Our Giving Table

Papa Murphy's is asking customer to help Our Giving Table support foster children and kids in need.  The Red Cross has tips on preparing for wildfire season.  Oregon's Senior Loneliness Line is ready with companionship for older Oregonians.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to local Voices. I'm brad Ford. This week, how
Papa Murphy's is helping our Giving Table, the Red Cross
is preparing for summer wildfire season, and the important connection
offered to older Oregonians through the Senior Loneliness Line. Papa
Murphy's is ready to launch its annual fundraiser for Our
Giving Table. Lydia Massad is the founder and president of

(00:26):
Our Giving Table. Lydia tell us, how does our Giving
Table help foster kids and kids in need?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Thank you for having us on.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
The first initial mission was to make sure that kids
had something to eat over a weekend when they had
nothing else to eat, especially kids who are experiencing poverty
and not knowing where their next meal is going to
come from. And foster kids who come into care would
come into the foster care office and not have anything

(00:56):
to eat, but something that was not nutritional. I started
Our Giving Table by providing meals for kids in foster
care and kids in schools over a weekend, especially when
they had nothing else to eat. So I would take
the meals to the schools and then six sides of
fruits and vegetables, and so each child would get those

(01:19):
to take home over a weekend when they had nothing
else to eat. Through elementary schools and then the foster
care offices, I stalked throughout the week so that kids
have those meals to have while they're there in the office,
or they can take a meal home with them when
they get put into a foster care home.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
What area do you serve and talk to us a
little bit about the need.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
So I work with DHS offices all throughout the state
of Oregon and Southwest Washington, and I also work with
schools in Washington County, Clackamas County, and Montnomah County. The
need is great, and especially now these times were food

(02:02):
prices along with everything else, have gotten so high. So
we make about seventeen to eighteen hundred meals a week
and make sure that those get to the kids that
need them the most. So the need has increased, but unfortunately,
because of food costs, we can't increase the amount of

(02:26):
meals that we make. And that's why this is so
beneficial our partnership with Papa Murphy's because they really fill
in the gaps with pizzas when we aren't able to
give the kids what they need.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Talk to us a little bit more about the relationship
with Papa Murphy's and what you said there about how
they actually just supply pizzas.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Twice a year.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Papa murphy supplies pizzas to our giving table all throughout
the state of Oregon in southwest Washington. I have wonderful
volunteers who pick up the pizzas from the owners from
each store. Each store is own owned by individuals throughout
the state, and then they take those pizzas over to
foster care offices and schools that need them the most,

(03:09):
and the social workers give those out to kids so
and foster families, and May is Foster Appreciation Month, Foster
parent Appreciation Month, so they really really appreciate that extra pizza.
And Papa Murphy's pizzas are very nutritional. They use all
natural products and you cook it at home, so then
it comes out fresh and delicious.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
And the partnership has been wonderful. And not only do they.

Speaker 3 (03:33):
Supply pizzas, but they also have a fundraiser in June
where you can buy a pizza and donate to our
Giving Table, and I believe they're going to be giving
out upons. If you donate ten dollars, you will get
a cupeon for a pepperoni or.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Cheese pizza for free.

Speaker 3 (03:55):
So it's been such a wonderful partnership because the owners
are low and they really care about the community, and
so we're when you're buying a popa Murphy's pizza, you're
not just helping a local business owner, but you're also
helping them give back to the community by giving to
kids in poverty and in foster care.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
So earlier you talked about the volunteers who work at
our giving table. Tell us what role do the volunteers
play and do you need more volunteers.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, the volunteers are great because they go out and
pick up the pizzas. Obviously I couldn't do it all
over the state, so I've partnered with a lot of
volunteer organizations throughout the state and they'll go pick up
the pizzas and deliver them. Also, a lot of volunteers
do food drives for me and hygiene drives, and then
once we accumulate items, they have a party and put

(04:48):
these items together in bags like backpacks, and we give
them to kids.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
So it goes.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Beyond just the feeding, but it's really trying to take
care of the overall well being of a child, so
these volunteers really help with that. I have volunteers that
take on many different events besides the holiday events, but
the summer events where kids need hygiene products and things
to get them through the summer. And then of course
we have events in the winter coat drives and hats

(05:17):
and shoes that kids will need for the school year.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
So it goes beyond feeding.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
We really need to take care of the overall well
being of each child so that we can ensure that
they have a successful future.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
Letty, if people want to find out more about Our
Giving Table online.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
What's your website Ourgivingtable dot com and I get all
those emails and happy to answer any questions or have
any more partnerships.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Greatly greatly appreciated.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Terrific Lydia Massad is the founder and president of Our
Giving Table. Jerry Kennedy is a Papa Murphy's owner. Jerry,
how does the Papa Murphy's fundraiser for Our Giving Table work?

