6 n May 16, 2013 n North Coast Citizen n Manzanita, Oregon
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Finding hope in the small things around us Finding hope is a daunting task in today’s world. Yet, I’m determined to find ways, paths and moments, there if one pays attention. Having just returned from the wide-open beauty of the Southwest Sonoran Desert, I’m awash with the glory of spring in the Pacific Northwest and green pastures in our county where we have more cows than people. The grass is miracle enough, but there are the swelling buds of the rhododendrons and lilacs to give me hope as well as the honking of Canada geese in their Vshaped flight pattern above. In the garden, seedlings uncurl; the forsythia blooms and songbirds arrive with their Hallelujah chorus. It’s hard to feel hope in a world where bad things happen to good people. A
new normal seems to be evolving. The unthinkable happens, and we have no lifeboat. Experts say we now have a generation who has no idea what it’s like to fly on an airplane without first taking off shoes and going through a metal detector. After the Boston Marathon bombings, newscaster Brian Williams said, “In times like these, we all need a comfort dog.” I agree. I miss my dog, Buddy, the silky-eared, brown-eyed loyal companion, who with his presence alone convinced me that all was right with the world, at least for a moment. In Green Valley, Arizona, a community where I’ve had the opportunity to live and teach over the last few months, one of my students said of us retirees that we’re all “getting to the end of the
runway.” We may be, but time, this group of “endthere wasn’t much sign of of-the-runway” volunteers slowing down in inspired me. They raked stalls, filled that community water barrels and where the over-60 crowd put a new feed troughs. This face on aging by cadre of kind kicking up their people spoke to these horses in heels at the folsoft unthreatenlies, hiking steep mountains, writing voices calling ing their memoirs them by name or creating art. – Smokey Joe, Taylor, Rio – in an That was in addition to giving effort to gain trust their time to an where none had array of causes existed before. from preservI found hope in a group called ing historic ranches to saving the Green ValGail horses. Equine ley Samaritans Balden Voices Rescue who are passionate about giving and Sanctuary, dedicated to savhumanitarian aid ing abused and abandoned to migrants crossing the rughorses, was one place where ged Arizona desert in search of a better life. Over 5,000 I volunteered weekly. Each
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men, women and children have died in the desert over the last 15 years with an estimated 200 to 500 dying yearly, mostly of exposure to the elements. While I hold hope that our country continues to work on the root issues associated with immigration, the humanitarian crisis continues and is visible on the desperate faces of those deported to the Mexico/U.S. border daily. At an aid station in Nogales, Sonora, called el comedor, I helped serve 150 hot meals to the men, women and children deported to the border that day, including a ten-year-old boy with two sprained ankles. Most migrants would sleep in the cemetery that night, their only option. As we passed out a change of clothes and a dignity kit filled with tooth-
brush, toothpaste, a comb, and bar of soap, it was in the anxious faces of these people, in their patience, politeness, and gratitude for a meal or new pair of socks, that I found hope. As for the problems of today’s world, I consider the words of Gertrude Stein: There ain’t no answer. There ain’t going to be any answer. There never has been an answer. That’s the answer. Maybe. So, I rest in the mystery and do what I can, where I can. As I write this, bees cover the shrubs outside my window, the rhododendron explodes in an umbrella of creamy peach, and pink cherry blossoms drift in the breeze to land softly on the earth, carpeting my path. Spring comes, and with it, hope.
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n Preschool
He believes the new emphasis on preschool will help school children get a head start for success in school. “We know a lot of student will benefit from the program. Data shows that it works, students can be taught at an early age. Aside from that, we have the facility and an excellent certified instructor in Angie,” said Erlebach. “Language is the key, building vocabulary,” said Douma. “I know the kids that go through this program are ready for kindergarten.” In addition to polishing language skills, the preschool program focuses on social and emotional development, motor skills, recognizing numbers and letters of the alphabet, science, arts and crafts, along with recess periods to get outside and exercise. Though Douma heads up the program, she receives help from volunteers, most noticeably high school students, who, with an expressed desire to pursue a career in education, assist in classroom exercises. The preschool program isn’t free, but at $1,070 for the entire school year, September through the end of May, Douma, the mother of two youngsters, sees it as a good value. “It amounts to $2 per hour or $6 a day. You can’t find daycare for that amount. We really want to reach those families that
don’t think they can afford it,” said Douma, noting that a sliding fee scale and a payment plan are available through the school district. To help fund the expanded preschool program resources were reallocated, according to Erlebach. Physical education classes at the middle school and high school will be larger next year, some supply budgets were reduced and how the district approaches staff development was re-examined to cut costs in those areas. “This is a priority. The sooner we can intervene and help those students that need help, the better off they will be,” said Erlebach. “Studies show that reading proficiency at the third-grad level is key. It’s an indicator of later success in school and in life.” “Kids need preschool and the pre-academic skills they receive there,” Douma added. “We’re like pioneers, this is not common throughout the state. Most districts don’t have preschool at all.” To learn more about the program, transportation, or to enroll your child beginning next fall, call Angie Douma at (503) 355-3508 up through June 14, after which time you may call the Neah-Kah-Nie School District office at (503) 355-2222. Eligible children must be four years old by Sept. 1, 2013.
From page 1 upwards of 25 being served by the Head Start preschool program and New Discoveries Preschool in Nehalem. That leaves 40 to 50 children the NKN School District hopes to enroll next fall in its five-day-a-week program. Preschool isn’t new to Neah-Kah-Nie, but the commitment to expand the program and offer transportation is, according to Angie Douma, a certified preschool instructor who is in her ninth year with the school district. Douma, who says she knew she wanted to be a teacher ever since the fourth grade, has taught at the elementary level, mostly kindergarten during her tenure. “Preschool has evolved over the years at Neah-KahNie,” said Douma, and now it’s ready to take the next step. “This is something the district has wanted to do for a long time. I look at it as an investment in our children that will have a long-term gain. We need to catch kids early, it does make a difference.” Erlebach looks at 62 percent of the students taking advantage of the free and reduced rate lunch offered by schools and sees it as an indicator of the poverty rate in north Tillamook County.
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