Poverty Awareness Ride
A cross country trek to bring awareness to poverty will be kicking off from Florence on Monday Morning. The Coast to coast fundraiser, Pedaling to End Poverty, will leave Florence at 9 am Monday morning with Utah State University professor Mike Glauser. Glauser will begin his nearly 2 month bike ride across the continent with 5 of his colleagues and a documentary film crew that will end on July 20th in Yorktown Virginia. Glauser says ending poverty is not just a pipe dream, he says his students have already affected more than 10,000 people in Ghana, the Dominican Republic, Cambodia and Peru on how to start and grow successful businesses transforming their lives, the lives of their families, employees and their communities. The innovative and nationally acclaimed program is called SEED, for Small Enterprise Education and Development. Students from any university can apply for the one semester international program, learning invaluable experience in being an entrepreneur and teaching and mentoring others. At 8 am Monday morning Driftwood Shores will be giving the professor a send off with a breakfast, the public is invited to attend.
Lane County Board of Commissioners
The Lane County Board of Commissioners will meet in executive session on Wednesday June 5th at 10 am. On their agenda is an update regarding the Holiday Farm Fire litigation. They will meet again for another executive session later that day at 1:30 pm to discuss a memo surrounding attorney client privilege.
Shelter Beds
As part of Governor Tina Kotek’s focus on homelessness the Oregon Housing and Community Services announced the doubling of new shelter beds for rural communities, including Florence. 216 new shelter beds have been added to rural areas. The state goal set for this year and part way into next year is the housing of 450 households. In addition the agency also funded eleven high-impact Shelter plans in 10 communities. They have also set up a new internet dashboard where individuals can track the progress of OHCS.
Airport Offers Direct Flights to Denver
Southwest Oregon Regional Airport in North Bend has begun non-stop flights to Denver. The seasonal routes began Wednesday and run through Wednesday through Sunday weekly through October 23rd. Roger Craddock the airport’s executive director says this opens up a major gateway for tourists to the area as well as those looking for a central hub to other destinations. The flights are offered through United Express a Skywest Operator.
