Extending a helping hand

Scott Swanson

Ginny Cotter didn’t wake up one morning and decide she was going to help Sweet Home’s homeless.

But the longtime resident has definitely become a significant player in helping them – primarily the ones who have banded together in encampments, first at the Sweet Home Nazarene Church and, more recently, behind the old City Hall – manage their affairs. 

She’s gotten to know their quirks and their needs, and she’s, well, giving them some mothering when they need it. Some “human kindness” is the way she likes to put it. 

Cotter, 65, grew up in Sweet Home, where her dad, William Johnson, taught at the high school, and her mother, Sarah, operated a number of plant-based enterprises while raising purebred collie puppies. 

Cotter graduated in 1974 from SHHS and got married, she said. After a separation, she went to school and earned a master’s degree in agriculture. 

“I haven’t really used it,” she said, although she did help her mother with a cut-flowers business.

Over the years she also worked for Boise Cascade in Sweet Home, for the U.S. Forest Service, as a secretary at the V.A. Hospital in Portland, and as a teacher at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility.

She eventually met Cliff Cotter through a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints singles website. They married in 2001 after a short courtship – “we met physically in March and married in April.” 

“I don’t recommend internet dating, but it worked for us,” Cotter said. 

She moved to Pomona, Calif., where Cliff lived and operated a heating contracting business. She helped him with that until they moved back to Sweet Home in 2013. 

Cotter has public service in her blood. Her mother was a VISTA worker who helped senior citizens with their needs and was the first director for Sweet Home Senior Center, and began what was then known as the “SHARE” (Sweet Home Area Rides for the Elderly) bus.

Back in Sweet Home, Cotter began volunteering at the Manna Meals program at Sweet Home United Methodist Church, which introduced her to some of the local homeless population, particularly, she said, James Warrington, known as “Jammers.” 

Last winter, she said, she started to get concerned about Warrington, who had undergone an amputation earlier in the year. 

“I had always heard about Jammers, and I wanted to make sure he was OK,” Cotter said. “He was down in the Nazarene camp so I started taking meals from Manna down there with my husband. I got hold of James and said, ‘I understand you have a wound. Let me see how it’s doing.’” 

Not well, it turned out. 

“It was awful. It was infected,” she said. “I called the paramedics and they took him to the hospital.” 

Not letting it go at that point, she accompanied Warrington to a wound clinic in Lebanon. They took the Linn Shuttle bus. 

“I had to push him to the library, which was the pick-up point (from the Church of the Nazarene), in his wheelchair,” she said. 

She said she set Warrington up with Cascades West Ride Line, an Albany-based service that transports eligible clients to and from non-emergency medical services. 

Meanwhile, she’s gotten to a first-name-basis relationship with many of the local homeless.

“She kind of picks up a few things I work on, making sure they’re accessing services they need,” said Sean Morgan, community services officer and homeless liaison for the Sweet Home Police Department. “I had one situation where she took a person to detox when I couldn’t do it. That made a big difference in that person’s life.

“She’s giving them a hand up and helping them make changes in their lives. Just this last week, I watched her hold someone accountable for making a mess.”

Last week Cotter could be seen on multiple occasions, standing in the middle of the camp in the parking lot between the fire station and old City Hall, well, mothering – asking how they were doing, delivering encouragement, calling out those who weren’t keeping their areas clean.

“I’ve just gotten drawn in,” she said. “My husband and I have always tried to help people. Cliff enjoys helping people. It’s the right thing to do.” 

Cotter acknowledges that many of her current charges have issues – she can list them in detail.

“Some people out there have addiction issues, mental issues, or they just have had something drastic happen in their lives.

“James can be a bear,” she said. “He doesn’t always obey the rules. He got caught on the bus with alcohol and then he got caught at the hospital. I hope he’s got that he can’t bend the rules any more.”

But she also appreciates all the positives she finds in local homeless individuals, the small victories, which she also relates with relish. 

