February food drive time at SOU

It’s February – food drive time at SOU

/in ,

It’s February, and at Southern Oregon University that means it’s time to support students who may have issues with food insecurity. President Rick Bailey recently appealed to SOU employees to donate this month during the Governor’s State Employee Food Drive, in which all food and funds gathered at SOU support the Student Food Pantry’s operations throughout the year.

SOU employees, alumni, families of students and community members all contribute generously to the annual food and fundraiser, demonstrating that the SOU community cares deeply about eliminating student hunger on campus.

The Student Food Pantry is an important resource for many SOU students. In the 2020-21 academic year, while classes were entirely remote, 113 individual students were served by the SOU Food Pantry.

“I use the Food Pantry once a week,” one student said in a survey last year of Food Pantry users. “The pick-up process is so easy that it makes getting supplemental food not scary or embarrassing.

“I have been able to focus more on my school work since I have been using the food pantry, as I no longer have to worry about having enough to eat to sustain me during the week.”

There are three ways to participate in this year’s food drive:

Donate Money: Anyone can make a one-time donation by visiting https://giving.sou.edu/food-pantry/. SOU employees are able to sign up for a monthly payroll contribution to provide ongoing support for the SOU Student Food Pantry. Donations of any size are appreciated. Employees are encouraged to take the “Governor’s Challenge” to donate $12 per month, or $144 for the year.

Fill-the-Bin Building Competition: Each SOU building has a collection bin for donating non-perishable food items. Red “food drive” bags are available at the bins, and employees should be on the lookout for detailed instructions in their campus mailbox. The building with the largest donation, by weight, wins the competition. Barrels will be collected and weighed on Friday Feb. 25.

Attend the Food Pantry Benefit Concert: Join SOU Music students for their free, annual fundraising event at the SOU Music Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8. SOU students collaborate and produce this free community concert with the goal of raising awareness of college student hunger needs. Admission is FREE with either a monetary or non-perishable food donation – all to benefit the SOU Student Food Pantry. Click here for more information.

The Student Food Pantry is one of many resources available to students facing financial difficulties. Any student facing food insecurity or a financial emergency is encouraged to first file an SOU Cares Note and someone from the Office of the Dean of Students can help access various financial and other assistance. In addition, the Basic Needs Resources website has a comprehensive list of other available resources. These include information about virtual assistance for students with a representative from the Oregon Department of Human Services, setting up an appointment with SOU’s new Campus Benefits Navigation Manager, SNAP benefits eligibility, and listings of rental, utility, transit, internet, food and other assistance options.

In addition to the formal resources available at SOU, there are many other ways the SOU community helps support and resource students facing financial difficulties. From staff and faculty stocking informal “snack stations” in various campus buildings, to advisors and employees submitting Cares Notes and referring students to resources, the SOU community cares about eliminating student hunger.

For more information and details on the February Food Drive please visit www.sou.edu/fooddrive.

Native American Program

SOU Native American Program to co-host vaccination clinics

/in

Southern Oregon University’s Native American Program is partnering with the local Natives of One Wind Indigenous Alliance to offer free COVID-19 vaccination clinics in February and March for anyone 5 years of age or older, and currently eligible for shots or boosters. There will even be free dinners for participants.

The clinics will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 11, and again on Friday, March 11, in Parking Lot 36, across South Mountain Avenue from the SOU Music Building.

Each clinic will offer vaccinations and boosters from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, supplied by the Oregon Health Authority. Dinners at this month’s event will be from the Tacos de Volada Food Truck, and paid for by the OHA and other involved organizations.

The vaccination project came together after the OHA reached out to SOU’s Native American Programs – which includes the Native American Studies program, Native American Student Union, Native Nation Liaison, Native American Advisory Council, Collins Collection, First Nations Collection and Konaway Nika Tillicum. Native American Programs then partnered with the Natives of One Wind Indigenous Alliance, which is itself a collaboration of the Red Earth Descendants and the UNETE Center for Farm Worker Advocacy.

