4A • December 22, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
SignalViewpoints
A Christmas
tree tale
M
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Students and staff of Inner Potential take a moment to pose for a photo in between their time helping out at the Bob
Chisholm Community Center in Seaside.
Hot meals, friends and a
program partnership
N
o one should go hungry for the
holidays — or any other time
of year. That’s the message
Chris Duffy, nutrition coordinator for
the Sunset Empire Park and Recreation
District conveys every weekday with
programs feeding senior citizens, either
homebound or at the Bob Chisholm
Community Center.
Duffy and the district teamed with
the Warrenton-based agency Inner
Potential to help prepare and serve
meals to seniors from Seaside, Gearhart
and Cannon Beach. With students from
Seaside, Warrenton and Astoria, their
mission is to partner with individuals
experiencing intellectual or devel-
opmental disabilities in achieving a
healthy and fulfilling life.
“They were looking for something
proactive to help their students learn
hands-on activities, counting, organiza-
tion, timing, serve-out on meals and the
lunch,” Duffy said. “The partnership has
been fantastic and very well-received by
the students.”
Weekdays, any senior over 60 may
come in and eat, Duffy said. Hot meals
are served Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays at 11:45 a.m. The center serves
soup and sandwiches Tuesdays and
Thursdays.
Meals consist of about 800 calories,
with a starter salad and “a lot of pro-
teins,” Duffy said. “If there are dietary
restrictions, we make accommodations
for that.”
Since the program’s debut in August,
the community center has averaged
about 26 diners and volunteers a day.
Wednesday is considered the peak day,
with about 30 diners.
Members of the group help prepare
about 200 meals a week as part of the
Meals on Wheels program, which deliv-
ers food to about 40 clients in the South
County.
“It’s not only the food they get,
COLIN MURPHEY/EO MEDIA GROUP
Chris Duffy and Judy Parish discuss the menu during lunch service at the Bob
Chisholm Community Center in Seaside.
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
which is good, but they get to talk to
people because it can be very lonely
when you leave alone,” diner Jean Wil-
son, 93, said, adding: “I don’t have any
trouble with loneliness because I read
all the time.”
At lunchtime, socializing is a main
draw. “Monday morning, we have
people start getting here at 11:15 when
we have the coffee out,” Duffy said.
“For them to sit down at a table and
talk about the weekend and events
throughout the week — that to me is as
important as getting that nutritious meal,
that balanced meal.”
Diners look forward to seeing friends
and socializing.
“I underestimated how important that
would be,” Duffy said. “About once a
month we’ll bring in a musician, games
— but the idea is to be able to meet with
your peers.”
Kevin Okerlund of Inner Potential
said the volunteer work brings new skills
and career potential, possibly in the local
hospitality or kitchen industries. “It’s been
really neat to see how independent they’re
becoming, and how the seniors have really
responded.”
Interaction between students and
seniors is an added benefit, Inner Poten-
tial’s Sue Thurston said. “Building those
connections in the community is really
important, for people who sometimes may
not have had that in their lives. As long as
everyone is committed and it remains pos-
itive, they really look forward to coming.”
r. Sax, who’s been playing “Winter Wonderland,”
“We Three Kings” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing
Santa Claus” on his saxophone day and night to
the point where I might hurt him, came in from work the
other day to say he’d been offered a free Christmas tree.
“I turned it down,” he said, sounding really sad about
it. “Maybe next year we’ll get a tree again. But I was
tempted.”
This would be a good time to say Mr. Sax has never
been big on Christmas trees. For starters, growing up,
his family never had one. He likes them well enough in
outdoor spaces and in other peoples’ homes, but not so
much in his own. There have been enough Christmas tree
bloopers in our married life to put off anyone.
Let’s start with the year our son was in first grade and
I was determined to put a tree up. We’d just moved back
east after two years in Los Angeles. Christmas is just
not the same in
the land of palm
trees and sweaty
VIEW FROM
Santas schvitzing
THE PORCH
in their Santa suits.
EVE MARX
“Schvitz” by the
way is a Yiddish
term, meaning
steam bath or sauna. You may well ask what a person who
understands Yiddish needs with a Christmas tree, but that’s
how we roll.
That year I brought home a beautiful Douglas fir from
the local Rotary. It was a struggle getting it upright in
the tree stand. There was some sawing involved and the
screws didn’t grab right. The tree listed slightly. Undaunt-
ed, my son and I spent the afternoon covering it in silver
balls and tinsel. Remember tinsel? It should be outlawed.
Around 3 a.m. we were awakened by a loud crash when
Duke, the cat I’d rescued at Thanksgiving, leaped on the
tree and knocked it down, shattering every silver ball. I
was vacuuming up tinsel for weeks.
The next year I decided the heck with the tree. I bought
a large metal reindeer lit up with fairy lights. It was
intended for outdoor use, but I put it in the living room.
Our son named it “Rudolph.” We piled wrapped presents
around it. The cat left it alone. When Christmas was over,
I draped a red and black Native American rug I’d bought
in Arizona over it like a saddle blanket. People who know
me well understand this is my idea of interior decorating.
