Rotary River Run

The Rotary Corvallis After Five club is planning a fun run fundraiser Saturday morning, June 5th, 2010, called the Rotary River Run, which will take place along the Downtown Corvallis riverfront.

Details:
Saturday June 5, 2010
Packet pickup and race day registration 8:00-8:45 a.m.
5K run starts at 9 a.m., $15 Until May 31, $20 Starting June 1.
1 mile kids run, Starts at 10 a.m., Raceday registration only,$3 or 5 canned food items.

Start/Finish for both Races: Downtown Corvallis Waterfront Lot at 2nd & Western
the registration fee will benefit Linn-Benton Food Share as well as local Rotary service projects.

Meet Mack the Knight of the Corvallis Knights Baseball Team!

Awards for 5K Run-Walk and 1 Mile Kids Run!

Stories of homelessness focus of fundraiser

Robinson’s story will be one of six featured next Tuesday (May 25th) in a benefit for Partners Place, a supported living project designed to get hardcore homeless people off the street.

Sponsored by the Corvallis Homeless Shelter Coalition, “Helping the Homeless” will begin at 7 p.m. at the Majestic Theatre, 115 S.W. Second St.

Based on interviews with a half-dozen Corvallis street people, local writers Jane Sivetz and Wendy Madar compiled condensed versions of their life stories, which will be read at the event.

Local musicians Paul Pritchard and Cassandra Robertson will perform as well.

The coalition hopes to buy and renovate a fire-damaged apartment building at Northwest Harrison Boulevard and 17th Street. Partners Place would house 14 to 18 people and connect them with support services designed to help them become independent and stay off the streets.

The organization must raise $85,000 in matching funds by November in order to qualify for $250,000 in federal housing money. Additional grants will be used to cover the $780,000 purchase price of the building, renovation costs and startup expenses.

Residents would pay one-third of their income in rent, and most would likely qualify for government housing subsidies, which would help pay for services and upkeep on the building.

Admission to “Helping the Homeless” is free, but attendees will be asked to contribute to the Partners Place project. For reservations, contact Gina Umble at 541-754-7380 or e-mail gkumble@gmail.com.

Four Community Services Consortium Programs receive Grants

Community Services Consortium (CSC) recently received $38,500 from Trust Management Services, of Waldport, Oregon for four CSC programs.

“We are delighted to receive funding from Trust Management Services,” said Martha Lyon, Executive Director of Community Services Consortium. “It allows us to strengthen our programs and helps us provide uninterrupted services, especially when we are seeing more requests for help.”

CSC’s Linn Benton Food Share received $10,000 to help support the fuel costs for trucking in the Fresh Alliance/Food Rescue program. Six thousand dollars of the money will be used to supply local gleaning programs with gas vouchers. There are forty-eight hundred low-income people in 14 gleaning groups in Linn and Benton counties. Gleaners collect donated food while sharing half with elderly and disabled people as well as community food pantries. The gas vouchers help them with the costs to collect and transport the food.

CSC’s Community Housing Services program received $10,000. “We are receiving a rising number of calls about foreclosure and this grant will stabilize our foreclosure counseling program,” said Tom Hatley, Director of Community Housing Services program. “We can help local residents understand the choices they may have in terms of their mortgage issues.”

Retired Senior Volunteer Program received $8,500 to assist with Senior Peer Counseling, a program that helps people aged 55 and older who are experiencing a difficult time in their lives, whether from a grievous loss, health problem, or a transition from a home they may have lived in for many years.

The Workforce & Education Program is the final program to receive funding in the amount of $10,000 from Trust Management Services. The money will be used by their nonprofit program, Housing Employment and Learning Programs for Self Sufficiency (HELPS) for the Youth Garden Project to purchase supplies and to help pay stipends for youth summer jobs.

Tom Cope, CSC’s Resource Development Officer, said “We appreciate these grants from Trust Management Services to CSC. It helps us provide better services to the people we serve.”

Community Services Consortium (CSC) is the state-designated Community Action Agency serving Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties. CSC provides a wide range of services to low and moderate income individuals and families. CSC helps with employment, job training skills, food, housing, weatherization, housing rehabilitation, education and volunteer opportunities. For more information, or to support CSC and its many programs, please contact the administrative office at (541) 752-1010 or visit www.communityservices.us.