Two Ashland groups need volunteers to host, serve, and prepare meals on Saturdays and Sundays
By Debora Gordon for Ashland.news
Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice and Southern Oregon Housing for All will host an orientation and training for new volunteers from 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 11, in the Gresham Room of the Ashland Public Library, at 410 Siskiyou Blvd.
The two organizations need volunteers to host guests and prepare food for meals that are served at the Ashland Public Library and “night lawn” in front of the Ashland Police Department.
Three meals a day are served at the library during the weekend. The meals will continue to be served through Labor Day.
The volunteer duties — from hosting to preparing food — will be explained. Helena Turner, with Street Nurses, an Oregon Health & Science University team of nurses that helps the unhoused, will facilitate a discussion about trauma-informed care.
Unhoused guests are provided with meals when the library is closed, so they don’t have to be out in the heat during the shortened weekend hours. A cooling center is open at the Ashland Public Library on days when the temperature exceeds 95 degrees.
A meal is served every morning at the “night lawn” near the Ashland Police Department at 1155 E. Main St. During the day, a storage shed is made available so people do not have to carry their belongings.
Volunteers are needed for an hour each morning and one hour each evening.
Many commit to just an hour a week, although any amount of time is welcome.
Mary Heckenlaible, 79, prepares the food. She said she is very appreciative of the opportunity to provide sustenance to the participants.
“Very simply, I have been providing food to the unhoused community for about a year. It started out at the night lawn last summer, providing breakfast and coffee, and then as the shelter opened up, that became a little bit more involved, taking food to the shelter and some kitchen management a little bit,” she said. “I just continue right now once a week, but, very often turns out to be more than that.”
Heckenlaible notes the gratitude from those receiving the meals.
“It is absolutely heartwarming,” she said. “I just simply provide food and enjoy the appreciation. I’m the recipient of that. I do not have any negative experiences at all. It’s a wonderful thing to be doing.”
Those receiving the meals meet her as she arrives, Heckenliable said.
“When I drive up, they’re right there,” she said. “They help me unpack the car, take out the coffee.”
There are afternoon and evening training sessions for potential volunteers, she said.
Heckenlaible said not only does she witness the gratitude by volunteering, “but it’s also an opportunity for me to see everyone as equals regardless of their circumstances.”
Volunteer coordinator Avram Sacks, who was hired last year to run the cooling center, said he also wants to encourage others to participate in a variety of ways.
The Monday training will include an orientation and training, according to Sacks. He said those interested in volunteering are invited to come and hear about the different options, including opportunities to be a host, which will be explained in more detail at the training.
Sacks said the range of the program is extensive.
“There is a meal in action that volunteers serve to the homeless every day of the week,” he said. “And all the meals are looking for people who want to help,” Sacks said.
He said the program needs volunteers on Saturday and Sunday for breakfast from 9 a.m. to noon. The organization also needs help for dinner, from 5 to 7 p.m., according to Sacks.
The center needs a minimum of two hosts during operating hours, according to Sacks. He said the hosts are in charge of the space. They greet, take care of people, and serve meals. Sacks said the center also needs volunteers to prepare food.
Debora Gordon is a writer, artist, educator and non-violence activist who moved to Ashland from Oakland, California. Email her at debora.ashlandnews@gmail.com.