While he was in high school, my son worked at a shop
that sold newspapers, magazines, candy, lottery tickets,
and cigarettes. They also had seasonal items. A few days
before Christmas he came home with a white metal spiral
outdoor Christmas tree, which
had loops like a multi-tiered
‘THERE ARE
hula hoop. Taking after his
mom, he thought it should be
STILL QUITE
indoors. The tree set up quick-
A FEW VERY
ly and we plugged it in and
the LED lights came on all
BEAUTIFUL
bright and twinkly. For a year
TREES FOR
or two, it became part of the
SALE ALL
décor. (I retired the reindeer.)
When I was in middle
AROUND
school, my mother, a single
SEASIDE.
mom, chose to work Christ-
mas Day. She was a hospital
HEY, IT’S NOT
administrator and being Jew-
ish, she took this day to work
TOO LATE.’
so her Christian co-workers
might have the day off. This
was altruistic but she didn’t
think of me, who would have spent the day home alone if
it weren’t for my friends who opened their homes to me.
I went from house to house admiring their trees, which
filled their living rooms, while their moms offered me hot
chocolate with marshmallows and invited me to stay for
their ham dinners. This is how I learned to love ham. Yes,
really.
In Seaside, Tipton’s is an awesome Christmas shop. I
was in there a few days ago and was bowled over by their
incredible selection of first-rate ornaments. They make
it very tempting to rush out and get a tree. There are still
quite a few very beautiful ones for sale all around Seaside.
Hey, it’s not too late.
Helping a stranger at Christmastime
O
n a recent grocery store run,
something remarkable happened.
It was a Saturday, around noon,
less than two weeks before Christmas,
and the store was madness. This was
defensive shopping: carefully looking
around the aisle before exiting, pushing
the cart tight against the merchandise to
make room for people buzzing by, and
lines. Long, long lines. I looked around,
knowing that I had 15 to 20 minutes to
kill before I could put my stuff on the
conveyor belt,
Behind me, I noticed an elderly man
in a motorized shopping cart. He was
struggling to get a can onto the conveyor
belt. I quickly moved to help him with the
rest of his groceries.
Realizing that he was alone, I settled
my bill, and let the attendant know I’d
stick around in case the man needed my
help. It wasn’t more than five minutes
before the elderly man was ready and
noticed I was still there. He looked to the
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
GUEST COLUMN
A.J. WAHL
attendant, who explained that I was there
to help him to his car.
The man was grateful, and said he had
a story for me. Closer to the exit, with
a little more freedom from the crowds,
he explained that only a week before, a
gentleman in line ahead of him at the store
had also offered to help, and had asked if
he was a veteran. The elderly man replied
that he was, and the gentleman nodded,
thanked him for his service, and left short-
ly after. When the elderly man went to pay
his bill, he was told that the gentleman
ahead of him had already taken care of it.
After telling me the story, the elderly
man said how grateful he was for the help
of strangers, and regretted that he wasn’t
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
Jeremy Feldman
John D. Bruijn
ADVERTISING
SALES
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Holly Larkins
Carl Earl
CLASSIFIED
SALES
Danielle Fisher
able to tell the gentleman thank you.
After I finished loading the groceries
into the man’s car, he thanked me for
taking the time to help. I walked across
the parking lot with a glow. It wasn’t
just that I had done a good deed, but
something greater than that. I was proud
to live by the lessons my grandparents
and family imparted to me — if you can
do so, help. Respect your elders. It only
takes a few minutes to be kind. It felt
good to help, but more importantly than
that, it feels good to live in a commu-
nity in which an elderly veteran who is
wheelchair bound can go to the store
confident that a perfect stranger will give
him the help he needs. I live in a place
that pays the service our veterans did
forward, and gives back to the elders that
helped build our community. As we enter
into a crazed time of year, I am grateful
to be in such a community. A community
rich with the spirit of giving.
A.J. Wahl is a Gearhart resident.
STAFF WRITER
Brenna Visser
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
Skyler Archibald
Rebecca Herren
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Esther Moberg
Jon Rahl
EVE MARX
Christmas trees come in all shapes and sizes, like this one
in Seaside, and they’re all good.
Seaside Signal
Letter policy
Subscriptions
The Seaside Signal
is published every other week by
EO Media Group,
1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, OR 97138.
503-738-5561
seasidesignal.com
Copyright 2017 © Seaside Signal. Nothing
can be reprinted or copied without consent
of the owners.
The Seaside Signal welcomes letters to the editor. The
deadline is noon Monday prior to publication. Letters
must be 400 words or less and must be signed by the
author and include a phone number for verification. We
also request that submissions be limited to one letter
per month. Send to 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside, OR
97138, drop them off at 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive or fax to
503-738-9285, or email rmarx@seasidesignal.com
Annually: $40.50 in county • $58.00 in
and out of county • e-Edition: only $30.00
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Seaside
Signal, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103. Postage Paid at
Seaside, OR, 97138 and at additional mailing offices.
Copyright 2017 © by the Seaside Signal. No portion
of this newspaper may be reproduced without written
permission. All rights reserved.