Quality Child Care and Boys & Girls Club combine efforts

10 December 2013

A Combination of Child Care

After a whirlwind courtship and romance, the non-profit Quality Child Care of Florence is now part of the Boys and Girls Club of Western Lane County.

Jonathan Hicks – “We are going to continue the mission of Quality Child Care of Florence which is to provide high quality child care for that six-week and up age group.”

Boys and Girls Club executive Jonathan Hicks said talks about the merger began about six weeks ago and was effective December 2^nd.

Hicks said the younger children will remain at the Quality Child Care facility near the Middle School while all pre-school aged children will be at the ABC Preschool housed in the New Life Lutheran Church.

Jonathan Hicks – “We’ve kind of restructured and reorganized a bit working with the parents to move the school age children over the ABC to keep the developmentally appropriate ages together.”

Quality Child Care opened a year ago after a nearly five year fund raising effort. It accepts children as young as six weeks old. The Boys and Girls Club recently opened a pre-school and child care facility for three and four-year olds.

Donation splits Board of County Commissioners

Four Lane County Commissioners each donated a thousand dollars from their personal office budgets to Eugene’s Egan Warming Centers this week to help homeless people.

The four; Sid Leiken, Jay Bozievich, Pat Farr, and Faye Stewart made the donations individually… but acted collectively.

The fifth commissioner, Peter Sorenson, declined to participate.

Farr had left a voicemail message for Sorenson asking him to consider the donation. Sorenson responded via email, saying the topic would be “best discussed in board meetings, rather than in a sequential discussion among the commissioners”, inferring that the request may have been a violation of the open meetings statutes.

Lane County Counsel Steve Dingle, who received a copy of Sorenson’s email, said Farr’s request did not violate the Oregon Public Meetings Law.

Some Oregon Beaches Eroding

A recent government report shows many of Oregon’s beaches are eroding faster than in recent decades, through a combination of less sand coming out of rivers, rising sea levels and bigger waves.

Researchers say 13 of 17 separate beach “regions” have shifted in one way or another over the past 50 years.

One of the hardest hit beaches is Beverly Beach, just north of Newport. Shoreline “change rates” have averaged more than three-and-a-half feet of erosion a year since the 1960s.

Paul Ruggiero is an associate professor at Oregon State University. He was the lead author of the report that was released yesterday by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Toy Donations Sought

Toy donations for the Community Christmas Basket project set for December 21^st have been set up in 22 different locations around the community.

Soroptimist President Carol Bennett says unwrapped gifts for boys and girls under the age of 12 can be left at any of the half-dozen banks and credit unions in Florence, plus 16 other locations.

Toys can be left between now and December 18^th. They’ll be collected and offered for distribution at the Florence Church of the Nazarene on the 21^st.

Toy Donation Locations

Oregon Pacific Bank

1st Community Credit Union

Siuslaw Bank

Sterling Savings Bank

US Bank

Washington Federal Savings

Lane Community College

321 Video

AIC Insurance

Coastal Fitness

Hoberg Auto Repair