Affordable Housing Units
Dents are being made in the scarcity of affordable housing in Florence with a project well underway on highway 101 near the Presbyterian Church of the Siuslaw with continuing efforts to bring even more on line. A separate project that hopes to be underway in the next year will be the property that once was the High School ball field on Quince. Jacob Fox is the executive Director of Homes for Good and they have acquired the property with plans for building 80plus units in one, two and three bedroom floor plans. Fox says they pattern each build according to specific needs.
“We don’t come in to rural communities and use the same template that we use in the Eugene Springfield area, we really listen to the community and develop housing that meets the needs of the specific community.”
Fox says the process is complicated as they have to vie for funding. The process is underway and they should be notified by summer as to whether or not they receive, but he is confident that either through their current source or another one they will be moving forward
“We’re tenacious, and we don’t give up so we’re 100% committed to delivering units here in Florence.”
Fox and Homes for Good Real Estate Development director Steve Ochs join us for the April Our Town.
Suicide Prevention Conference
May 6th the Florence Elks Lodge will host a talk on suicide prevention that will focus on veterans but will also include elder and youth problems. Will Wagner is from the vet center in Eugene. He says that at a high point there were as many as 22 veterans a day taking their own lives through suicide, but he also says lately that the number has been coming down due to the work of organizations like the vet center to connect.
“we’ll walk into situations where people are just overwhelmed and they want somebody to listen and I think that’s one of the biggest parts is having real time access when you need it.”
The May 6th conference will feature guest speaker Donna Marie Drucker a QPR certified suicide prevention specialists.
SpongeBob the Musical
It is going to be the biggest production so far for the Childrens Repertory of Oregon Workshops. Tens of thousands of dollars have gone into the Spongebob the Musical show that will be at the Florence Events Center beginning April 14th. Based loosely on the Spongebob cartoon that often features spatterings of adult humor, CROW director Melanie Heard says the musical has none of that and is a very family friendly show.
“The Musical is very Whimsical its very colorful and the themes are things like heroism, and friendships and overcoming obstacles together and working together to save their small town, so small town pride, which is kind of a great theme for Florence.”
Heard says they were able to receive a large chunk of the production costs from a grant from Three Rivers Casino Resort, but that they are a long way to covering the total cost. They are counting on other possible grants and filling the theater at the FEC to cover the rest. The production will go for two weekends beginning April 14th and complete information is available at crowkids.com.