PROMOTING THE COMMUNITY
Doubling Up to Help Local News Matching fund drive boosts community conversation in southern Oregon December 7, 2020 | Press release F or the first time, a southern Oregon community news magazine is taking part in a matching fund drive so nonprofit newsrooms can keep doing essential work informing civic conversations. The Applegater recently joined an association of nonprofit news organizations swimming against a tide of news outlet closures with the help of the nationwide NewsMatch program, which doubles donations through the end of the month. The local news publication has served the 20,000 residents of the 700-square-mile Applegate River watershed straddling Jackson and Josephine counties since 1994. Until this year, it subsisted on income from fundraisers, donations, and advertising. Cancelation of in-person resources with others in similar straits, the Applegater applied for membership in the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). After acceptance as one of INN’s 300 nonprofit media organization members in North America, and the third in Oregon, the Applegater qualified to take part in NewsMatch, a collaboration between newsrooms, funders, and industry experts designed to strengthen the fundraising capabilities of nonprofit newsrooms. This year’s NewsMatch theme, “news for the people, with the people” reflects the increased public awareness of the essential need for credible news in this crisis-ridden year as well as Americans’ willingness to support news as a public good, organizers said in a news release. Until December 31, every donation of any size will be matched, doubling its value to the Applegater and making it possible to continue publication of the community newsmagazine. To encourage ongoing donations, NewsMatch will match the full-year value of monthly fundraising events due to the pandemic outbreak early this year left the Applegater , like many nonprofits, cut off from one of its primary revenue sources. Searching for a way to combine
1 Winter 2020 Applegater
Celebrating Photo by Ann Nguyen • applegater.org ~26~
Serving Jackson and Josephine Counties — Circulation: 13,000 Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine
WINTER 2020 Volume 13, No. 4
Years
Long-lost story of pioneer blacksmith re-emerges BY SUZIE SAVOIE
NewsMatch doubles donations through year’s end Want to make your money go farther? Support your community newspaper this month! As newly minted members of the Institute for Nonprofit News, the Applegater is eligible for NewsMatch, a matching-gift campaign benefiting nonprofit news groups across the nation. Until December 31, every donation you make of any size will be matched, doubling its value to the Applegater — and making it possible for us to continue publication of your community newspaper through the new year. Better yet: If you decide to make a monthly donation (highly recommended), NewsMatch will match the full-year value of your pledge, not just the first month’s amount—for example, a new $10/month donation that starts in December will be eligible for a $120 match! This is an excellent time to be extra generous in your donation to the Applegater. Use the enclosed envelope to send us a check, or donate online on our Facebook page or on our website home page at applegater.org. Thank you so much! We love you for your support. A great time to give
Benjamin Johnson lived for at least two years near Ruch in 1868 and 1869, just long enough to leave a lasting legacy in the Applegate Valley. Ben was born into
slavery in Alabama in 1834 and eventually made his way to Uniontown, Oregon, as a freed slave. Uniontown was at the mouth of the Little Applegate River during the mining era. Ben worked for Theodoric Cameron, the founder of Uniontown, built a blacksmith shop, and prospected at the base of the mountain that would become known as “(racial epithet) Ben Mountain.” By all accounts he was respected in the community and was known as a skilled blacksmith. Ben eventually moved north to Albany, and on New Year’s Eve in 1870 he married Amanda Gardner Johnson, a former slave who had come west with the Deckard family in 1853 when she was 16. Although
Ben and Amanda Gardner Johnson, Oregon pioneers and among Oregon’s first Black citizens. Photo: Courtesy of the Lane County History Museum.
the Deckards had freed their slaves, according to the Lane County History Museum Digital Collections, “Amanda postponed her marriage to Johnson for five years while she cared for her former mistress, Elizabeth Deckard Snodgrass,
The Applegater applegater.org gater@applegater.org, 541-631-1313
See BLACKSMITH, page 13
Crafts, music, and theater during the pandemic BY DIANA COOGLE
wanting to support Oregon food during the pandemic have patronized By George Farm. While most theaters have had to close, Wanderlust Theater, at LongSword Winery, was doubly lucky because (1) their shows are moving, outdoor spectacles, so audience members can be safely distanced on the twenty-two acres of LongSword Vineyard, and (2) their next show, Dracula , was already scheduled for spring 2021. Auditions were socially distanced, with masks. Many crafts-fair vendors have begun looking for outside jobs.
pubs—venues now mostly unavailable. Kevin estimates he has lost a third to half of his income. The loss for the English Lavender Farm, on Thompson Creek Road, is around 40 percent. Shanna Rose, also in Williams, who makes “wear the forest” clothes, estimates a $10,000 loss. Clothing vendors were hit especially hard because, Shanna says, “COVID restrictions excluded textiles.” Food vendors were luckier: theirs is an essential service. Sales at By George Farm, on Yale Creek, were down about 10-20 percent. Into the gap have stepped good-hearted people. More customers than usual have been buying directly from Williams artist Serene Dussell, who makes hemp clothing, since the pandemic forced the closure of the store that carried her wares. Grocers
In spite of the pandemic, Peg Pragg, co-founder of Pacifica Garden in Williams, was reluctant to cancel Pacifica’s annual Winter Arts Fest. “I think right now people need a big fix of ‘community,’” she said, so she and others figured out how to make it work: only 15 vendors, masks required, numbers limited, and no food or live music, and for just seven hours on one day, November 29. An abbreviated Winter Fest. No Jacksonville Market last summer. Closed or coronavirus-adjusted local markets, stores, crafts fairs, and festivals. These changes have not been easy for Applegate artists and musicians. “The hit has been substantial,” admits Williams musician Barbara Mendelsohn, who plays music with Kevin Carr at dances, festivals, music camps, and
See CRAFTS, page 8 ISSUE HOLIDAY - ARTS Some, like musician Kevin Carr, who is also a licensed counselor working online, have put more energy into already existing side jobs. Barbara Mendelsohn, an artist as well as a musician, is “trying harder to Serene Dussell at work.
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Local Postal Customer
pledges, not just the first month’s amount, so a new $10/ month donation that starts in December will be eligible for a $120 match. Donations may be made on the Applegater homepage at applegater.org, or through the NewsMatch website at newsmatch.org (search for Applegater ). The Applegate Valley Community Newsmagazine organization’s goal is to provide the many communities of the Applegate Watershed with a communication vehicle, the Applegater, that will provide educational information, increase community capacity and enrich our lives. Through honest, constructive, relevant and entertaining reports on a wide variety of subjects and viewpoints, including our natural resources, historical and current events, and community news, we can work together to maintain the quality of life that drew us to the Applegate in the first place, and continue to make a difference in our Valley.
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The Business Review | December 2020
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