Community center partners seek staffer

Users of the Cathlamet Community Center were prepared to volunteer to cover the down time created when Cheryl Kingston finished her year of Americorps service as the center manager, but the Cowlitz Americorps Network decision to cut funding for the position altogether was a bit of a surprise.

At a meeting last week, Sue Cameron, the director for Wahkiakum Health and Human Services and other community members discussed ways to solve the funding and staffing problem.

The group that gathered to discuss their options proposed hiring a volunteer and community center coordinator, but the problem of funding remains. Cameron will be reaching out to partner agencies in the county to ask for funding.

In the meantime, she is strengthening the proposal for the center’s Americorps position with hopes that that might be the key to bringing them back. Fortunately, she was invited to reapply.

Cameron believes that a shift in criteria for Americorps positions and a shift in the people who decide where to place Americorps volunteers led to the loss of funding for the position at the Cathlamet Community Center.

Since the beginning of 2016, there has been an uptick of use at the center. Community members are using it for group meetings, bunco, bingo, movie nights, Goodwill computer classes, wood carver workshops, book clubs, Medicare enrollment assistance, blood pressure checks, hearing screenings, gardening classes and more. Some people are grateful for access to computers and wifi.

The full crowd at the meeting had Cameron feeling hopeful.

“They spoke up for the center,” Cameron said. “As frustrating as it has been to lose funding, it was a catalyst for the community and it was a way to find out how much the community wanted the center.