Local Aid in the news

JC Local Aid Needs Truck for the Holidays

Garret Jaros, The Tri-County News

JUNCTION CITY, Oregon (November 27, 2008) --Junction City Local Aid continues to give food and comfort to 260 families every month, but the agency could use a hand itself if it’s going to keep on trucking during these difficult times.

That’s because the truck the agency has been using each Monday to pick up 2,000 to 4,000 pounds of food from Food for Lane County in Eugene is no longer available.

“For years, Country Coach was very gracious and very helpful to Local Aid.” says Aid Director Susan Jones. “One of the many things they did was supply a truck and driver for the food pickups in Eugene.”

But the company’s recent cutbacks have left it unable to continue supplying the truck and driver, so in the last three weeks, Local Aid has either rented a U-Haul or borrowed a truck. Jones hopes to find a permanent solution with a truck big enough to hold four to six pallets of food that a forklift can fit into without wheel wells getting in the way.

“So we need somebody to step up with a truck who can help us on an ongoing basis.” Jones says. “It would be wonderful if we could have someone that could drive that for us.” Volunteers are already lined up to help unload the Monday deliveries.

Local Aid currently operates with 15 volunteers and Jones, who is the only part-time paid staffer. The ‘basic needs’ organization provides more than just food boxes to low-income families in the Junction City School District.

The organization also provides help with utility bills for people behind on their payments, vouchers for prescription and some nonprescription medicines, haircuts, clothes, dental help for children, the lice treatment program in the schools and bus tokens for folks who need to get to medical appointments in Eugene.

“If people are living in trailers or motor homes, we even have a voucher for propane,” Jones adds.

Currently, the food giveaway program works by people bringing their own boxes which the volunteers then fill with food in the back room. But that will be changing soon.

“In the next couple of weeks, we are making a big push to become a shopping pantry, meaning customers can shop like they would in a store,” Jones says.

The shelves in the back will be numbered, and clients will be told how many items they can select from each shelf. Most pantries in Lane County are shopping pantries.

“Shopping pantries are popular because the clients get to pick their own food,” Jones says. “And less food goes out the door because they only take food they’ll actually use instead of having someone choose it for them. The whole process is easier and filled with more dignity.”

Besides help with a truck and driver, the public can help by bringing in food or donating clothes or money. They also need more volunteers, particularly on Tuesdays.

Debbie Parker of Veneta is one of five recent volunteers provided to Local Aid by Camping World. “It’s fun,” she says of working at the pantry. “It’s real enjoyable.”

Without Camping World’s volunteers, the switch to a shopping pantry wouldn’t be possible, Jones says.

Mary Hoxie of Junction City has been helping at Local Aid for nearly 10 years. She likes staying behind the scenes in the back room loading food boxes, she says. “We get a lot more food than when I started,’ Hoxie says. “But now we have a lot more space, and it really makes a lot of difference when it comes to filling food boxes for people.

“But we are also seeing a lot more people, a lot more,” she adds, “And I think it’s going to get a lot worse.”

Jones says Hoxie is the Mother Theresa of Junction City because “she helps everybody.”

Jones has been with Local Aid since June of last year. She became involved with volunteer work after seeing a homeless cousin living on the streets of Eugene.

A lot of the clients coming into the agency now are not what you would call typical clients, Jones says.

“And that’s really where my heart is,” Jones says. “People that have just been laid off or they had an unexpected medical bill or a car repair that makes it so they can’t make the ends meet right now. And when we can do something to help them close that gap so they can keep helping themselves, that’s the most rewarding thing for me.”

Junction City Local Aid is located at 265 W. 6th Ave. Current - hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday. For more information call 998-3992.