Speaker 4 (05:57):
Yeah, Brad, again, I'd like to thank you for giving
us this platform to get our message out customers who
are coming to pop their local Papa Murphy's in the
month of June we're asking them to make a cash
donation of a dollar, five dollars, ten dollars whatever they
would like to our Giving table, and if they donate

(06:19):
ten dollars, we give them a coupon that'll be good
for a free pepperoni or cheese pizza on their next visit,
and that pizza is worth more. It costs them more
than ten dollars, So the ten dollars donation that they
are making, they'll actually get back in a future pizza
our Giving Table. Papa Murphy's owners, we can help them

(06:43):
by delivering pizzas to where the kids and have food needs,
but we also know our Giving Table has a lot
of other needs they need. They need cash or transportation equipment,
and so Papa Murphy's we're trying to help them raise
raise that raise that money. Anything that is donated by

(07:05):
our customers through this program, the Papa Murphy's franchisees will
match that donation. So if a customer comes in gives
us ten dollars for a donation, they're going to get
a free pizza on a future visit, and they'll know
that that ten dollars that they donated will match it.
It becomes twenty dollars, So it's a great deal for
the customer, it's a great deal for our giving table,

(07:29):
and it's something that the Papa Murphy's franchisees and the
market are happy to do.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
As a Papa Murphy's owner, Jerry, tell us about your
connection to our giving table and how you feel about
being able to help foster kids and kids in need
with this fundraiser.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
Yeah, Brad. We in this market, the Greater Portland market
in southwest Washington, there's eighty three Papa Murphy's locations and
about maybe close to thirty owners. So these are all
family businesses, small businesses, business owners, and as a group,

(08:04):
we were looking for a way that we could give
back to the community in a larger way. All of
us do something in our local towns, but we're looking
to try to do something in a bigger way as
a group, and we were introduced to Lydia. They needed food,
they needed pizzas delivered. We're in the food business, we're

(08:27):
in the pizza business, and it was just an absolute
natural for us. So we've been doing this for a
number of years and then we started these additional fundraisers
to try to also generate some of some of the
cash that they need to keep their business going.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
Lydia, anything else that you would like.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
To add, I just want to say thank you to
Papa Murphy's and thank you to everybody who goes out
there and buys.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
A pizza donates. Every dollar you donate.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Is matched by Papa Murphy's and it goes directly lead
to the kids in your community. So regardless of where
you live, you are helping a kid a child in
your community. So thank you very much, and we need
to work together to ensure these kids get the support
they need to break the cycle of poverty and foster care.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
That's Lydia Massad, founder and president of Our Giving Table,
along with Jerry Kenny, Papa Murphy's owner, with details about
Our Giving Table and how they're helping foster kids and
children in need. Starting June second through June thirtieth, you
can make a donation to Our Giving Table at Papa
Murphy's restaurants. If you make a ten dollars donation, you
get a free pepperoni or cheese pizza. You can learn

(09:40):
more about Our Giving Table at our Giving Table dot com.
Why Your Season starts Monday in Central Oregon, and soon
after it'll happen across the state. Last year, Oregon had
the most acres burned in history. Many families had to
evacuate on a moment's notice, and the Red Cross wants
you to be ready. Rebecca mar for the Red Cross

(10:01):
joins us on Local Voices, Rebecca, why are we talking
about preparedness now?

Speaker 5 (10:06):
You know, I think we've come to realize that wildfires
in our region are not hypothetical anymore. They will happen.
You know, the question is when and where and how big.
We don't know you touched on it, but you know,
we had close to two million acres burned last year,
and the Red Cross opened like twenty three shelters. Sometimes
we'd opened for a day or two days, sometimes longer.
It just depends. And so what we see is people

(10:28):
coming in, you know, kind of disoriented, loss at a
moment's notice, they had to leave their house, they have
nothing in their hands, and will help them whatever whatever
they need. But we're trying to get ahead of that.
We're trying to say, hey, what do you need before
you have to evacuate? How can we get you prepared now?
Because as you know, you know, last year, our first
fire was in June, first big fire, and we've already

(10:50):
seen our first big fire in May. So the fire
season idea kind of is going away. It's almost always
fire season, so we just want to get prepared now
before we get into the thick of it.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Last summer was a very busy fire season. It must
have been difficult for the Red Cross.

