McCloud Community
Resource Center

McCloud Community Resource Center

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The original McCloud Community Resource Center was closed in August of 2016 due to the lack of funding and high overhead. In 2019, a group of concerned local citizens began to meet monthly to re-organize because we felt that the resource center was vital to our community. We felt that we knew what we wanted to accomplish and why, but needed to know the “how”, “where” and “who”.

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The first event we held was an ice-cream social at our local Scout hall, where we invited community members of all ages to come and complete a short survey to identify the needs. The results were surprising. It was obvious that there was no one specific target group, rather it was seniors, youth and family groups that were identified as the “who”. But how would we be able to focus on the various groups?

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We had determined at one of our board meetings that we could not afford to rent a building nor did we have financial resources to hire a director. We needed to think “out of the box”. With the support of Lisa McCauley of the local CCC and Brandon Chriss, our County Supervisor, it was decided that as a board we needed training while re-organizing and planning took place. We have applied to the Ford Family Foundation for funding to support this focus.

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We came up with a new model that we felt would meet the criteria of the “where” and “how”.  Rather than having one director, we divided the scope of work between the current board members with each one becoming  chair-person of a specific target group with a committee of local volunteers;  Senior adults, Children PS-K and families, Children 1-8 and families, high school and wellness. With no building we would utilize our local churches, Legion hall, Library, Elementary School and High School, and Medical Clinic to provide the needed services. We changed the name to Resource Network because we felt that it identified our scope of work in a clearer manner.

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Each board member met with their specific committee members referring to the survey taken in the summer to plan and organize specific events targeted to their focus group. This was the “who”. Our first event was the monthly senior “Lunch and Learn” where our seniors could come and learn about a specific issue they might face, such as Protecting themselves again Scams. Emergency senior food baskets were passed out and a two-week summer camp for children and reading groups were scheduled. Also requested were work resources for our youth. Because many of our seniors need companionship and a call on occasion, especially in times of community crisis such as a power outage,  a “telephone tree” led by our local churches was formed, led by our seniors themselves. The Siskiyou County Mobile Health van was invited to park their van in the medical clinic parking lot monthly. 

 

Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 pandemic the children’s camp and senior lunches have been put on hold.

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Letters were sent to every social and civic group in the community informing them of our re-organization efforts, scheduling of events and financial need with several already providing financial support. This along with the committee would partially address the “how”.

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This is an exciting time for us because this is a “grass roots” organization using its community resources to provide the various services within the community that have a specific focus requested by them and led by local community members. 

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Anne Marie Mero

McCloud Community Resource Network, President