The New Era - All about Sweet Home since 1929

Meals on Wheels weekly menu

Meals on Wheels offers take-out lunch at the Sweet Home Community Center to seniors over 60 at noon on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays.

The Senior Center serves a separate lunch on Wednesdays.

Suggested donation is $3.50. All meals are served with milk, coffee or tea upon request and diabetic desserts are available on request.

The menu on Friday, Feb. 18, is an egg salad or tuna salad half-sandwich, minestrone soup, carrot coleslaw, wheat bread and mandarin oranges.

The Sweet Home Community Center is closed Monday, Feb. 21, for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

The menu on Tuesday, Feb. 22, is a cheese-and-green-chili or Mexican pasta bake, chuckwagon corn, a garden vegetable salad, a wheat roll and hot spiced peaches.

For more information, contact Norene at (541) 367-8843.

Workshop offers tips on tantrums

Samaritan Health will offer an online workshop for parents and providers, exploring how to manage preschoolers’ temper tantrums and meltdowns.

 It will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15. 

The workshop, called “Tempering Tantrums and Empowering Preschoolers to Manage Meltdowns,” will be taught by Richard Halpern, a certified positive discipline parent educator with 25 years of experience working with families.

Participants will explore strategies to help preschoolers in classroom settings mellow the meltdowns, plus proactive tips to prevent tantrums from happening at all. Basic skills and games to empower self-regulation, self-calming, cooperation and mindfulness will be reviewed. There will be a group discussion with experiential activities (role-playing) to explore best practices. 

The workshop is free for families with preschool-age children. Register by contacting Sommer McLeish at smcleish@samhealth.org. For providers wishing to receive two hours of childcare development education credit, a cost of $20 will apply. They may register by emailing connect@linnbenton.edu or calling (541) 497-4358.

Blood drive set at high school

A Red Cross blood drive will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, in the activity gym at Sweet Home High School, 1641 Long St.

Enter at the gym door by the pool entrance.

Sign up at redcrossblood.org.

Cheer squads to present showcase

The Sweet Home Cheerleading team presents a send-off showcase at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, in the main gym at Sweet Home High School, 1641 Long St.

The event, which includes the varsity, junior varsity, junior, youth and mini squads, is a showcase for the Huskies before competing at the OCCA Cheer Championships, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Pavilion, Oregon State Fair & Expo Center, 2330 17th St. NE, Salem.

Citizens Bank hosts photography

Lebanon photographer Ken Bolf will display his landscape and large-bird photographs beginning Feb. 18 at Citizens Bank, 2122 S. Santiam Hwy., Lebanon.

 Bolf will show three photographs at a time, The second set begins March 26, and the third on April 29.

Citizens Bank had hosted Bolf’s two-month exhibit for 11 consecutive years, ending in 2019.  

This display will run through June 3.

Bolf’s new web site, which will be launched late February, will include new landscape, wildlife, and miscellaneous photographs from the last two years.

Take the Polar Plunge in Corvallis

The Polar Plunge will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, at the Crystal Lake Sports Fields, 100 SE Fisher Lane, Corvallis.

This is the event’s 12th year in Corvallis.

With water temperatures registering below 40 degrees, dozens of local teams consisting of students, law enforcement officials, gyms, corporate partners and general thrill seekers will sprint into the frigid lake to support Special Olympics Oregon, with a statewide goal of raising $590,000 toward the support of those living with intellectual disabilities, the state’s largest disability population.

Anyone wishing to participate can register (there is a $30 registration fee) and find more details at http://www.plungeoregon.com.

Post office to host Feb. 25-26 job fair

Local post offices need mail carriers and the Post Office is hosting a job fair Feb. 25-26 to recruit people interested in that opportunity. 

Applicants must be U.S. citizens, permanent residents or citizens of an American territory, who are 18 years old at the time of appointment, or 16 years old with a high school diploma.  They must pass a background check, drug screening and medical assessment. 

Those attending the job fair should bring their driver’s license, education history with addresses, employment history for the past seven years and, if a veteran, DD214. 

The event will be held at the Salem Post Office, 1050 25th St. SE, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, 

USPS personnel will be on site to assist. 

For more information, visit usps,com/careers. 

COVID-era heart health tips Feb. 23

Samaritan Health will offer a free virtual seminar on “Heart Health During the Pandemic” from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23. 

Cardiology fellow Dr. Tyler Schultz will offer tips on ways to facilitate heart health. To register, visit http://www.samhealth.org/patient-visitors/health-resources/seminars-healthy-minds-healthy-bodies, scroll down to “See Our Next Seminars and Register,” and click on this seminar.

