The Veterans Legacy Story
The Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma Story
By Dr. John LeBow
As we launch a new website and because I’ve had many requests, it would seem that this would be an appropriate time to review the history and progress of Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma. This gives me the chance to recognize the many people that have been responsible for the progress made to date and again thank them for their support and faith in the vision.
Ironically, this project began because of hunger! I was sitting on the back porch on a warm day in late December of 2014 reading the annual report from Food for Lane County. I’d contributed to their mission for 15 years at the time but it seemed that every year no matter how they extended their efforts there was never enough resources to meet the food needs of the County. Having an agricultural background on a small scale, it had consistently frustrated me as to how we can live in the Willamette Valley, an agricultural heaven, and have people hungry! At that moment, it became obvious that in addition to sending funding I needed to see if there was some way that I could help alter the trend in some way.
Pondering the possibilities, my assumption was that FFLC had probably tapped out the available volunteers and a fresh strategy might need to be considered. Having worked with numerous Veterans in my medical practice over the years, I was well aware of mental health and substance abuse issues that seemed to be a very frequent finding. My solution was to start a community garden for Veterans only, thinking that the production from the garden would be an asset to FFLC and that some much needed grass roots therapy might happen during the gardening process.
So armed with a theory, I made an appointment with Beverly Potter, CEO of FFLC, to strategize. She very graciously arranged a meeting, which included some of her support staff. After hearing my plan, they all pointed out that there were already FFLC community gardens that Veterans could participate. It took some discussion to reach an understanding that I was against mixing Veterans in the community gardens because I firmly believed this would diminish the therapeutic potential of working with other peers that understand and had participated in the military. I also felt that other sites would be identified that would meet the format that I was proposing.
As we were talking, the resource development person asked if I was familiar with the old Lane County Forest Inmate Camp site southwest of Eugene. Apparently Lane County had asked FFLC to consider taking over the site, which had been decommissioned over eight years prior. They were absolutely not able to do anything with the property because of location and logistics. As I had no knowledge of this, she went to her office and returned with Google Earth pictures of the site (you can see the same if you go to Alma Oregon – the only thing that comes up is the work camp site).
I will tell you that the second I saw what was there, it was a game changer!!! It was instantly obvious to me that this land mass and campus could be a site for more intense treatment of Veteran issues and definitely could use agriculture as a backbone of therapy. I thanked them for the epiphany!!!
Because FFLC had no interest in the site, no one had been on the property to get a closer look. After several phone calls to Lane County, I finally identified the individual responsible for oversite of the inmate camp. He told me that no one had been interested in this property for years and he didn’t have any data immediately available. Additionally, when I asked about visiting the site, I was told it would have to be arranged such that a Lane County official was there at the time, even though there was a guard there routinely. Finally, in May, I was able to meet Betty Mishou at the camp for a tour.
I’d asked several of my Vet patients to join me for the visit, including John Lucas, George Lund, Richard Homer, and Rick Richards, a friend and former superior of George’s. It was a beautiful, sun shiny day, but this didn’t make the picture on the ground any better. The guards had been present to prevent vandalism but no one had done any maintenance for over 8 years. A short list of observations: The grass in the courtyard was about 3 feet deep, every roof leaked somewhere with many ceilings falling in, there was no running water, water heaters were freeze damaged needing to be replaced, one green house had been removed while the others were totally overgrown with blackberry vines, none of the HVAC units was operating, etc. The only way to describe the status was structural disaster and environmental deterioration that would require hours of manual labor to even get a chance at agricultural endeavors.
At the debriefing we had afterwards, the opinions voiced were distinctly negative, without nuance, to even consider taking on the rehabilitation of the property, which would be required before even launching a treatment program. I had to agree with them. It was daunting beyond words but the glimmer of “what if” wouldn’t go away!
Through the summer and fall of 2015 I continued to ponder the potential. I had a patient in the practice that worked in the county jail and asked him about the Forest Inmate Camp. He quickly pushed me up through the ranks to Captain Dan Buckwald, commander of the jail, who had actually run the camp for about ten years. A meeting was arranged and, as expected Captain Buckwald, an Air Force veteran himself, was a fountain of information and it was quite apparent that he was extremely interested in bringing this facility back to life with a new objective. Listening to the accomplishments that occurred in taking care of inmates at the site served to rejuvenate my enthusiasm for a challenge.
After more meetings in early 2016 with knowledgeable potential stakeholders, I finally made the decision to go ahead and incorporate to a 501 C-3 non-profit acquire control of the property and ultimately to turn this into a facility for Veterans with PTSD, substance abuse issues, or homelessness. I asked two of my patients, Pete Ellinginson and Mark Oberle, as well as Dan to be on the initial Board of Directors. They all very graciously signed on!