Speaker 5 (11:05):
Yeah, so last summer, you know, it was almost like
shelter wacka mole. I mean, we definitely saw shelters opening up.
You know, what happens with us with the Red Cross
is when Level three evacuations and again maybe the message
is to ask people to really heed those evacuations. We
have the get ready, get set and go now, Level three,
go now Red Right when we get that notification, the

(11:27):
emergency manager in the counties will call a Red Cross
and say, hey, we're asking people to evacuate right now.
And so we mobilize right, We set up a shelter,
We get our teams there, we open up some cots,
we get some food prepared, we get everything ready for
people to come to the shelter. And again, best case scenario,
a wildfire is roaring and then they get a handle

(11:50):
on it. The firefighters put it out or at least
contain it. We can tell people they can go back home,
but we know that's not always the case. Sometimes our
shelters will be open for weeks. So last year was
just a situation where we were opening and closing and opening, closing,
just all summer long. It was pretty amazing. Thankfully, the
human impact last summer was pretty minimal. We didn't have

(12:10):
giant evacuations and giant amounts of homes lost. But still
we're on the move just in case.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
They've already been some wildfires this year and fire season
is just starting.

Speaker 5 (12:22):
We sure have. I mean, we had the one out
in the View Creek fire out in eastern Oregon just
recently that people of Moser had to evacuate. That was
a Level three evacuation that thankfully lasted about two hours.
It was a fire right outside the town. But you know,
you don't know that when you're told to get out
of the house right now there's a fire burning two
doors down or right in your backyard, you get out
right So you just don't know what's going to happen.

(12:44):
And you know, props to the firefighters who get on
top of these fast, but they can't always with the
winds and things like that. So here we are, you know,
not even in June yet or just beginning June, and
we're already seeing them. So wildfire season it's getting longer
and longer.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
How can families get prepared? What about an escape plan?

Speaker 5 (13:03):
Well, I think that's what I would tell people right away.
The first thing I would do if I or you
is have a conversation with your family. Where would you
go if a fire forced your home to evacuate? Where
would you stay, Who would you stay with? How long
would you stay? Does your family know where to meet
you if you had to evacuate? That's really important first
and foremost, where will you go? And then what can

(13:25):
you do to prepare if you did have to go?
Right if you are told to leave at a moment's notice,
you know what's best for your family. But we encourage people,
everybody to have a go kit ready, just something close
to the door, by the door, and that could include
things like fresh water. You know, we recommend a gallon
of water per person per day, and to plan for
at least three days that you'd be away from your home.

(13:47):
That's number one. Number two, we think about things like
a flashlight, change of clothes. Definitely, a list of contacts
on paper because I've been to disasters where the internet
was down. I mean try to try gpsing and situations
like that. Right so, you want to know if you
can contact people, if you have a list of phone
numbers to contact people. If you have pets, think about

(14:09):
customizing that. Do you have a pet crate that you
could grab pretty quickly, or a leash or some food.
If you have kids, think formula and diapers, anything that
your family would need. Oh my gosh, if we had
to leave right now, what would we need? Start thinking
about that today.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
How can people help? Do you need volunteers?

Speaker 5 (14:27):
Well, they can help in three ways. And volunteering is
a really big push right now. I'll tell you right now,
we're doing a lot of training of new volunteers. Our
training is free. To become part of the Red Cross.
What you could do is you do call in, you
make contact with someone will scream you to see what you.

Speaker 6 (14:42):
Like to do.

Speaker 5 (14:43):
If you want to work in a shelter and be
what we call client facing or evacue facing working with people,
that would be one option. You can work in a
warehouse and help us make sure that we're loading up
items that supplies for people in the shelters. There's a
whole slew of things that you can do. Say again,
the training is free. We want people to come in
and we want to help. And the more people that

(15:04):
can put on that red vest and help in a
busy fire season, the better.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
How important are donations.

