Help Elder Activist Repair Snow & Tree Damages
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Lois is our mother and she lives in the coastal divide mountains of Oregon where she moved our family by herself when we were children. She built her own home and is a master gardener. She is a bit of a pioneer and a lifelong activist and she is incredibly capable, but she is 74 years old.
Lois has always been active and integral in her community. She was the mom other children always envied us for having. Lois has always cared for others and made their well-being her sacred trust. She is currently the longest serving active volunteer for the US Relief Nursery (helping pre-school age children for over 10 years) and continues to be part of the longest held peace protest in the US (since 2001). She has protested nuclear proliferation/testing, fought for civil rights and accessibility, women's rights, been a fierce Queer ally (especially in her own family), taught teen moms parenting skills, and finished her paid career as a counselor for a high risk teen high school...These are just some examples of her good works. She has done more than her share-- though she'd disagree-- and still continues to whenever and wherever possible. Lois is an impeccable role model for world work.
She needs our help this time and we'd like to make it easier on her this once. Lois cannot afford nor physically complete these repairs from Oregon's recent snow storm.
Her small community (Gunter, OR) rec'd 18" of snow over night on Feb 24-25, 2018. They are normally out of cell phone coverage range, so she relies on a landline telephone. She was able to call out that first morning and let us know what happened throughout the night. After that first call, her phone line has been down and we have been relaying messages through friends/neighbors and family. They all agree she is the worst hit among them. All of them are without power and phone for up to one month.
The initial snow load brought down 3 trees onto her house, including her glassed in sun porch and her bed loft, causing complete destruction of the sun porch and some damage to her roof. When the sun came up she saw a new landscape: trees all around her house. Her propane tank (over 200 gallons) had ruptured due to a tree on top of it and was actively leaking all the gas (30% at time of leak) and threatening her home because her one remaining heat source was the wood fire in the house. Luckily the gas leak was obvious and she vented the house until the leak subsided. The ensuing snow load brought down the barn roof on top of all her tools (and mine), freezer w/ food, camping supplies, and generator. The propane line was ruptured by another series of tree falls.
Another 1-1.5 feet of snow fell in the next 2-3 days. Many parts of Oregon did not have the resources to help those in remote areas, so neighbors did it for each other. Lois' neighbors were no different and rose to the challenge, clearing 15 miles of the mountain roads of fallen trees and snow (primarily 3 families did this with chainsaws and 4x4 trucks over several days-- THANK YOU WITT-TINNES, CARPENTER, AND HARRIS FAMILIES). They are epic heroes in our books and we are going to do our level best to take care of them as this unfolds and in future; THERE WILL BE PIE. Lois has expressed that she is made joyous by the community support and togetherness. Amazingly, she is taking the damages in stride considering the amount of work and costs in front of us. That is apropos of Lois; she just carries on doing what needs to be done even though she has no idea how it is all going to be resolved...classic working class.
Here's what has happened after the storm:
The aforementioned neighbors brought her firewood and gas, then dug out her generator and helped set it up so she has limited electricity. They also CLEARED THE ROAD ALL THE WAY TO TOWN! They were the first to give us word of her condition and to help all of her neighbors. I'm sure they've done much more, but this was so much more than expected. WE LOVE YOU ALL! Because of their work, Jade (Lois' son, my brother) and Chase (her grandson, child of us all) were able to get to her and assess future repairs (thanks for the pics boys!).
Here's what we need to do:
Remove all trees/debris
Repair house roof and sun porch
Replace collapsed half of barn
Repair propane tank and line
Please show Lois the love and care she needs and deserves as an elder of our community in whatever ways you can. If you don't have money to give, please go out and give physical support or donate items to help others in need, AND definitely thank the wonderful folks who go out in horrible conditions and repair infrastructure (roads, utilities, etc). Please pass this on as we have a large goal and hope to spread it out as much as possible. Updates will follow on this page.
Thank you all!
Kristen Reid
Lois has always been active and integral in her community. She was the mom other children always envied us for having. Lois has always cared for others and made their well-being her sacred trust. She is currently the longest serving active volunteer for the US Relief Nursery (helping pre-school age children for over 10 years) and continues to be part of the longest held peace protest in the US (since 2001). She has protested nuclear proliferation/testing, fought for civil rights and accessibility, women's rights, been a fierce Queer ally (especially in her own family), taught teen moms parenting skills, and finished her paid career as a counselor for a high risk teen high school...These are just some examples of her good works. She has done more than her share-- though she'd disagree-- and still continues to whenever and wherever possible. Lois is an impeccable role model for world work.
She needs our help this time and we'd like to make it easier on her this once. Lois cannot afford nor physically complete these repairs from Oregon's recent snow storm.
Her small community (Gunter, OR) rec'd 18" of snow over night on Feb 24-25, 2018. They are normally out of cell phone coverage range, so she relies on a landline telephone. She was able to call out that first morning and let us know what happened throughout the night. After that first call, her phone line has been down and we have been relaying messages through friends/neighbors and family. They all agree she is the worst hit among them. All of them are without power and phone for up to one month.
The initial snow load brought down 3 trees onto her house, including her glassed in sun porch and her bed loft, causing complete destruction of the sun porch and some damage to her roof. When the sun came up she saw a new landscape: trees all around her house. Her propane tank (over 200 gallons) had ruptured due to a tree on top of it and was actively leaking all the gas (30% at time of leak) and threatening her home because her one remaining heat source was the wood fire in the house. Luckily the gas leak was obvious and she vented the house until the leak subsided. The ensuing snow load brought down the barn roof on top of all her tools (and mine), freezer w/ food, camping supplies, and generator. The propane line was ruptured by another series of tree falls.
Another 1-1.5 feet of snow fell in the next 2-3 days. Many parts of Oregon did not have the resources to help those in remote areas, so neighbors did it for each other. Lois' neighbors were no different and rose to the challenge, clearing 15 miles of the mountain roads of fallen trees and snow (primarily 3 families did this with chainsaws and 4x4 trucks over several days-- THANK YOU WITT-TINNES, CARPENTER, AND HARRIS FAMILIES). They are epic heroes in our books and we are going to do our level best to take care of them as this unfolds and in future; THERE WILL BE PIE. Lois has expressed that she is made joyous by the community support and togetherness. Amazingly, she is taking the damages in stride considering the amount of work and costs in front of us. That is apropos of Lois; she just carries on doing what needs to be done even though she has no idea how it is all going to be resolved...classic working class.
Here's what has happened after the storm:
The aforementioned neighbors brought her firewood and gas, then dug out her generator and helped set it up so she has limited electricity. They also CLEARED THE ROAD ALL THE WAY TO TOWN! They were the first to give us word of her condition and to help all of her neighbors. I'm sure they've done much more, but this was so much more than expected. WE LOVE YOU ALL! Because of their work, Jade (Lois' son, my brother) and Chase (her grandson, child of us all) were able to get to her and assess future repairs (thanks for the pics boys!).
Here's what we need to do:
Remove all trees/debris
Repair house roof and sun porch
Replace collapsed half of barn
Repair propane tank and line
Please show Lois the love and care she needs and deserves as an elder of our community in whatever ways you can. If you don't have money to give, please go out and give physical support or donate items to help others in need, AND definitely thank the wonderful folks who go out in horrible conditions and repair infrastructure (roads, utilities, etc). Please pass this on as we have a large goal and hope to spread it out as much as possible. Updates will follow on this page.
Thank you all!
Kristen Reid
Organizer
Kristen Reid
Organizer
Drain, OR
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