We quickly put together plans to approach Lane County as to our desire to utilize the facility. Mark, as the only retiree on the board, quickly stepped into the Executive Director position and pursued the process. Even though the camp had been decommissioned over eight years, when the inquiry was made the consensus amongst the County Commissioners was that this would force a bid process. Begrudgingly, we understood the necessity, as this was a big piece of County property, but we hadn’t anticipated this hurdle. One of the immediate issues was that the Special Use Permit allowing for the camp in amongst forest was about to sunset in March of 2017. Should this occur, the property would revert back to forest use only and we were told that trying to resurrect the permit was virtually impossible. The trick was to acquire the property and show enough tangible improvements in order for the permit to be renewed. Now, it was going to be three months to go through the bid process, noticeably cutting into the time frame.
CAMP ALMA WON!
From the outset, Lane County was very gracious in giving us free rein to begin doing whatever upgrades that we wanted to approach as they were not sure how long it would be to get final papers completed. Determining the extent of needed repairs was a major challenge and it became quite obvious would be an evolving list.
Clean up would always be on the list. As it was still a County facility, Dan was able to negotiate a week’s worth of a Sheriff’s work crew at the Camp, for which we were very grateful and made a huge dent in the overgrowth all over the property. Reestablishing running water seemed to be the most emergent infrastructure issue. Baxter Plumbing and a subcontractor found the leak in the system which was in the driveway outside the kitchen and a very straight forward repair after the backhoe exposed the break. Mark quickly got the wells/cisterns back online and purified but of course there was no hot water. Rebel Rally motorcycle association stepped up and donated funding for two 100 gallon propane fired water heaters – one in the administrative building and one in the laundry plus the installation costs with Baxter Plumbing again helping us with big discounts to get it done.
February 1, 2017, we formally leased the Camp from Lane County for $100/year. Meanwhile, Mark had presented the upgrades and permits required to complete them to the State Forestry Dept. as proof of utilization. In late March, we were informed that the Special Use permit was renewed! Now we could breathe easier!
Speaking of gifts, one decision that stands out was the one regarding a sign for the property. I love this story because it shows how a community comes together to get something done! We’d determined the general design of the sign and after much discussion the content but didn’t know how to get it made. Mark’s brother-in-law volunteered in the woodshop at Sutherlin high school and told him of the amazing things the students were making and highly suggested that we come talk to the teacher, which we did in the spring. Long story short was that he was entirely correct as to the elite wood working that the students produced. In essence, our little sign was a minimal challenge and they agreed to do it. Then, about 3 months passed and in the middle of the summer we finally called to ask as to status. In fact, it was completed – come and get it! Asking the price for their work, a little concerned because we didn’t have much money in the treasury, the class had voted to donate wood and construction to our project because they were impressed about the concept of VL. We thanked them profusely and headed home.
Now we needed wood to build a frame to hang the sign, which Gene Stringfield Lumber graciously donated along with needed hardware. Digging the holes to install the frame was going to be problematic in August with hard clay to deal with. Enter Lane Electric Coop who sent a truck to easily auger the holes and the sign became reality!
To follow the chain of events, my good friend Dr. Jerry Harper had designed the logo for Veterans Legacy at no charge, Sutherlin High School donated their services to produce the sign, Stringfield Lumber provided the framing lumber and hardware, and finally, Lane Electric Coop dug the holes. To me, this was the ultimate example of how a community comes together to accomplish a goal!!
One memorable volunteer endeavor in 2017 was 8 guys from Comfort Flow Heating/Cooling all came out on a Saturday and reevaluated and restarted all of the HVAC units on all of the buildings. It was an amazing day and gave us a major insight as to the extent of the need for upgrades in these areas.
The beginning of 2018 had two major developments that would literally reset the course of progress for Veterans Legacy/Camp Alma. First was the contact with Patricia Thompson, from Portland, representing the estate of Marlene Johnson, a female Veteran. The estate’s mission was to support a Veteran rehabilitation project in a substantial way and Ms. Thompson had been investigating VL for this purpose. After one of Dan’s famous tours, she was impressed enough to allocate funding from the estate, on a matching funding basis. Ultimately, this amounted to well over $100,000, which over the ensuing months we more than matched!! This certainly helped to stabilize our funding status for the first time since we incorporated!
One of the acquisition successes in 2018 came as a result of making the acquaintance of Tim Carroll, facilities director at two of the dorms on campus at University of Oregon. He informed us of dorm furniture change outs that were occurring and asked if we would be interested, which of course we were. A herculean effort by volunteers got 50 Captain’s beds moved to the Camp in July. In August, Crosstown Movers, thanks to owner Mike Somerville, moved 50 wardrobe closets to the Camp – plus a piano from U of O as well! This provided all the cubicle furniture we would need and more – a major blessing.
