During this time of staying at home, many of Eugene’s neighborhood associations have been prepared for catastrophic events such as storms, fires, and the potential Cascadia earthquake. Although a pandemic was not initially in the plans, the Southeast Neighborhood Association Incident Command Structure was activated by our Disaster Preparedness Team.
In our Spring SEN Newsletter, there was an article about four South Eugene neighborhoods (Amazon, Friendly, Southeast and South Hills) that have banded together to create a collaborative RECOVERS internet page. This coalition has trained 15 volunteers to monitor the RECOVERS page and connect those in need with those who can assist them. The NHAs have also set up a hotline to take calls for help from neighbors not using the internet.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, neighborhood associations have been working collectively through the Neighborhood Leaders Council. Eugene’s neighborhood associations are playing a critical role in our community’s response by serving as a trusted communicator of messaging from the city, county and federal governments. With our city outreach funds we are able to mail this information to every household, reaching tens of thousands of residents. The city needs to keep these outreach funds available thru the next year for the well-being of the community. These groups of volunteers are always a great resource, especially in these times of need.
I would like to commend all those participants that have devoted countless hours to help serve their neighbors in this time of emotional and physical need. Thank you.
Dennis Hebert
Chair, Southeast Neighborhood Association
Eugene
A Note From the Publisher
Dear Readers,
The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.
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Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.
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Thank you for standing with us!
Publisher
Eugene Weekly
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