Vaccines will be available for SOU students, employees and community members – anyone eligible for vaccination or booster shots. The free dinners are intended as a means of encouraging vaccination and reaching underserved populations with health information.

Those with questions about the clinics can contact Brook Colley, chair of SOU’s Native American Studies program, at colleyb@sou.edu.

Late wrestling coach leaves $3 million to SOU

Late wrestling coach leaves largest-ever gift to SOU

/in ,

(Ashland, Ore.) — Legendary Southern Oregon University wrestling coach Bob Riehm’s influence at SOU and within the wrestling program will continue in perpetuity, with a $3 million donation from his estate announced today that ranks as the largest-ever single gift to the university.

The bequest was announced by the university and his surviving sisters at a celebration of life held earlier today for Riehm, who passed away in November 2020. A third of the gift will endow the men’s wrestling head coach position at SOU, which will be named for Riehm, and two-thirds will fund scholarships for the team’s wrestlers.

“Bob Riehm inspired excellence from his student-athletes during his hall of fame career,” said SOU President Rick Bailey. “He was an exceptional leader, coach and mentor, and we are honored to celebrate his legacy today and into the future.”

Riehm, who died at age 83, coached the school’s wrestling program for 25 years beginning in 1969, winning three national championships and mentoring 100 NAIA All-Americans. He compiled a 270-71-2 career record and has been inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame, the Oregon Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and the SOU Sports Hall of Fame.

“As a coach and mentor, Coach Riehm made an immeasurable impact on the lives of so many student-athletes who came through his program,” SOU Athletic Director Matt Sayre said. “His legacy, first and foremost, will always be that. This gift’s significance is an enduring reminder of his commitment to SOU, the sport of wrestling, our student-athletes and coaches. He will continue to be a positive and tangible contributor to the development of them all.”

Riehm’s first Southern Oregon team went 7-7 in dual matches, but his Raiders teams never again came close to a losing record. His ninth season, in 1977-78, brought the school’s first-ever national title. His team won another title five years later, in an undefeated season capped by back-to-back wins over the University of Oregon and Oregon State University. His team won a third NAIA championship in the 1993-94 season, his last as head coach.

The gymnasium inside SOU’s former McNeal Pavilion was named Bob Riehm Arena in 2011, at the conclusion of a fund drive in his honor that raised more than $100,000 for scholarships and equipment. Riehm Arena, now in Lithia Motors Pavilion, continues to serve as the center of competition for the university’s men’s and women’s wrestling teams.

Riehm was born in Britt, Iowa, and wrestled at the University of Iowa, where he graduated in 1960.

-SOU-

Grant will fund the Indigenous Gardens Network

Indigenous Gardens Network again receives Oregon Cultural Trust grant

/in ,

(Ashland, Ore.) —  Southern Oregon University, tribal partners and others have received a $30,154 grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust to continue the work of the Indigenous Gardens Network – a hub for Indigenous-led land projects centering on food sovereignty, land stewardship, educational opportunities and habitat restoration.

The purpose of the Indigenous Gardens Network is to provide accessibility to land and “first foods” for tribal communities. First foods are plant and animal species that Native Americans traditionally relied upon for subsistence, medicine and ceremonial uses. The network consists of a tribal steering committee and working groups with citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz and the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. Their Indigenous knowledge and expertise of cultivation, harvesting and stewardship inform and direct each project that the network takes on.

Projects from the past year included listening sessions on barriers to land accessibility for tribal people, planning meetings, site visits, the creation of working groups, an online Acorn Camp, a First Food Stewardship planning project at Vesper Meadow, development of a Shasta/Takelma Learning Garden at SOU and the purchase of acorn processing equipment and camas restoration tools.

“The Oregon Cultural Trust grant will enable the continuation of projects and initiatives that uplift Indigenous food sovereignty and kinship practices, and that center ceremony, Indigenous storytelling and creativity,” said Joe Scott (Siletz), IGN member and curriculum director for the Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program. “These projects also confront threats to the larger community by supporting traditional tending practices that reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire, mitigate the impacts of climate change and help provide clean water.”

