the one run by the Agape House. The Agape House serves about 900 families a month in the Hermiston area. Stan- ¿HOG¶V IRRG EDVNHW SURJUDP serves about 120 to 150. Bev Sherman, one of the volunteers who runs Stan- ¿HOG¶V IRRG EDQN VDLG WKH\ get some donations direct- ly from the community and some from CAPECO. The STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS &$3(&2GLVWULEXWHVQHDUO\PLOOLRQSRXQGVRIIRRGORFDOO\ HYHU\\HDU STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS :DUHKRXVHDVVLVWDQW7RP/LWWOHSXWVWRJHWKHUDIRRGRUGHUIRUWKH6WDQÀHOGIRRGEDQNDWWKH CAPECO warehouse in Pendleton. extra donations around the holidays allow the food bank to be open every Monday (except the one after Thanks- giving), instead of twice a month, during November and December. Sherman said volunteers try to offer items that can be cooked together into a nutri- tional meal. “We print up a menu of what we’re offering for that day,” she said. “We don’t have a big enough area to let (clients) get it themselves but we let them pick off the menu and we go get it for them.” Letting clients pick out their own food instead of handing them a pre-packaged box is something Quezada said CAPECO and the Ore- gon Food Bank encourage. It gives clients a sense of own- ership and normalcy, she said, and cuts down on waste. The type of food that comes into the CAPECO warehouse varies, Quezada said. Last Wednesday, for ex- ample, volunteers from the job training program Trend- sitions, Inc. were sorting and bagging a one-time donation of 8,000 pounds of pinto beans. Quezada said the 1.2 mil- lion pounds of food distrib- uted by CAPECO each year doesn’t count what CAPECO is able to give to the Oregon Food Bank on months that a local food processor or pro- ducer comes through with a large donation. “We’re their local contact, so they’ll call us and say ‘Do you want this?’ and then if there is more than we can use we’ll send it on to the Oregon Food Bank,” Quezada said. Girl Scout troop leader Michelle Kane said the Girl Scouts always contact area food banks about a good drop-off day before doing their annual regional food drive. “We try to have someone near each food bank coordi- nate collection in their area,” she said. The girls collect food in the spring, knowing dona- tions drop off after the winter, and divide up their cities into sections so that no one gets asked for food by more than OSP seeks stolen vehicle after two high-speed pursuits The Oregon State Police are asking for help locating a stolen vehicle after troop- ers from Hermiston were involved in two unrelated high-speed pursuits in 24 hours. 7KH ¿UVW LQFLGHQW KDS- pened on Nov. 3 at about 8:30 p.m., when a troop- er attempted to pull over a 1993 Chevrolet Camaro for a lighting violation on Highway 730 east of Uma- tilla. According to a news re- lease, the driver of the Ca- maro led the trooper on a chase east on Highway 37, also known as the Pend- leton Cold Springs High- way, and Highway 334 before going off the road and “down a steep embank- PHQW´LQWRDZKHDW¿HOGDW the intersection of Highway 334 and 335 south of Helix. “The Camaro continued WKURXJKWKHZKHDW¿HOGDQG out of sight of pursuing troopers,” according to the OSP statement. 7KH 6WDQ¿HOG 3ROLFH Department and Umatil- OD &RXQW\ 6KHULII¶V 2I¿FH KHOSHG ¿QG WKH &DPDUR which was abandoned a short distance away. Early the next morning on nearby Reeder Road a 1982 GMC pickup truck was reported stolen. Po- lice believe the two inci- dents are connected and are asking for help locating the GMC, which is white, has no tailgate and has an Oregon license plate of BRS869. The second high- speed pursuit occurred on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at about 4:30 p.m. after troop- ers from the Hermiston of- ¿FH UHVSRQGHG WR D UHSRUW of a 2008 Dodge Avenger, possibly involved in an ear- lier domestic disturbance, parked in the emergency vehicle turnaround at mile- post 174 on Interstate 84 east of Boardman. An OSP trooper made contact with the lone occu- pant of the vehicle who, ac- cording to the news release, “became belligerent and ÀHG WKH DUHD DW D KLJK UDWH of speed.” The trooper pursued the vehicle eastbound on In- terstate 84 at speeds up to 100 miles per hour until the suspect slammed on his brakes. “The trooper managed to slow considerably and make an evasive maneu- ver, but the vehicles still collided,” according to the statement, and the Dodge Avenger came to rest in the median, where Clint D. Cu- reton, 22, of Grande Ronde, Oregon, was arrested with- out further incident. No one was injured in the collision. Cureton was lodged in the Umatilla County Jail on PHOTO COURTESY OREGON STATE POLICE A 2008 Dodge Avenger and an Oregon State Police patrol car sit in the median along Interstate 84 after colliding during a high-speed pursuit of the Avenger. charges of reckless driving and felony attempt to elude in a vehicle, exceeding the speed limit 100+ and driv- ing uninsured, with further charges pending. Morrow County Sher- LII¶V 2I¿FH DVVLVWHG LQ WKH pursuit. one troop. They end the day by bringing in their collected donations to the Agape House or another food bank for a weigh-in. “The girls really get into this,” Kane said. “They feel like they’re competing against themselves in the year before.” The CAPECO warehouse gives a glimpse of where the food that goes through the or- ganization ends up. One portion is dedicated to a USDA program where in- come-qualifying tribal mem- bers and people who live on reservations can come pick out a month’s worth of food. STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Food Program Coordinator Tori Bowman prepares a shipment RIIRRGIRUWKHWULEDOFRPPRGLWLHVSURJUDPDWWKH&$3(&2 warehouse. Another is dedicated to putting together boxes for senior citizens, who can pick up a few days’ worth of food to supplement what they get through their local food bank. A large walk-in freezer holds meat and other “rescue food” donated by Safeway and Wal-Mart when it is still good but past the corpora- tion’s sell-by policy. What CAPECO could use now, Quezada said, is more volunteers to come and help sort and package the holiday rush of food. 20th Annual Christmas Open House November 12th • 6pm-8pm • Heal thy Treats & Recipes • Enter To Win a $50 Gift Card • Free Gift To First 50 Customers! • Free do TERRA Samples (while supplies last) • 35-50% off All Christmas • 25% off E-Cloth • 30% off Books, Bibles, DVDs & CDs • 25% off Simply Noelle Clothing & Accessories • Spend $50 at the Open House & Purchase a Noelle wallet for $10 (while supplies last) NOVEMBER 8 TH -13 TH SPECIALS 20% OFF Gifts, Home Decor, Simply Noelle, E-cloth, Books, Bibles, D VD s, C D s & All Christmas 541-567-0272 2150 N. First St., Hermiston
