The INDEPENDENT, April 4, 2012
Vernonia Cares Food Bank announces
higher income guidelines for help
Vernonia Cares Food Bank
has announced increased in-
come guidelines for USDA
foods which are included in the
emergency food boxes given
by their organization. USDA
foods include 10-20 different
types of foods included in the
monthly emergency food boxes
which also contain other foods
purchased through the Oregon
Food Bank. The typical emer-
gency grocery order is provid-
ed to registered applicants
once a month. It contains about
three to five days worth of food
and is available for residents
living in the Vernonia, Buxton
and Timber area.
“Our target population is list-
ed below,” said Executive Di-
rector Sandy Welch. “However,
we are aware that what your in-
come was last month might
look very different this month if
you just became unemployed.
You need help this month; you
didn’t need help last month.
That is taken into considera-
tion. We also have DHS appli-
cations on hand and can help
by faxing completed forms to St
Helens for clients who may
qualify for SNAP Cards (for-
merly called food stamps). In a
time when people are discour-
aged by so many things, we
are thankful for our generous
donors,” Welch concluded.
Vernonia Cares currently
helps about 400 people per
month. Anyone already receiv-
ing food stamps is eligible for
an emergency grocery box
once they are registered.
USDA/TEFAP 2012
ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES
GROSS INCOME PER MONTH
1 person household
$1,722
2 person household
$2,333
3 person household
$2,944
For each additional member, add
$611 gross income per month.
(Gross income is for all members
of the same household.)
Registration requires listing
an address and the names of
all residents in that household.
Age categories are asked for
statistical purposes, but are not
required and will not affect
whether a household receives
groceries. ID is required to
prove applicants live within the
Vernonia, Timber or Buxton
area. By signing the applica-
tion, the applicant verifies their
eligibility due to income or be-
ing a SNAP (food stamp) recip-
ient. USDA commodity foods
are for home consumption only
and may not be sold, traded,
bartered or exchanged for
services. Vernonia Cares Food
Bank does not discriminate on
the basis of race or color, gen-
der, national origin or ethnicity,
religion, disability, familial sta-
tus, marital status, military sta-
tus, sexual orientation, gender
identity, or age.
Bread products are avail-
able to both clients and the
public at Vernonia Cares Food
Bank once a week. The food
bank makes the same bread
products available to the public
at the Vernonia Senior Center
(446 Bridge Street), Monday
through Friday, 9:00 a.m.-3:00
p.m., and at Vernonia Commu-
nity Church (957 State Street)
on Sunday from noon-1:00
p.m. Please enter the church
by way of the gym door off A
Street.
Donations are accepted to
help pay transportation to bring
the bread daily from Forest
Grove Safeway to Vernonia.
The food bank pays for the
service, and Welch is asking
those who can afford it, to do-
nate $1 when they pick up the
bread products. “We don’t look
to make a profit,” Welch said,
“just to break even.” The daily
trips are necessary to keep the
supply coming.
For more information, call
503-429-1414. The food bank
is supported by grocery dona-
tions, food drives, a financial
grant from United Way of Co-
lumbia County, individual and
business donations, and vari-
ous fundraisers run by volun-
teers. Donations are tax de-
ductible.
Vernonia Cares Food Bank
is open Tuesday and Thursday
from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It
is located in the American Le-
gion Building at 627 Adams Av-
enue. Donations may be
mailed to Vernonia Cares, P.O.
Box 126, Vernonia, OR 97064-
0126.
Vernonia council agrees to new meters
After discussion of a possi-
ble sewer fee increase (see
story on page 1), the Vernonia
City Council, at their April 2
meeting, discussed a Parks
Committee recommendation to
use up to $15,000 from the
System Development Charges
(SDC) in the Parks Fund of the
budget. SDC funds can be
used only for improvements,
not for regular operating ex-
penses. The improvement in
this case would be an automat-
ed Pay Station at Vernonia
Lake to take day use fees. The
non-resident day use fee is
$5.00 per day. The current sys-
tem requires visitors to take an
envelope, fill out information,
add $5.00 cash or check, and
place the envelope in a locked
box. The envelope stub then
goes on the car dashboard to
show payment.
The automated system
would save staff time now
spent keeping the envelopes
stocked, picking up the en-
velopes, and counting the mon-
ey (and some come back emp-
ty). The automated system
would print out a daily receipt
that could be easily reconciled
with the money in the machine.
If the city finds significant sav-
ings from the new machine, ad-
ditional machines may be pur-
chased for use in other parks.
Council approved the expendi-
ture, but asked City Administra-
tor Bill Haack to include some
type of performance criteria
when selecting a vendor for
this purpose.
Council also approved an
initial expenditure of up to
$15,000 to replace water me-
ters. Some water meters in the
city are 40 to 50 years old,
even though anticipated meter
life is only 20 years. The city
wants to start a program of re-
placements that may run for
two or more years. They will
monitor the change in water
flow to those meters that are
replaced to see how accurately
the older meters are reporting
Jobs bill could help small towns
From page 4
ment of Agriculture.
The legislation has also re-
ceived support from the Nation-
al Rural Electric Cooperative
Association.
The bill creating the Rural
Energy Savings Program will
Page 5
be considered by the Senate
Agriculture Committee. Sena-
tors Merkley and Lugar, who is
a member of the committee,
hope to have the bill inserted
into the Farm Bill, which must
be reauthorized this year.
water use.
A perpetual utility easement
through Anderson Park was
approved that will allow West
Oregon Electric Cooperative
(and other utilities) to under-
ground the utility service from
Anderson Park to their pole
yard.
Aaron Miller, Principal of
Washington and Mist grade
schools, told council about a
project scheduled for April 19
when a number of students will
help remove invasive species
near the new wetlands, replace
them with native species, and
do some cleanup work near the
Anderson Park bridge to help
some already planted trees
compete with canary grass.
In other business, council:
• gave Mayor Josette
Mitchell consensus to appoint
Nick Galaday to the Public
Works Committee,
• accepted DeDe Webb’s
resignation from the Parks
Committee, with appreciation
for her 16+ years of volunteer
service,
• accepted resignations from
the Economic Development
Committee of Bud Dow, Tim
Bero, Chris Scheuerman, Jeff
Hopkins, Karin Davenport and
Sally Harrison. Some of these
resignations were made neces-
sary by ordinance changes in
the number of members al-
lowed to serve on a committee.
There is now one open position
on this committee.
• gave permission for the
Keasey family to place a me-
morial stone on their plots at
the Pioneer Cemetery.
The next regular council
meeting will be April 16, at 7:00
p.m. at city hall.
No change in
Feb. job rates
Columbia County’s season-
ally adjusted unemployment
rate was 9.4 percent in Febru-
ary essentially unchanged from
the previous month (9.6%) but
lower than the year before
(11.5%). The rate was higher
than the statewide rate (8.8%)
and the national rate (8.3%).
Total employment rose by 29 to
22,339 and the number of un-
employed people rose by 109
to 2,656. Total employment this
February was 399 more than
one year before and there were
299 fewer people unemployed
this year.
By comparison, the rate in
Portland was 8.1 percent in
February.