Veneta Community Network mobilizes to help neighbors recover from storm damage

Veneta, Oregon, in Lane County, bills itself as a “quiet, small-town community” with access to both natural areas and the amenities of the Eugene metro area. It’s the kind of place where neighbors help neighbors, as evidenced by the recent activity on the Veneta Community Network Facebook page. During last week’s winter storms, the message board was full of posts from community members offering to help tow stuck cars, bring food to families who were snowed in, and clear downed trees from roads and driveways.

Stacy Thompson is the admin of the page. She joins us to talk about how the community pulls together in times of crisis and what others might learn from Veneta’s example.

The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:

Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. Veneta in Lane County bills itself as a quiet small town community with access to both natural areas and the amenities of the Eugene metro area. It’s a kind of place where neighbors help neighbors, as highlighted by posts on the Veneta Community Network Facebook page. During last week’s winter storms, the message board was full of community members offering to help tow stuck cars, bring food to snowed in families and clear downed trees from roads and driveways. Stacy Thompson is an administrator of the page. She joins us now to talk about community and resilience. Welcome to the show.

Stacy Thompson: Thank you.

Miller: So, my understanding is that Veneta was doing all right for the first couple of days of the storms, better than parts of southern Lane County, which were hammered early on, as we heard last week. Then came the ice at the end of the week. What happened?

Thompson: That’s kind of when everything went bad. The power went out and things just got kind of bad. It just wasn’t good.

Miller: How were you affected by the ice, by the falling trees?

Thompson: Personally where I was, it wasn’t horrible. We were only without power for maybe 12 hours total during the whole week, which was a lot better - I mean, there’s still people out there that don’t have power currently, so it’s just a really slow process, but personally we did okay. I live in a cul-de-sac, so we’ve got neighbors really close. We all just helped each other out, sticking close.

Miller: What kinds of things do people normally use your page, the Veneta Community Network, for?

Thompson: We like to keep it for announcements, businesses being able to reach out and post about whatever is going on, restaurants having their daily specials, anytime the schools have any issues, it’s kind of like the old bulletin board used to be. That’s kind of what we’ve wanted here is to keep it factual.

Miller:  How did that change last week?

Thompson: I think it changed as far as, you just saw a lot more people reaching out with the personal, you know, saying, “Hey, I haven’t heard from my family in this area, is there anybody that lives here or that could possibly check on these people?” I think it just gave us certainty in an uncertain time, if that makes sense.

Miller: What are some examples that come to mind of the ways that people helped each other?

Thompson: Honestly, the one thing that stands out first in my mind was the simple suggestion of - we were dealing with ice, not snow, which is a very different issue - putting a pair of socks over your shoes when you go outside, to provide traction. And I saw this reposted and people commenting, “Hey, I did that. It works great. I didn’t fall, I didn’t have any issues.” So that was the first thing that stood out as a real positive.

And then as things went on and the week went on, it was people saying, “Hey, does anybody need anything from town? I’m going to the grocery store.” Then as trees were falling, people saying we can be there to help clear property or clear driveways.

Miller: What advice would you give other communities that you think aren’t currently as cohesive as Veneta?

Thompson: Oh, gosh, that’s a tough one. I don’t know that there’s really anything…Yeah, I don’t know exactly how to answer that one, other than just keeping strong with the community and not being afraid to reach out to your neighbors.

Miller: Does it worry you at all that a lot of the ways people could ask for or provide help, through this Facebook page in particular, it’s specifically an internet-based group…But if people lose internet connectivity or lose power, an increasingly important community lifeline could itself be lost.

Thompson:  Exactly, and I’m actually also a member of our local neighborhood watch organization. And through that, we have all established a radio for those times, because within a matter of minutes, our cell phones could just be completely paperweight. And so we all had radios at the ready and we’re checking in on those and making sure that we have that line of communication in place. And I think we’ve got nine or 13 neighborhoods. I mean, there’s a big group of us out there that cover the entire area. So that was our backup.

Miller: Have you always been somebody focused on both community and emergency preparedness?

Thompson:  Personally, in my personal life? Yes.

Miller: Why?

Thompson: I think I come from a background of outdoors people, and so just being able to provide for myself and my family and those around me was always really important, and just being able to make it through whatever was placed in front of us.

Miller: Stacy Thompson, thanks very much.

Thompson: Awesome. Thank you.

Miller: Stacy Thompson is one of the administrators for the Veneta Community Network Facebook page. She joined us to talk about the way the community came together during the ice last week.

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