[ad_1]
Philomas City Councilwoman Teresa Nielson wants to shop local, which includes going to the grocery store.
Nelson was trying to come up with a solution for a city whose population has grown by more than 1,300 people in the past dozen years, and she believed WinCo might be of interest to her. WinCo is a grocery chain that operates Waremart stores in smaller markets. — Independence, Keizer and Ontario are examples.
“I have been recruiting for a grocery store for our town…several emails back and forth and new flyers and social media posts asking the citizens of Philomath to contact WinCo to apply for a store if they are interested in opening a grocery store. . ”
Ray’s Food Place closed in January 2014, and past council members, mayors and city managers have struggled to drum up interest over the years. Dollar General opened in February 2017 and offers shopping options, but those options are limited compared to full-fledged grocery stores. Over the past few years, the Philomath Farmers Market has become another option for purchasing produce and a few other items.
“The more ‘new store requests’ WinCo Foods receives, the more likely the company will consider opening a grocery store in Philomath,” Nelson said in the flyer.
Nelson has been involved in the grocery store project as a private citizen — she first proposed WinCo about a year ago — but now the entire City Council appears to be supportive of the efforts, deciding to add it as a project in Philomath’s strategic plan.
“At this point, unless I hear input from this agency, I feel like I have some freedom to continue to push this forward and help this effort, even though some think it may be futile – our population is not yet To 10,000,” Workman laughed. “We’re not talking about spending a lot of time, a lot of effort, but there are small things we can do to help drive this effort, and I’m more than happy to do that with the instructions I’ve received tonight.”
Nielsen wants people in Philomath to contact WinCo via a flyer that includes a QR code that will take you to this customer service page.
2. Employment assistance for Interfor employees
Northwest Oregon Works, a Lincoln-based nonprofit serving Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Lincoln and Tillamook counties, organized two events to help those affected by the Philomath saw Interfor employees affected by wood mill closure.
According to its website, Northwest Oregon Works “invests federal, state and local funds in individual career development and businesses to bridge the gap between employers and prospective employees.” The organization is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Board. Benton County Commissioner Pat Malone, of Kings Valley, is a member of the Northwest Oregon Workforce Alliance.
The first of two events for Interfor employees on Friday was a “rapid response” session, which the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Board described as an effort to “get affected workers back as quickly as possible after a layoff or job loss.” jobs” activities. Avoid unemployment altogether. ”
On March 8th, Interfor employees will be able to attend a job fair organized for them. At the job fair, Northwest Oregon Works program director said up to 11 employers will be in attendance and Interfor employees (which will not be open to the public) will have two hours to contact them, schedule interviews and more.
“I’m really impressed with how quickly this happened and the effort that went into making this happen,” Philomas City Manager Chris Workman said.
Philomath-based Alyrica Networks is on the list of potential employers planning to attend the job fair, along with Daxbot and Oregon State University Facilities Services. Several others are wood industry-related companies.
Friday’s rapid response meeting included information about various employment and education programs and the services available to them, and also covered topics such as health insurance and food assistance programs.
3. C2C Trail Fundraising Runner
Come May 18, locals may notice (if you’re an early riser) a group of runners making their way through town on the Philomath section of the Corvallis to Seaside Trail. A team of 23 runners (16 in relays and 7 individuals) signed up to run the entire 60-mile distance.
These runners include those from OSU’s Department of Integrative Biology and others in the cross-country running community. They planned to start running at 3 a.m. on Saturday that spring.
The runners are participating as part of an experiential learning fundraiser for undergraduate students in OSU’s Department of Integrative Biology.
“The definition of experiential learning is ‘learning by doing,'” said Jalyn Devereaux, a graduate student at Oregon State University. “In the sciences, it is often assumed that for students to go on to professional courses, graduate school, or find employment in their field, they must provide evidence of certain skills. In larger institutions, acquiring these skills in the classroom may be is challenging and often requires students to participate in volunteer or unpaid positions in laboratories or internships to build their scientific tool belt.”
These funds benefit a wide range of students.
“Historically, students from minority groups and low-income families have had less opportunity to succeed in science because they cannot afford unpaid positions,” Devereux said. “This fund is designed to allow students to gain paid research and practical experience in our department’s labs and classrooms.”
For those interested in donating, the group has set up a web page.
(Brad Fuqua is publisher/editor of Philomath News. He can be reached at News@PhilomathNews.com).
[ad_2]
Source link