Speaker 5 (15:09):
Immensely important, Just immensely. Let me give you a example
of that. We're seeing about twice as many major disasters
today than we did a decade ago. They're relentless, they're
happening all the time. We've already responded to Kentucky floods,
we had an ice storm down in southern Oregon. We've
had some fire you know, some close calls with wildfires,

(15:29):
and of course we supported the Los Angeles fires. All
of these things take money, and one of the things
that we ask people to do, you know, whatever you
can contribute is really helpful. We do send volunteers to
different locations and not only are we trying to help
you feed them and house them, but we're also thinking
about that evacuee. What does that person need if their

(15:50):
house does burn down, you know, they might need financial assistance,
they might need medications that were lost, things like that.
It all costs money. So to answer your question, it's
very important. If you can't volunteer, if you can think
about making a financial contribution, that is very welcome.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Our blood donation is important.

Speaker 5 (16:07):
It's always a good time to give blood, Brad, it
really is. And I think if you put about three
different factors in as we head into the summer months. One,
people are vacationing, right, you're on a vacation. You're not
thinking about stepping down and hey, I'm going to give
blood and then we'll go back up to the beach.
So that's one thing. Number Two, wildfires do affect our
blood supply, and that you might not see a direct connection,

(16:29):
but if we have massive wildfires, we have to cancel
mobile blood drives. Again, if you're evacuating, you're not thinking
about giving blood, so naturally it goes down in the
summer anyway. And then compound that with the fact that
people are traveling, people are out and about. That tends
to lead to more accidents and more need for blood
in hospitals. So if you can give blood, that would

(16:51):
be another wonderful way to support our mission here.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Rebecca. Thanks for Joining us, that's Rebecca Marshall with the
Red Cross and details on how to prepare for disaster,
especially wildfires. With fire season approaching soon. Lines for Life
offers a special connection for seniors and caregivers called the
Senior Loneliness Line. Joining us on local voices is Carly Cox,
who is a call taker on the Senior Loneliness Line,

(17:15):
Normala dar with the Oregon Health Authority, and Christa Jones
oaj's Behavioral Health Deputy Director. Carly how does the Senior
Loneliness Line work?

Speaker 6 (17:24):
The Senior Loneliness Line is a free service available to
residents in Oregon. Anybody can call in during our hours
and expect to receive some support. So a lot of
people will call in just for friendly conversation, just to
you know, start off their day or you know, middle
of the day, whenever they want to call. And then

(17:47):
we are also crisis counselors who take that line, so
you know, it is utilized as a warmline support as
well as for crisis support. So sometimes folks call in
and harder topics can come up, like you know, challenges
with mental health or you know, safety concerns, things like that,

(18:08):
so we are equipped to handle those conversations as well.
But the way it works is someone just calls in
and your call will go towards someone like myself who
will answer it, and then we'll talk for a little while,
see what's going on, and then just try our best
to meet whatever needs are coming up on that conversation.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
When seniors call and they may just be talking about things,
maybe things that are difficult for them or things that
they're not being able to do, you're able to direct
them to resources that might be able to help them.

Speaker 6 (18:37):
That does come up fairly often. Sometimes people are needing
resources and we have we have a little pool of
resources that we can you know, share with folks. Oftentimes
will also redirect people to agencies such as two on one,
which are kind of larger social services networks that I
kind of have a little more expertise in that, but
you know, everybody who does, everybody who answers calls, you know,

(19:02):
alongside me, keep their own personal little repertoire of resources
and things that might come up. So we do try
to share that with callers as we see the need.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
But it's really okay for people that just need somebody
to talk to, they can call the line. M yep, absolutely,
what what do you some of the questions that you
get what what are some of the things that that
seniors need help with?

Speaker 6 (19:26):
You know, oftentimes it ends up just being friendly conversation.
You know, I think the isolation that tends to impact
that population really can be a parent and so you know,
they'll reach out just to have a friendly voice to
engage with. And so some of our callers will engage

(19:49):
in you know, like little games they'll do, you know,
some of them like to do like twenty questions type
of things. Some of them just like to talk about
the day that's coming up ahead of them. And sometimes
they're you know, struggling with various things in their life
and they just want to you know, talk through that.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
So anything else that you want to add concerning the
Senior Loneliness Line and what you want people to know.

Speaker 6 (20:13):
About it, I would say, you know, if if it's
something that interests you, doesn't hurt just to reach out
and give it a try. See if it's something that
you know might become part of your routine. We have
some folks that like to reach out daily, and that's
that's a really cool thing that we get to be
able to connect with them. Also, our calls are confidential.

