CSC's Energy Smarts Team Helps Save Energy at School and Home

Last year CSC received a grant from NW Natural Gas to help develop an energy based curriculum for elementary students in a local school. Stephanie Bugni, CSC Energy Education Coordinator, developed a pilot program called the Energy Smarts Team and found a 4th grade classroom at Waverly Elementary School in Albany who was willing to try it out.

For the past 3 months the Energy Smarts Team program has been in place. The class spent the first few weeks learning about energy sources, the difference between renewable and nonrenewable energy sources, how energy is produced and transmitted, and the importance of energy conservation.

After this training, the Energy Smarts Team patrolled their school looking for smart energy use. They spread the word about energy savings by leaving reminder tickets in places they found energy being wasted and thank you tickets where energy was used wisely. After 3 weeks of school patrol, they went home with an assignment to perform their own home energy audit.

The class was rewarded for their hard work with a field trip to Oregon State University. They visited the wave research lab, the new Energy Center and received a tour of the campus.

“The whole class worked hard to learn about energy and teach others in their school and home about positive energy use, but the best part was they had fun while doing it,” says Stephanie Bugni. “The program was so successful that next year, all 4th and 5th grade classes at Waverly will be using the Energy Smarts Team program.”

Leadership Corvallis Volunteers at Linn Benton Food Share Warehouse

Elizabeth Westland welcomes Leadership Corvallis team members.

Leadership Corvallis repackaged and sorted food at the Linn Benton Food Share Warehouse on April 26th.

“Many hands make light work as the proverb goes,” said Elizabeth Westland, a member of Leadership Corvallis who called upon Leadership members And their families to volunteer for the warehouse event. “We are gaining personal experience as volunteers and helping people who need food.

“We appreciate the work of Leadership Corvallis,” said Susan James, Linn Benton Food Share Volunteer& Gleaning Coordinator . “They were enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers who repacked and sorted close to 5,000 pounds of pounds of food.”

Linn Benton Food Share is a program of Community Services Consortium, the Community Action Agency of Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties.

CSC Information Technology Department Upgrades the Server Room

Community Services Consortium's IT Department has an ideal combination of spirit, they work hard and they love fun! This combination worked for them one Saturday in late March when they spent 12 hours to upgrade, spiff up and organize the server room with donated equipment and expertise.

Under the supervision of Elaine Lahey, Director of the CSC IT department, Larry Larios and Randy McKay, CSC employees , worked with JJ Maclean and Rob Rotert of Catalyst Technology Group who donated their time as consultants on the server room project.

Fred Long, Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Trustee in Eugene and customer of Catalyst, donated the server rack enclosure, which has been key to the upgrade, as you will see by following this link to a video by Elaine Lahey called The Server Rack Project.

Community Services Consortium Receives Grant to Train Low Income Teens

Sue McGuire-thompson, Albany CSC Operations Manager receives a grant award from South Albany High School Community 101 program for $975. The grant money will provide job/work skills and experience for teens with low income through the River JAVA Coffee Kart.

Community 101, a program of The Oregon Community Foundation, with major support from the PGE Foundation, is a classroom based program that provides students opportunities to be involved in their communities through grantmaking and volunteering.

Students work together to identify community needs, research nonprofits, conduct site visits, review grant applications and make funding decisions. Each classroom has $5,000 to award in grants to community nonprofits.
C101 represents an innovative collaboration of schools, businesses and charitable organizations. Students acquire the tools to bring about positive change in their communities.