July 24, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 7A
Food pantry to host ribbon-cutting ceremony
Public invited to celebrate
successful fundraising
campaign, new pantry site
By Katherine Lacaze
Seaside Signal
The South County Com-
munity Food Bank has invit-
ed the public to celebrate its
successful community driv-
en campaign during an ice-
cream social and ribbon-cut-
ting ceremony July 25, 1 to 3
p.m. at the food pantry’s new
facility on North Roosevelt
Drive.
The site opened in January
after volunteers moved equip-
ment and food from the pan-
try’s temporary location, at
the former Coastal Research
& Maintenance building, to
the new location, north of the
Seaside School District’s bus
barn.
The new building is not
“new” in a technical sense —
it was constructed from two
portable classrooms formerly
used by the Cannon Beach
Elementary School. But the
pantry recently acquired the
structures, a donation from
the school district. They were
recycled and renovated to be-
come the pantry’s home for
the foreseeable future.
“Everything is intention-
al, sustainable and is there to
plant the seeds for passion
and creativity and engage-
ment,” said Mary Blake, a
member of the pantry’s board
of directors.
ceived several donations and
grants.
The food pantry exceed-
ed its goal, raising about
$210,000, in addition to the
initial $65,000 and in-kind
donations. The board was
on budget for the roughly
$350,000 project, which in-
cluded buying the land, retro-
¿WWLQJ WKH SRUWDEOH EXLOGLQJV
and buying some new equip-
ment, Blake said.
From the local schools and
A community
service groups, to individuals
and businesses, “there really
without hunger
hasn’t been a group or any-
A few years ago, the board
body that hasn’t been touched
by our food pantry,” Blake
of directors knew they would
said.
need to build a permanent
The pantry closed its tem-
home for the food pantry.
porary site, which the orga-
$W ¿UVW WKH\ FRQVLGHUHG JR-
nization rented for several
ing after an available federal
KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL months from Bank of the Pa-
block grant of $1.5 million.
FL¿FDWWKHHQGRI'HFHPEHU
The application process Managing Director Karla Gann spent Tuesday morning stocking shelves at the South County
The new location, at 2041
was cumbersome, Blake said, Community Food Bank, a food pantry located at 2041 N. Roosevelt Dr. in Seaside. The food
N. Roosevelt Drive, Blake
and although the organization pantry is holding a ribbon-cutting and ice cream social from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25.
said, is “right up front, right
had applied for and obtained
grants in the past, the board opted instead to “roll up our launched its operational and gion Post 99 and the Seaside on Highway 101, because the
had to decide if a $1.5-mil- sleeves and do a grassroots capital fundraising campaign, Rotary Club, held fundraisers food pantry is part of the fab-
OLRQ EXLOGLQJ ZRXOG ¿W WKH effort. And that’s what we themed “Imagine a Commu- EHQH¿WLQJ WKH IRRG SDQWU\ ric of our community. A lot
community. They decided did.”
nity Without Hunger.”
Businesses and individuals of our people rely, as part of
it would be “maybe a little
In June 2014, with about
Community organizations, donated about $100,000 in their day-to-day living, on our
over the top,” Blake said, and $65,000 in hand, the board including the American Le- services. The organization re- food pantry.”
Local woman makes national news for her work with foster youth
Bodner from Page 1A
Bodner was 26 at the time,
and she coached youth sports
as a volunteer. She enjoyed
being around young people,
so when the boys came to the
Bodners’ house looking for
their mother or her boyfriend
and had nowhere to go, Bod-
ner was happy to give them a
snack and let them hang out.
Over time, it became in-
creasingly clear there was no-
where safe to drop them off,
Bodner said. Snacks turned
into dinners; dinner turned
into overnight stays. At last,
Bodner knew she had to get
child protective services in-
volved in the situation.
Through a process that took
three months, it was revealed
the Bodners were whom Ter-
U\ DQG *DU\ LGHQWL¿HG DV WKH
most stable adults in their
lives. The couple was asked if
they would provide temporary
foster care for the children.
“The boys entered the fos-
ter care system at the same
time we did,” Bodner said.
A discrepancy she no-
ticed, however, was that she
received a 40-hour training
to learn the system and other
resources for support and ed-
ucation. The boys, however,
were given no information.
“To not give them any
tools to navigate the system
seemed very odd to me,”
Bodner said.
When she sought a peer
support group for Terry, she
was unknowingly directed by
a therapist to a group for juve-
nile offenders, an association
that disheartened and appalled
both foster mom and son.
“Needless to say, we didn’t
go again,” she said.
Faced with a lack of re-
sources for foster youth, Bod-
ner took matters into her own
hands. In 1999, she created a
resource using a tool still fair-
ly untested as a social medi-
um at the time: the Internet.
She made a website featuring
message boards where foster
youth could share their stories
and give one another support
and informal education. She
called it FosterClub.