After Lane County agreed to deed the property to Veterans Legacy, it was apparent that a celebration was in order!! We began planning for the Transfer of Command ceremony making every effort to include the many who had been instrumental in moving the vision forward. On November 9, 2018 the ceremony began on a perfect sunny day with Rolling Thunder of motorcycles from Rebel Rally and Combat Veterans groups carrying the American Flag to be moved to the ceremonial circle for the National Anthem. Greetings from Senators Wyden and Merkley, and Congressman Peter DeFazio were read by their representatives. Commissioner Gary Williams and I then signed ceremonial documents transferring the property to Veterans Legacy from Lane County followed by a stirring speech by Bud Fitzgerald representing the Board of Directors. The ultimate blessing came from Wes Weathers (Cherokee) and Dean Armstrong (Lakota Sioux), Native American Veterans who blessed the land and then all participants with sacred smudging for each. I’m told two eagles were circling over the ceremony as this occurred – undoubtedly an omen of good. Finally, the celebration was brought to a close with Taps from bugler Loren Corner.
Thanks to the Marlene Johnson estate, refurbishment on the facility shifted into high gear on campus in 2019. This was aided by the presence of Rick Summers (wife Lynda) on site. Rick, a Vietnam era Navy Seal, with a contractor’s license was able to direct many projects, especially tile installation, all over the Camp. In kind donations from Home Depot, Johnson Air Products, Comfort Flow, Twin Rivers Plumbing, and many more too numerous to list rehabilitated the campus to the point that intake of our first Veteran to the program was on the immediate horizon by years end.
During this time frame, we were delighted to be gifted with not one but two fire trucks!!! From Harrisburg, a 1000 gallon pumper truck and from Lorane fire department a wild land truck with 500 gallon capacity. With no fire protection in the area, these were desperately needed pieces of equipment that not only protect Camp Alma but can be used in other emergency situations.
As Veterans Legacy has matured as an organization, it was able to look forward to upgrading staff development. In October, Brandon Huff came on board taking over agricultural responsibilities for the property and developing programs for Veterans to participate in.
As we segued into 2020, the results of Brandon’s efforts were incredible. He had the green houses/garden totally organized and productive – so much so that VL netted about $2,400 from selling plant starts/hanging baskets at American Legion Post #83 in the spring. Sadly, COVID related issues for Brandon’s family resulted in the need for him to resign and an immediate replacement plan was not feasible because of COVID, placing the agricultural projects on the back burner. That said, Shelley Corteville, our resident caretaker, was able to take grant funding from Traveler’s insurance to begin a bee program at Camp Alma, under the guidance of master bee keeper Ken Ograin and wife Nancy. A much needed tractor/brush mower was purchased and proved to be a major help in work around campus as expected.
Our friends at Chambers Construction continued their major support. During the year, apprentice crews under the supervision of Mark Harrington, completed the Conex/Firehouse structure, roofing on the education building and laundry, finished residing all of the buildings in the complex and installing two windows each in the small dorms. The campus continued to progress towards structural integrity and living circumstances for Resident Veterans that we could be proud of.
Speaking of Resident Veterans, while definitely not prepared for the needs and having to be careful with COVID restrictions, we had 7 homeless veterans that were housed for several months, eventually reintegrating back into the community successfully. This was a first test of developing programs for coordination of resources and we learned a lot.
Because of the severity of the COVID epidemic, the VL Board of Directors elected to stand down on further admissions to Camp Alma for the first six months of 2021, however this allowed for further refurbishment of the campus in preparation for intake. Daikan ductless HVAC systems were installed in each of the small dorms, courtesy of a grant from Weyerhaeuser. Major well renovation was completed with funding from the Impact club. The tractor loan was able to be paid off with funding from Northwood Christian Church. Grants from Spirit Mountain Community Fun and Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution were used for various projects, primarily in the kitchen.
In 2021, we made our first key hire, Jason Dougherty, as peer mentor. A combat Marine veteran, with personal experience of the journey to healing after the military, was hired to provide outreach services for our Resident Veterans.
In the fall, we were able to begin intake of a small number of Resident Veterans on a very restricted basis – but at least it was a start albeit still controlled by the waxing and waning of COVID and the attendant congregate living issues.
Perhaps the major event for 2021 was the signing of a memorandum of agreement between VL and Housing Our Veterans. The two entities have worked together for over 3 years and felt it was time to formalize the relationship more definitively. The essence of the collaboration is that between the two groups, continuity of care can be achieved in excess of a year. Studies show that providing ongoing treatment in a structured setting for this time frame greatly increases long term success for the individual.
Further Updates Can Be Derived From Periodic Situational Reports In This Section
