The March on Hunger food drive in Philomath last weekend brought in just over 2.5 tons of food, organizers reported. The food was donated to Philomath Community Services to help support Nancy’s Food Pantry and Philomath Community Gleaners.
The food drive’s contingent of 55 volunteers passed out 2,100 bags and flyers on Feb. 22 to homes all over Philomath. Then on March 1, around 100 volunteers revisited all of those neighborhoods and collected food donations from front porches.
A food-sorting operation involving 40 volunteers followed at Philomath Community Church. They sorted, boxed, weighed and labeled the food and then about 10 volunteers helped carry the boxes to the PCS building on South Ninth. At that end of the operation, 10 volunteers collected and stacked the boxes as they came in.
“All total, we had about 120 individuals that helped the food drive over the full week,” said Diane Crocker, one of the event’s organizers. “Some helped more than once or in more than one capacity.”
The organizers said there were too many to thank individually but wanted to bring attention to the groups that participated — Tom Klipfel and Boy Scout Troop 161, Juli McLennan’s 4-H groups, Hoskins and Weeber 4-H groups, the Latter-day Saints, Peace Lutheran and New Life Fellowship church groups, PCS board of directors and Philomath Frolic and Rodeo board of directors. In addition, organizers expressed appreciation to the many individuals and families that contributed to the effort as well as Philomath Community Church for use of their facility for sorting and Living Faith Community Church for loaning their sandwich sign boards.
Crocker said that local volunteers and those donating food really stepped up.
“We could not have done this without the volunteers and the many, many gracious and generous people who left food on their front porch,” she said.
2. Lions Club gives away books to kids
The Philomath Lions Club gave away 389 books to children in grades K-5 Thursday as part of Read Across America week in the local schools.
Students were able to choose their own book from a wide selection of picture books and chapter books that were donated to the club. Teachers brought their classes at assigned times in 10-minute increments to allow each child time to browse and select a book.
Read Across America is a national initiative that promotes literacy and the joy of reading and has traditionally been tied to Dr. Seuss’s birthday. The local Lions Club chapter started its book giveaway program nearly two decades ago.
The Lions Club does a lot of great things in the community. A few weeks ago at a City Council meeting, club treasurer Tom Wright gave an interesting presentation about some of the things that the local chapter does here in town and mentioned that its membership has dwindled in recent years.
Look for a feature story on the Philomath Lions Club within the next few weeks.
3. Opportunity to learn about woodturning
Hand-turned wooden artworks on display, live demonstrations and even an opportunity to win a lathe all among the activities at next weekend’s Oregon Woodturning Symposium over at the Linn County Expo Center in Albany.
The biennial convention takes place March 14-16 with members of the public invited to explore the free Instant Gallery, which showcases over 200 woodturned pieces created by symposium attendees. Many pieces are available for purchase and visitors are encouraged to vote for their favorite in the “People’s Choice” award.
Also free to enter is the Vendor Showcase, where visitors can engage with vendors, see live product demonstrations and get insights into the best tools and resources for woodturning. Both areas are open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15.
Organizers said that the symposium brings together some of the world’s top woodturners, including 11 expert demonstrators such as Laurent Niclot, Kimberly Winkle, Curt Theobald and others. In all, there will be 50 demonstrations over three days with attendees able to ask questions and observe techniques firsthand. Registration is required for symposium demonstrations with options for full registration ($300) or single-day attendance ($185).
Raffle tickets, which include two lathes as grand prizes, are $1 each (maximum of 3,000 will be sold). A benefit auction (silent and live) is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Saturday on the grounds at Willamette Hall.
The event supports local communities through its Empty Bowls fundraiser. Woodturners are encouraged to donate handmade bowls to benefit the Linn Benton Food Share, with each bowl available for purchase at $25. All proceeds go directly to support food distribution in the region, which includes Philomath.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