The following year, the
Jim Casey Youth Opportu-
nities Initiative asked if Fos-
terClub would like to take its
operation to the next level by
receiving a $180,000 grant.
That was the year the network
JRW LWV QRQSUR¿W GHVLJQDWLRQ
and became incorporated.
In 2002, FosterClub was
contracted by the state of Or-
egon to host the Oregon Teen
Conference. Bodner, with the
help of her family and friends,
led interactive workshops for
participants, and the event
went well, she said.
In 2003, after Bodner
moved back to Seaside bring-
ing FosterClub with her, the
organization was asked to
lead a similar conference in
Montana. Bodner did not have
family and friends to help, so
she turned instead to three
youth leaders with experience
in the foster care system. They
helped her run the event, and
during a question-and-answer
panel, Bodner realized some-
thing: “These young people
are way better at leading this
conference than me or my
friends could ever be.” They
had insider knowledge, per-
sonal experiences and could
make a unique connection to
participants.
FosterClub’s All-Star In-
ternship Program began the
next year as a way to provide
training and facilitate even
more opportunities for foster
youth alumni to educate their
peers, bring awareness to the
demographic and spearhead
change in the foster care sys-
tem through policy and prac-
tice reformation.
would qualify, Bodner said.
“We want young people
‘We want young people who are committed
who are committed to giving
to giving back and improving the system
back and improving the sys-
tem and leveraging their sto-
and leveraging their stories to do that.’
ries to do that,” she said.
Celeste Bodner
FosterClub considers the
All-Star program to be a year-
long commitment with seven
the following year’s program — are given an intense train- weeks of in-resident training.
went more smoothly. Since LQJWKH¿UVWWZRZHHNVRIHDFK After the summer sessions are
then, the All-Star program has session. Then the team mem- completed, the young adults
continually developed and bers are dispatched on assign- return home, to school and
evolved, mostly from sug- ments individually or in small work, but they continue to be
gestions given by participants groups. Those assignments advocates for foster youth and
themselves.
usually involve speaking at consultants for FosterClub.
Now the program features events, leading conferences,
two seven-week summer doing policy work or other Playing the game
“FosterClub is an organi-
sessions in Seaside, with a activities.
crossover week in the mid-
The young adults reside zation, but it’s also a move-
dle where the team from the at the organization’s home ment,” Bodner said.
The organization has four
¿UVWVHVVLRQJHWVWRPHHWDQG on First Avenue during their
interact with the second team. sessions. Their experience is mission areas: providing
The teams — groups of 18- to sponsored by individual states training and events; culti-
24-year-olds who are selected or other funding FosterClub vating young leaders; spear-
to represent a diversity in cul- receives through grants and heading policy and system
ture, race, educational experi- donations. The criteria to be change; and increasing mem-
ence, skills, personal qualities an All-Star are minimal; from bership and outreach. In the
and in foster care background 300 applicants, more than half background, Bodner and her
Dining
on
the
11 staff members are working
diligently and modestly to ad-
vance those missions.
Bodner used a sports anal-
ogy to describe her role in the
QHWZRUN 6KH LGHQWL¿HV KHU-
self as the coach and the foster
youth, past and present, as the
players. She knows they’re
best suited for playing the
game; FosterClub is just de-
signed to help them hone their
skills and give them access
to demonstrate those skills in
GLIIHUHQWDUHQDVRU¿HOGV
When the recent maga-
zine article featuring Bodner
was published, many foster
care alumni in the FosterClub
network shared, liked and
commented on links to the
story on social media web-
sites. Such actions increase
the organization’s visibility,
Gibson said, but it was clear
from the comments the play-
ers also were “proud to see
their head coach get the rec-
ognition she deserves.”
North Coast
The All-Star era
In 2004, Bodner and six
IRVWHU NLGV IRUPHG WKH ¿UVW
“All-Star” group to help Bod-
ner host teen conferences in
Colorado and Oregon.
The group set out for
Colorado in a $3,000 RV,
spray-painted yellow and pur-
ple and fondly dubbed “The
Groove Mobile.” Unfortu-
nately the vehicle’s wheels
had been put on backward,
ZKLFKFDXVHGWKH¿UVWRIPXO-
tiple breakdowns and pit stops
along the journey. Neverthe-
less, Bodner said, they rolled
into Denver a few hours be-
fore the conference at 8 a.m.
“We went in, and those
All-Stars rocked that confer-
ence,” she said.
7KDW¿UVWFKDOOHQJLQJVXP-
mer was when Bodner adopt-
ed the concept of “game face,”
which soon became a Fos-
terClub credo. The idea, she
said, is to show determination,
SHUVHYHUDQFH DQG FRQ¿GHQFH
in the face of obstacles — or
keeping your game face on.
The Groove Mobile was
UHWLUHGDIWHUWKH¿UVW\HDUEXW
it was clear to Bodner they
were onto something. Armed
with a developed curriculum,
pow ered b y
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