Nurses, ministers invited to meet

The Faith Community Health Network of the Mid-Willamette Valley meets from 4 to 6 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of the month – Feb. 23.

FCHN is a network of nurses and health ministers from diverse faiths across the Mid-Willamette Valley serving – or who want to serve – in their faith community and who are passionate to bring improved healthcare access and equity to the most vulnerable populations.

Faith Community Nursing is a recognized nursing specialty that has grown in popularity with nurses who want to improve their spiritual care skills at any point in their career, or seasoned nurses retiring from their paid positions who want to keep their license active and use their expertise to serve their faith community. 

Check the Lebanon Area Chamber of Commerce Calendar, email faithcommunityhealthnetwork@gmail.com, or call Deb at (541) 248-0595 for info on upcoming meetings. 

First Friday fetes author Dr. Seuss

Lebanon Downtown Association will celebrate its monthly First Friday with a birthday tribute to Dr. Seuss from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 4. 

The Dr. Seuss’s Birthday Bash will include sweets, plush animal rides, popcorn and cotton candy, games, and more. 

Find the activities at the LDA office inside the MVA Building at 680 S. Main St. For more information, call (541) 497-1415.

Town hall set to discuss clinic

Samaritan Health Services is holding a virtual town hall at noon Thursday, March 3, to discuss the June 2022 construction of a new 15,000-square-foot family medicine clinic, urgent-care and heli-pad on Highway 20 near Wiley Creek Senior Living, 5050 Mountain Fir St., Sweet Home.

Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital CEO Marty Cahill, Lebanon Community Hospital Foundation Executive Director Brandy O’Bannon and Samaritan Health Services Milt Moran will be present.

Samaritan has partnered with Mahlum Architects on the $9.5 million project, which is being funded by proceeds from the sale of the Wiley Creek Community, a Samaritan Health Services investment, and local philanthropy.

To register for the virtual town hall event, visit samhealth.org/TownHall.

For more information about the Building a Healthier Sweet Home campaign, visit samhealth.org/SweetHomeTogether.

Chamber seeks award nominations

Nominations for Sweet Home’s Chamber of Commerce awards banquet are due March 1. The event will be held April 2, with more details to come.

Awards and criteria are:

-- Distinguished Service Award: Must be 55 years of age or older with a minimum of five years community service in recent or previous years. Areas of consideration include participation in clubs, organizations, community service, youth involvement and church.

-- First Citizen: Must be more than 40 years of age and have served the community for a period of five years or more. Areas to be judged include participation in clubs, organizations, community service, youth involvement and church.

-- Junior First Citizen: Must be under 40 years old and have served the community for a minimum of five years with a variety of activities in school, community, church, etc.

-- Patti Woods Woman of the Year: Judged in areas of club activity, community service youth activities (such as scouting) and church work. Both present and past work is acceptable.

-- Organization of the Year: Selected based on a local organization’s ability to have significant community impact, which may include organizational success (based on mission statement), and measurable community impact as a result of an organization’s services and community involvement. Organization must have been active in the community for a minimum of five years.

-- Business of the Year: Selection is based on active-business success, employment/staff opportunity, long-term community impact and community involvement. Business must have been active in the community for a minimum of five years.

-- Curb Appeal Award: Recognition is based on exterior appearance. Criteria is not restricted to Main or Long streets.

Nomination forms can be picked up at the Sweet Home Chamber of Commerce, City Hall and the Sweet Home Public Library, or at http://www.sweethomechamber.com/events.

Foundation grant applications open

The Sweet Home Community Foundation has begun accepting grant applications for its 2022 cycle.

The goal of the Foundation is to provide funding and support to a wide variety of community projects in East Linn County; specifically within the Sweet Home School District boundaries. Special consideration is placed on projects that can provide lasting benefits to our community.

Once again, this year there are two grant programs. Applicants may NOT apply for both grant programs within the same year.

SHCF Community Grants are given in the following broad categories: Children and Families; Education; Community Livability and Arts and Culture. Grants up to $2,500 are awarded.

The Alice Blazer Memorial Grant is for up to $10,000. This grant is specifically for projects able to demonstrate tangible long term community benefits; a positive wide-reaching impact and having the additional financial or in-kind support to achieve success.

The initial application for both grant programs can be submitted online, at giveshcf.org, through March 15.

Grant applicants must be a 501(c) 3 or other qualified tax-exempt organization or the proposed project may be implemented in partnership or affiliation with such an organization.

Support for the Foundation is provided through the generosity of area individuals and businesses.

Grant award recipients will be announced in April.