Check keeps sawdust flying

Students in Sisters High School’s woodshop put down their hammers and drills for a moment last week to watch the presentation of a check for $24,000 that assured their future wages.

The students were part of the Heart of Oregon Corps (HOC), a program administered through the Sisters alternative (Flex) school program for youth who have dropped out of school.

The program provides them with an opportunity to gain job skills and education and at the same time earn a wage for their work.

David McDaniels, Executive Director of the Central Oregon Partnership, presented the check to Judy Trego, Community Advocate for the Community Action Team of Sisters (CATS).

David Holmes, Director of HOC, stood aside to let Trego accept the check on behalf of HOC. Trego was instrumental in applying for the grant on behalf of HOC.

The occasion was doubly meaningful, literally, as it was announced that the Maybelle MacDonald Fund of Portland was matching the grant; $24,000 had just become $48,000.

Dan Saraceno, Sisters High School counselor, heads up the local program.

He describes himself as, “Assistant to the director, grant finder, dollar finder, and coordinator with other school districts.”

HOC is a two-phase program: In summer about 120 youth are involved in forest and grassland protection and restoration; the school-year program employs about 25 students.

Klamath Falls native Dave Holmes joined the army out of an Oregon state camp for youth offenders. He says, “At one time my name in the paper was most likely an indication of another kid in trouble.”

When he retired from the Army Holmes told a reporter, “I am going home to Oregon to work with kids.”

In 2000 Holmes and his colleagues founded HOC, a nonprofit agency that works with youths in a natural environment and provides them with incentives to use their time productively.

With the help of Northwest foundations, HOC has been able to keep troubled youth interested and involved in summer work projects for federal forest agencies. They have been particularly welcomed as federal funding has dried up.

HOC crews have worked on many aspects of forest and grassland preservation: Juniper eradication, noxious weed reduction, riparian protection, and forest fuel reduction.

In its first year, HOC was the largest nonprofit youth conservation corps in the nation. Community partners now include Oregon Youth Conservation Corps, Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council, and Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests. Crews come from Crook County, Sisters, Bend, La Pine and Fort Rock.

Deschutes County Circuit Court Judge Stephen Forte wholeheartedly supports the program: “Kids who are in trouble tend to be disconnected from their community. If these kids are working to improve our woods, there’s a high likelihood I won’t see them in my courtroom because they’re going to have some ownership in the community.”

During the school year HOC runs four crews. Saraceno looks for dropouts, “Kids who are not in school.” He has proposed to school superintendents in the area, “We know there are kids out there who are getting into trouble and are having a difficult time getting hooked into the school system. If we can hook them through a jobs program and provide them with an education, will you release them to the Sisters Alternative School?”

They have all agreed. So when a teen (ages 15 to 18) applies for the program, Saraceno checks with the appropriate school district regarding eligibility.

As he says, “The last thing we want to do is take kids out of regular school.”

Some participants are only a few credits from a high school diploma. By providing work-for-pay three days a week, Saraceno keeps them interested in academics the other two days.

Last year, five students earned enough credits to encourage them to re-enroll in “regular” school and finish the requirements for their diploma. Saraceno observed, “Not only are they ready to tackle the core subjects but they are so much more mature. They see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The next phase, according to Saraceno, is to make the program self-sustaining. That opportunity came when Central Oregon Community College (COCC) lost funding for its vocational cabinetmaking program. COCC agreed to work with HOC to put the equipment and curriculum into the Sisters High School woodshop.

With grant money to hire a specialist to oversee the cabinet-making program and to pay the youths a minimum wage, the program got off the ground.

HOC now provides custom cabinets for Sisters Habitat for Humanity homes.

The sustainability part comes next.

HOC now has a brochure listing four custom wood products for sale to the public: a multi-wood laminated cutting board, a blue-buggy pine quilt rack, Adirondack chairs (several sizes), and matching side tables.

With the help of local businesses they will launch their first marketing program this spring. Meanwhile interested persons can contact HOC at 815-7227 or utilize order forms available online at heartoforegoncorps.com.

Saraceno concluded, “The more we help kids in this region, pull kids together, and put our heads together to figure out ways to create environments where every kid feels like they belong and are successful, we all win.”