For 25 years, Philomath Youth Activities Club board members and volunteers have spent their fall weekends cutting, splitting and delivering firewood — a fundraiser that started small in 2001 and has since grown into one of the nonprofit’s most important sources of general operating funds.
But this year’s effort got off to a rocky start after someone stole one of PYAC’s log splitters from its firewood site, located just outside the city limits on the west end of Philomath.
Eddie Van Vlack, PYAC’s executive director, said he discovered the splitter missing on July 17, though it could have disappeared any time that week.
It’s not the first theft that the nonprofit organization has dealt with at the site. Someone once broke into an unlocked toolbox on the club’s processor and made off with a bar and about five chains — equipment Van Vlack estimated was worth $200 to $300.
“They had to be morons because they thought that they could probably just use them on a chainsaw and they didn’t realize they’re processors,” he said. “So I’m sure they just got thrown away somewhere. Since then, we’ve learned to start locking that up.”
This time, the stolen splitter was the one piece of equipment PYAC purchased outright rather than received as a donation. Van Vlack said the club bought it around 10 years ago from Del’s Feed and Farm Supply and had it custom-fabricated with a Kohler motor.
“It was our nicest one,” he said. “So probably $2,000 for us to replace it.”
Van Vlack said the club likely won’t file an insurance claim, given a $1,000 deductible and the potential for higher premiums afterward.
“It doesn’t necessarily make sense, but I just want to remind people that this is a fundraiser,” he said. “We’re trying to support the kids, and it’s hard to do when people go in there and steal stuff from us.”
PYAC does have three other splitters that have been donated over the years, giving the club roughly $125,000 in total firewood equipment, according to Van Vlack.
Wood, sweat, tradition
Over its 25 years, PYAC has sold more than 1,000 cords of firewood, raising about $200,000 for the club. The project has grown dramatically since its first year, when PYAC sold just four cords. Sales jumped when the COVID-19 pandemic sent people home from work in 2020, pushing the total from about 70 cords to more than 90. The club sold 105 cords in 2023, 99 in 2024 and 100 in 2025.
This year’s goal is to match last year’s 100 cords — a number Van Vlack said represents the club’s ceiling, not a conservative target.
That capability depends heavily on equipment, since volunteer labor has thinned considerably. Longtime volunteers Jim Motter and Wayne Howard, who Van Vlack said loved cutting and splitting wood by hand, have scaled back because of age and health.
“We used to have two or three of us that did a bunch of it,” Van Vlack said. “Now, 90% of it’s mechanicalized.”
That shift was made possible in 2020 when PYAC received funding from Patrick Lumber, Starker Forests and Hull-Oakes Lumber to purchase a wood processor at about 60% of its value.
“Had we not got that, the fundraiser probably would have died because the volunteers have dropped off so much,” Van Vlack said.
Twice a year, groups of 12 to 25 volunteers from Hewlett-Packard come out to spend four hours running hydraulic splitters, a practice that continued even after the United Way day of caring program that originally connected them with PYAC ended.
PYAC gets most of its logs from timber companies.
“We try to go every other year, so we’re not hitting the same loggers every year,” Van Vlack said. “The last couple years, Elkhorn has been phenomenal to us.”
Wood availability shifts from year to year. Oak was once difficult to source because most of it sits on private land, but a three-year arrangement with a local landowner converting property to hazelnut farms has supplied PYAC with oak from a 25-acre stand of trees. Elkhorn Timber ultimately provided equipment to clear, limb and buck the timber after an initial attempt to fall it by hand was deemed too dangerous.
“So we have enough oak for probably the next three years out there, which is really, really nice,” Van Vlack said.
Fir, meanwhile, has become harder to come by despite being more plentiful, because it consistently holds market value. Maple availability depends on price swings in the lumber market.
Russ Watkins hauls nearly all of the donated wood, sorting it into two spots, Van Vlack said. From there, anything 15-3/4 inches or smaller goes through PYAC’s processor, while larger pieces are hand-cut or broken down with an excavator. Organizing wood ahead of time has allowed the club to preload 30 to 40 cords into trucks and trailers before delivery day, saving significant labor.
Delivery date details
PYAC’s primary delivery date this year is Sept. 26. The club sponsors Boy Scout Troop 161, which turns out with parents and youth to help deliver wood.
“We deliver usually right around 50 cords in about four hours, so it’s trucks and trailers going like crazy,” Van Vlack said.
Delivery relies on a small fleet — an aging PYAC firewood truck limited to roughly a 10-mile radius because of its unreliability, a newer truck acquired through a 2021 grant plus a trailer donated by a Texas company, and also a truck typically provided by Starker Forests. In addition, Troy Muir and Finn Construction donate trailers for the day.
“There’s a lot of places you can’t access, and that’s the big key,” Van Vlack said. “It’s just the communication with the customers … that’s probably the biggest logistic thing, and the biggest issue is finding enough people just to split.”
Firewood is priced per cord, delivered: $300 for seasoned mix (fir, maple), $350 for seasoned hardwood mix (fir, maple, oak) and $400 for straight oak, with a $25 delivery fee on single-cord orders. Prices have held steady for three to four years despite rising fuel costs, something Van Vlack said is possible because PYAC’s logs and equipment are largely donated.
He acknowledged buyers can sometimes find cheaper wood through classified listings, but said that comes with trade-offs.
“You might be able to get on Craigslist or Facebook and find something $40, $50 cheaper,” Van Vlack said. “But then you’re going to be looking every single year, and you have no idea who you’re getting it from or what the quality of wood is, where we’re going to be consistent here for a long time… And you’re obviously helping a good cause in addition to getting your firewood.”
Money raised through the fundraiser goes toward PYAC’s general operating budget.
“In the nonprofit world, those are the hardest dollars to get,” Van Vlack said. “Unless they’re doing a specialized fundraiser, most of their fundraisers are going to be general operating funds.”
Those interested in donating wood, equipment or time — or in placing an order — can call PYAC at 541-929-4040 or email pyac@pyac.net.
