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A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2020
Aid:
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“We want to help our fel-
low Oregonians who have
lost nearly everything,”
Cathy Stolz, president of the
Auxiliary Unit 37, said in a
news release.
However, Stolz said on
Tuesday, Sept. 22, that they
had stopped collecting items
after the Estacada post called
and said they did not have
room to store any more dona-
tions for now.
Fire crews beginning to
contain blazes
Statewide, more than a
dozen fires have burned more
than a million acres, and at
least 23 people have died.
The fires in and around
Clackamas County are 25%
contained and have burned
more than 130,000 acres as
of Monday, Sept. 21.
The Beachie Creek Fire in
Marion County has burned
more than 192,000 acres and
was 38% contained as of
Sept. 21.
The South Obenchain
Fire in Jackson County has
burned more than 32,000
acres and was 65% contained
as of Sept. 21.
The Almeda Drive Fire,
which was 3,200 acres, is
100% contained, but when
it tore through the Rogue
Valley, it destroyed 2,357
homes in a span of 24 hours.
Also lost were more than 50
businesses.
Most of the homes lost
were in Phoenix and Tal-
ent, two small towns
between Ashland and Med-
ford. Although law enforce-
ment agencies and the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation
have released statements say-
ing most of the state’s fires
have causes, such as downed
power lines instead of arson
as rumored, a man was
arrested Sept. 11 for arson
and other charges, including
possession of methamphet-
amine, in connection with the
Almeda Fire.
More ways to help
For those looking for
more ways to help fire vic-
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
A horse trailer sits partially loaded with goods for fire victims in the parking lot of the Pendleton Walmart on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. A group of Umatilla County
volunteers including David Dunn, Caryn Dunn, Hailey Shepherd and Weston Simonton gathered donations from community members to take to Clackamas County.
STATEWIDE, MORE THAN A DOZEN FIRES
HAVE BURNED MORE THAN A MILLION ACRES,
AND AT LEAST 23 PEOPLE HAVE DIED.
tims, a list of reputable orga-
nizations that are collecting
monetary donations, ways to
donate your time and loca-
tions where supplies can be
dropped off, can be found at
traveloregon.com under the
Help Wildfire Victims link.
Organizations
listed
include the chapters of
United Way, Salvation Army
and other relief organizations
serving the areas affected,
plus statewide organizations
such as the Oregon Com-
munity Foundation, Oregon
Food Bank and the Wildland
Firefighter Foundation.
The American Red Cross
has launched the Northwest
Response Fund in support
of those affected by wild-
fires in Oregon and Wash-
ington. Donating is as easy
as texting the word “relief” to
503-226-5088.
ACCESS, a Medford non-
profit that provides food and
other services to residents in
need, has been taking dona-
tions to help feed people dis-
placed by the fires. Every dol-
lar donated feeds four people.
There is a donation link
(under Ways to Help) on their
website at accesshelps.org.
There are several agen-
cies helping pets in Southern
Oregon.
One of them is Southern
Oregon Veterinary Specialty
Center, which has set up a
GoFundMe to help with food
and medical costs for dis-
placed and injured pets. The
fund had more than $81,000
on Sept. 21, but the volume
of animals that need help is
vast.
Committed Alliance to
Strays (C.A.T.S.) in Medford
has taken in several cats wait-
ing for their families to find
them. The group also is offer-
ing free cat food and litter for
those in need. If you would
like to make a donation to
C.A.T.S., it has a donation
link on its website at kitten-
sandcats.org.
The Oregon Cattlemen’s
Association is also collect-
ing donations to assist farm-
ers, ranchers and livestock
evacuated during the fires
through Paypal or by email-
ing robyn.smith@orcattle.
com to donate supplies.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan, File
A fenced lot between the Agape House and the Theater Sports
Park was the proposed site of the Stepping Stones project
before the Hermiston City Council approved an ordinance
that bans shelters within 1,000 feet of a park or school.
Stepping Stones:
Continued from Page A1
and security cameras would
monitor the site. Once the
shelter was up and running,
Stepping Stones planned
to implement a require-
ment that guests must earn
credits to extend their stay
through work, volunteering,
education or other things
that could help them escape
homelessness.
Stepping Stones had
hoped to place the camp on
a piece of property behind
the Agape House, allowing
guests to access showers,
emergency food boxes and
other assistance there. But
some neighboring property
owners and area residents
testified they were worried
that the project would result
in additional loitering, litter-
ing, theft and other crime in
the area, including nearby
Theater Sports Park.
“The warming station
existed for two years at the
Arc building in the middle
of a park, in between two
schools, and that wasn’t a
problem then,” Lloyd said.
She also noted that prop-
erty owners had stated that
things like littering were
already a problem there with-
out the shelter, and the shel-
ter’s board had planned to
do regular clean-ups around
there. She said they had
hoped, since a shelter would
be a conditional use that the
planning commission would
need to approve a permit for
each year, that people would
at least give it a chance to
operate for a year.
“Let’s see if there is a
problem,” she said.
The planning commis-
sion proposed a blanket ban
on shelters near parks and
schools, however, and the
city council passed the ordi-
nance as recommended by
the commission.
“We’re still in it for the
long run, but frankly, we feel
that with the step the city
took with the ordinance, and
the way it was worded, they
are showing they are not
interested in working on the
project,” she said.
Stepping Stones had
already done outreach for
the proposed project and
Lloyd said some of the orga-
nizations in the area that
serve low-income residents
had expressed an interest
in a partnership. She said
since the city council’s deci-
sion they have heard from a
“pretty sizable list” of peo-
ple who have said they were
still interested in supporting
the project if it found a home
outside city limits. She said
the Stepping Stones board
was still fully committed to
finding a way to make the
project work.
“I asked (the board)
frankly, ‘Are you guys done?
What do you want to do?’ I
thought there would be more
discussion, but everyone was
like, ‘Absolutely, let’s move
ahead,’” Lloyd said.
She said since the mem-
bers of the board all live on
the west end of Umatilla
County, that’s where they
would prefer to locate the
project.
Photo contributed by the Walla Walla Alliance for the Homeless
A proposed emergency shelter known as Stepping Stones, would be modeled after the sleep center created by Walla Walla
Alliance for the Homeless, pictured here.
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