Linn County Commissioner Will Tucker will facilitate the event, and a panel discussion with CSC Executive Director Martha Lyon, Corvallis Mayor Julie Manning, and OSU Sociology Professor Mark Edwards will immediately follow the film.
Produced and directed by Emmy award-winning filmmakers Joe and Harry Gantz, American Winter is a documentary feature film that follows the personal stories of families struggling in the aftermath of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Millions of families are struggling to meet their basic needs, and many formerly middle-class families are finding themselves in financial crisis and needing assistance for the first time in their lives. Meanwhile, the social safety net that was created to help people in difficult times has been weakened by massive budget cuts, creating a perfect storm of greater need and fewer resources to help families in trouble. CSC is the community action agency people in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties turn to in times of crisis. Filmed over the course of one winter in Portland, Oregon, American Winter presents an intimate and emotionally evocative snapshot of the state of our economy as it is playing out in many American families.
Working together with the nonprofit organization 211info in Portland, the filmmakers were given full access to monitor and record calls from distressed families who were calling 211’s emergency hotline in search of help. They then began following the stories of some of these callers in more depth over several months. When people dial 211 in our area, they are often referred to the caring workers at CSC’s who help put a roof over their heads, keep the heat and lights on, put food on the table, educate the children and get adults back to work. CSC works diligently to help people overcome poverty.
The film follows multiple families in their daily struggle to keep their heads above water, while facing overwhelming challenges and dwindling resources available to help them, creating a powerful firsthand view of Americans caught in today’s financial undertow.
The experiences of the families in American Winter are a vivid illustration of what has been happening to families across America, including working families losing their homes, people who remain jobless or underemployed, children going hungry, families getting their heat shut off in the dead of winter, and people with health issues overwhelmed by medical costs.
We hope that you will join us to learn more about the faces of poverty in Oregon, and how CSC is working with people in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties to get back on their feet.
Free parking is available for film attendees at the Reser Stadium parking lot across the street from the LaSells Stewart Center (875 SW 26th St, Corvallis). For more information or to make a donation to CSC contact Dee Teem at dteem@communityservices.us or 541-574-2277.
