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JVC Updates

Two - August 13

Hello again everyone!
Well I made it safely all the way out here to
beautiful Woodburn, Oregon just in time to enjoy
the last few weeks of the sunny (and dry) Oregon
summer, an opportunity which I am very thankful for. The
rainy season starts in a month or two, so in the
meantime I'm looking forward to taking a side trip
or two with my four housemates (if money and/or time
allows) to the coast or to Mt. Hood, both of which
are within 2 hours driving distance in our community car.
I am continually amazed at the huge trees and
natural beauty I am surrounded in, as well as the amazing
diversity of crops that are grown here, including
grapes, many different kinds of berries, wheat,
corn, grass seed, and bulb flowers as well as what seems
like a good percentage of the country's christmas
trees and probably many other things that I can't
identify yet. I have been told that the soil is
so fertile becuase we are in the Willamette
(pronounced will-AM-ette) River Valley... this was the final
destination of the Oregon Trail. Woodburn was
settled after the railroad came through much later and was
a major berry-packing center (about halfway between
Salem -- the state capital -- and Portland -- the
state's largest city). Now the town is medium
sized (~20,000), predominantly Hispanic (almost all the
shops and signs are bilingual), and one of the
poorest areas in the state. The people here have a tough
time making ends meet when there is a drought during
the growing season (like now) and nearly every year in
thelate winter/early spring time, when there is
little work in between growing seasons.
There is also a large retirement community at the
edge of town as well as a number of old-world Russian
families, so there is definitely a diversity of
need in Woodburn. Which is where my job as a Jesuit
Volunteer comes in (hopefully). JVC has been in
Woodburn since 1975 (all the pictures of the past
volunteers are up in our living room), and this
year there are 5 of us... four girls and me. Our
community has developed very quickly and we enjoy each
other's company and are looking forward to starting at our
agencies tomorrow. Three of the girls will be
helping in Salem (Clare and Sarah will be at a center for
transitional living for teenagers, and Katie will
be working at a food bank), and Becky and I will be
working across the street at St. Luke's parish, a
beautifully restored mission-style church(Becky
will be teaching religious education to the 2nd grade
at the elementary school, and I'll be working in the
parish office as the social services coordinator
and in senior ministry). In the past they have had
two JV's for my two jobs, but due to budget cuts, they
want to combine them. My first challenge will be
to decide how much I'll be able to do of each job,
and try to delagate the rest to the parishoners. It's
hard to believe that our first full day in
Woodburn was only yesterday, and so much has happened here
already... it's pretty overwhelming. I just pray
each day that God gives me the ability to help whoever
I can in this new life as a social worker, even if
that means just listening (which might be all I can do
sometimes). My community here is strong however,
and will be a wonderful support when I need it. At
the request of the girls in fact, I HAVE begun posting
my 5-day forecast in the house, which I'm going to
update every two days... (and maybe put my meteorological
skills to use after all!)
The picture I have attached this time is of the
five of us in front of our house on the day we moved
in.
One of the girls decided we should call ourselves
the W5-O (as in Hawaii 5-O), since there are 5 of us
and we live in Woodburn, Oregon. So the girls are
doing their W5-O symbol in the picture... don't ask.
ALSO, Southwest Airlines put flights to and from
Portland on sale today for $94 or less each way (if
you purchase before Thursday) for flights through
the end of January. So if you've been debating on
whether or not you want to visit me... here's your chance
to buy your ticket!!
That's all for now, hope everyone has a wonderful
day, and know that I'm thinking about you and miss you all!

-Eric