Spend Food Stamps at Farmers Markets and Receive an Extra $6

If you buy at least $6 worth of produce or food-producing plants at a farmers market in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties, you will get an extra $6 to spend at the market.

The organizers, Ten Rivers Food Web call the program SNAP Incentive” they are introducing it at the Corvallis, Albany, Brownsville, Sweet Home and Newport farmers markets. SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Customers can spend their SNAP benefits at farmers markets by swiping their cards at market credit card machines to receive wooden market tokens to spend at any vendor selling fresh food or food-producing plants.

When a customer swipes and deducts at least $6 from their SNAP card at the market, they will receive an extra $6 in “That’s My Farmer SNAP Incentive” tokens.

Free Money Matters Class

Starting July 13th Beth Larson will host a Free Money Matters Class at the Albany Community Services Consortium (CSC) office at 250 SW Broadalbin. The class will take place on July 13, 20 and 27 from 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm in the large conference room.

Money Matters is perfect for anyone working on large goals like education, buying a home and building better credit--and for those who are trying to move past living on an “emergency plan”. We’ll take a look at basic budgeting, spending leaks and how to be strategic about money use--as well as talk about preparing for emergencies so that they don’t throw anyone off track.

Sign up up by calling Beth at 541-758-2759

Beth Larsen, Housing Resources Coordinator
Community Housing Services
545 SW 2nd St., Ste. A
Corvallis OR 97333
Ph: 541-758-2759
Cell: 541-231-6019
Toll Free Ph: 866-245-1780
Email: blarsen@communityservices.us

4-H helps out Linn Benton Food Share

150 4-H members, grades 7th -12th labeled rice and beans and sorted canned goods at the Linn Benton Food Share Warehouse as part of planned activities at the 2011 Summer 4H Conference at Oregon State University.

"We are grateful for the help of the 4-H members," said Susan James, Volunteer Coordinator for Food Share. "They were energetic and enthusiastic in the work they did. With only 4 full- time staff members at Linn Benton Food Share, we depend on volunteers to help us with the work of collecting, handling and distributing almost 5 million pounds of food. In this case, the number of volunteers from 4-H for several hours was an enormous help."

Besides this community service project, The 300 4-H members chose from 60 classes throughout the 3 day conference. The classes offered ranged from activities such as traveling to the State Capital, climbing rock walls, buying the right horse to hiking, cooking, and yoga classes.

CSC Receives High Marks

CSC's evaluation in part from Oregon Housing and Community Services:

To: Martha Lyon, Executive Director of Community Services Consortium

Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) recently conducted a review evaluation and desk audit of the first units initiated for the Sustainable Energy Resources for Consumers(SERC) program with CSC on June 9th, 2011.

The purpose of the evaluation is to identify an agencys strengths and innovations, formulate practical and constructive recommendations for improvements and to provide on site training and technical assistance.

OHCS reviewed and assessed your agency’s ability to maintain its eligibility to receive federal and state funds, as well as your ability to operate according to terms of applicable laws, regulations, contractual obligations, policies and guidelines.

Priorities of SERC (From EISA Section 411(b))
1) Cost-effectiveness to low- and moderate-income families
2) Potential for replication of successful results
3) Impact on health and safety and energy costs
4) Extent of partnerships, including financial partnerships

Evaluation Results
Findings:1.There are no findings that require a written response.
Concerns1. There are no concerns that require a written response.

Your staff should be commended on their commitment and great attitude in providing a valued service to your community that saves energy, increases comfort and quality of living.

We find that the staff is well organized, informed and knowledgeable.
We found no existing issues that would prohibit the CSC SERC program from being able to effectively meet the program priorities and provide information for the evaluation.

Ben Baggett is to be commended for his efforts in compiling an effective Request For Proposal(RFP.) This RFP boilerplate was used by National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and US Department of Energy (USDOE) as the sample boilerplate that other states could use for their Sustainable Energy Resources for Consumers (SERC) PV projects.

The visit was very encouraging and we look forward to seeing the applications and also speaking with contractors at the next monitoring.

Please thank your staff for their professionalism and assistance we received. Their response time was exemplary in meeting our requests for data. If there are any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to contact me.

Dan Elliott, Sustainability Manager
Oregon Housing and Community Services