“James has had some unhappy moments, but he’s doing well. Cowboy has accepted that he has some issues. DJ has gotten a home. Louie will hopefully get one soon. Heather is working on her issues. She’s doing well,” she said, rattling off a list of some of the City Hall camp occupants she’s interacted with. “They’re working on their issues, being proactive, not reactive. I’m so pleased at that.

“I wish they were better about keeping things picked up. Some are not so great about it. I just decide not to leave them a (Manna) meal if they don’t,” she said, adding, “I always try to provide them with a trash bag.” 

“Cowboy” she said, is “James’ support.” Warrington gave him that name, she said, because he likes to wear a cowboy hat. 

“We call him Gerald. Gerald’s sister loves cowboy hats. He got the hat from her.” 

Cowboy decided earlier this summer that he wanted to go to detox, but he couldn’t get in right away due to lack of openings and health issues. 

“He’s doing well,” Cotter said. “He will hopefully be going off to rehab soon, as soon as they can get him a bed in Albany or Eugene.”

She said some local residents complain about the homeless and others want to help, but neither really understand much about the real situation. 

Following a severe rainstorm, she said a “wonderful” group of people showed up at the homeless camp to pass out New Testaments and sing. 

“Really, what these people needed was a place to dry out their stuff,” she said. 

She appreciates the efforts local people have made to address the homeless population’s needs. 

“One day I was trying to get James and Cowboy down to the shower,” she said, noting that the Nazarene congregation allows the homeless to use its shower once a week. “The Nazarene church has just loved those people.” 

Sometimes helping can be something very simple, she said. 

“I always remember (fellow church member) Mollie Wolthuis telling us, ‘I always have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with me. If somebody’s hungry, I just give them the sandwich.’” 

Rain is a serious problem for the homeless, Cotter noted. 

“I’ve certainly washed a lot of blankets in the last couple of weeks.” 

Another is security – from theft. 

“Would that person who’s stealing the toilet paper out of the Porta Potty stop it? I can’t believe someone would steal toilet paper out of the Porta Potty,” she said, adding that she doesn’t think it’s one of the homeless. “Why would they steal that toilet paper? They need it in there.” 

Warrington, she said, has lost three cellphones and a computer to thieves. 

“Clothing has been stolen. Come on, guys. Clothes are free from SHEM. Why not go there?” 

There are also some real diamonds in the rough, locally, she says. 

One resident, who became homeless after “domestic violence,” came to Sweet Home because she lived here during her senior year of high school in the 1960s and had good memories of that, Cotter said. 

“She and the fellow she was with were out there cleaning up other people’s stuff. She’s a bright spark, such a joy.” 

Another is deaf and dumb, which means she has great difficulty communicating – “she has no language” – but, Cotter noted, she’s “an unbelievable artist.” 

Cotter said she bought the woman some gel pens and an artist’s tablet and gave them to her, “but I haven’t seen them since.” She suspects they were stolen, she said. 

Cotter acknowledged that the homeless population is a sensitive issue in Sweet Home, but she’s bothered by “coldness” she’s seen.

“I remember (a homeless woman) telling me that when the weather was really bad, they found a vacant building that had enough space for them to dry their stuff out. Somebody came by, took a picture, and the next thing you know, the police showed up and kicked them out. 

“The woman who took the picture, why didn’t she just talk to them and ask them what was going on? 

‘Oh, you know, it’s dry here and we’re just drying our stuff out.’

“When I was a kid, I loved Sweet Home because (residents) helped people. We have a strong history of helping others.”

She acknowledges that the homeless presence can impact property values, “but what can you do to help them so property values will increase?” 

Cotter said she loves the medians on Main Street. 

“I love to go by there and see the flowers. I used to do beautification, but I fall down too often,” she said, laughing. “But you know, there’s a sadder thing that’s happening that’s not so beautiful for the homeless. 

“I’d like to see them honored for their dignity. They do deserve their dignity and the chance to succeed.” 

Morgan said Cotter is simply showing kindness. 

“She’s just trying to help people who need it.”

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