“Ever since our people were marched from the Rogue Valley at the end of the Rogue River Wars to the Siletz Reservation in 1856 and 1857, our people have suffered from loss of close connection to those homelands, the comfort, foods and sense of belonging that they provided our people for millennia,“ said Robert Kentta (Shasta & Dakubetede ancestry), cultural resources director and Tribal Council member for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

“We very much appreciate the IGN Partnership with SOU and the Grand Ronde Tribe, and the incredible support from land managing agencies, and NGOs, and the funders like Oregon Cultural Trust, who make this re-connection and cultural restoration possible,” Kentta said.

“We are grateful for the continued support of the Oregon Cultural Trust for the collaborative work between the Siletz and Grand Ronde tribes and our many partners, including SOU, Vesper Meadows, BLM and so many others,” said Greg Archuleta (Clackamas Chinook, Santiam Kalapuya, Shasta ancestry), artist and educator, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. “The funding support will enable our Tribal members to connect to and help restore our ancestral lands for access to traditional first foods and important cultural sites.”

The Indigenous Gardens Network is also supported through the SOU Foundation. Those wishing to contribute to this work can make a donation through the SOU Foundation or contact Brook Colley (colleyb@sou.edu) for more information about the Indigenous Gardens Network. Information on donating to the Oregon Cultural Trust is available on the organization’s website.

-SOU-

Two comedies in February for SOU Theatre

SOU Theatre is back: Two comedies open this month

/in ,

(Ashland, Ore.) — Live performances from the SOU Theatre Program will return from a COVID-19 hiatus with plenty of laughs in a pair of February comedies: “The Thanksgiving Play” by Larissa FastHorse and “The Servant of Two Masters” by Carlo Goldini.

The first of the two winter term productions, “The Thanksgiving Play,” will open with an 8 p.m. performance on Thursday, Feb. 17, in the SOU Theatre Building’s Black Box Theatre, at 491 S. Mountain Ave., in Ashland. Additional performances will be at 8 p.m. on Feb. 18 and 19, and Feb. 24 through 26; and 2 p.m. on Feb. 26 and 27.

There will be limited seating, so those interested in attending are encouraged to contact the Oregon Center for the Arts Box Office early to reserve seats.

The political satire is directed by Steven Sapp and features a cast of four SOU students: Nate Walker, Jodie Chapin, Jade Krische and Andrew Chvatal. What could go wrong when three bleeding-heart liberals undertake to mount a woke Thanksgiving play? Just about everything in Larissa FastHorse’s hilarious satire of clueless white people straining to be politically correct.

The second production – which will overlap the first – is a zany farce in which a perpetually famished lackey schemes to double his wages by serving two masters simultaneously, and goes to increasingly desperate lengths to conceal his ruse. “The Servant of Two Masters” is directed by Brendan McMahon, an assistant professor of theatre at SOU, and features student actors Aleeyah Enriquez, AnaLea Varni, Chloe Boyan, Hayley Kennen, Jennie Babisch, John Price, Keigin Tosh, Kyler Deanda, Sam Whitler, Nicole Villavicencio, Thilini Dissanayake and Tim Turner.

The show opens with an 8 p.m. performance on Thursday, Feb. 24, in the Theatre Building’s Main Stage Theatre. Additional performances will be at 8 p.m. on Feb. 25 and 26, and March 3 through 5; and 2 p.m. on March 5 and 6.

Both of the comedies will have reserved seating; please contact the OCA Box Office early at (541) 552-6348 or via email at boxoffice@sou.edu to reserve seats.

SOU COVID-19 POLICY: All event attendees must show proof of vaccination card (actual card, or photo of it on your phone) OR a negative COVID-19 Test (from a health center, hospital or doctor’s office) within 48 hours of the performance date for admission at the door. Thank you for adhering to our policy so we can keep our students, faculty, staff, patrons and performers safe!

-SOU-