(20:35):
Sometimes people have concerns about that. You're more than welcome
to use an alias when you call. You're more than
welcome to call anonymously. And if you know, anything comes
up in a conversation that is you know, maybe more private.
It is a confidential line. There are a couple places

(20:56):
where we deviate from that. You know, if there's a
life threatening emergency or you know, anything going on that
would require like mandated reporting for adult protective services. But
outside of that, and that doesn't happen too too often
on the line, So outside of that, you know, it's
a safe space to be able to just call and

(21:16):
get some support.

Speaker 1 (21:18):
Terrific. All right, Normala, let me switch to you talk
to us a little bit about some of the issues
that seniors are facing.

Speaker 4 (21:24):
Well.

Speaker 7 (21:25):
Nationally, one in four older adults and when I say
older adults, it's like sixty years and older report feeling
isolated and lonely. That's one in four, and very often
social determinants of health play a huge role in kind
of augmenting that problem, in particular lack of transportation, especially

(21:47):
in rural areas. So it's you know, our former Surgeon General,
doctor Vivek Morsei called this a labeled epidemic, and I
would argue it's been endemic all along, but that COVID
nineteen the pandemic, actually shone a very bright light on it.

(22:10):
And so now it's you know, part of our national conversation.
But it's been there all along. But older adults face
some unique challenges in terms of loneliness and social isolation.
You know, it could be chronic disability, it could be
if you live in rural areas where there's a lack
of transportation, if you have any kind of even mild

(22:33):
cognitive impairment, you know, connecting to others becomes difficult. And
the sad thing is that being lonely and isolated, isolated
has detrimental effects on your physical and mental health and
actually also on your mortality risk. So it's a very

(22:55):
important issue, and I just want to acknowledge Oh's deep
commitment to older adults by investing in this line and
in many other programs for older adults to address not
just socializlation and loneliness, but also some other key mental
health issues. So so this is one way that we

(23:19):
are trying to mitigate this problem. Is by offering this
telephone warmline to seniors all across Oregon who can just
pick up the phone. As you just heard from Carly,
they are trained, many of them are credentialed to answer
the phone and provide the support. I see a lot
of calls are generally often frequently around grief and loss.

(23:42):
I get a monthly report and I see, like, what
were the reasons for calling? It's frequently grief, loss, anxiety,
caregiver issues. You know, they are caregivers and are feeling
kind of caregiver burden, and then it's often just wanting
like local resources. So I really feel it plays a
very valuable role in our kind of portfolio of services

(24:06):
for older adults.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
Very interesting. It's it also would seem important that for
people who are not in an isolated situation but maybe
know somebody who is, to let them know about this
line and resources that are available.

Speaker 7 (24:20):
Absolutely we do, you know, so oh contracts with Lines
for Life to run this line, and part of that
part of that funding is to actually promote the line,
whether it is digital promotion, and you know, with many
older adults it's old fashioned print and newspaper, so we

(24:41):
are promoting it like through multimedia efforts. Though it is,
I would say we still need to do a much more.
I would say aggressive promotion of it in rural areas
because we don't get a lot of calls from from
rural areas.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
How long has the senior helpline been available? When did
it start?

Speaker 7 (25:04):
So, see it's the Senior Loneliness Line. It first was
offered just in one county, which is Clackamas County, so
that began around before the pandemic. So I would say
that started around twenty eighteen. But in twenty twenty one
we made it, oh decided to fund it as a

(25:26):
statewide resource. So as a statewide resource, it's about four
years old.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
And would imagine that over the years the number of
calls to it have increased, people become more aware.

Speaker 7 (25:38):
Our average call volume is about twelve hundred calls. I
wish it was more, you know, I think as we
are promoting it more, but it stayed pretty steady. From
the data that I get, it's about twelve hundred calls
a month. There is a small group that also calls
you know daily, so about a third of them called frequently.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Krista Jones is oaj's behavioral Health Deputy director, Christo, what
do you want people to know about the Senior Loneliness Line?

Speaker 8 (26:09):
Thank you so much, Brad, and I really appreciate this
opportunity as normal and mentioned to promote the Senior Loneliness Line.

Speaker 5 (26:15):
While we desire in.

Speaker 8 (26:17):
A perfect world for folks not to need this resource
and support, the fact of the matter is is that
older adults in our country, unfortunately are marginalized in There
is a lot of bias and stigma associated not just
with being an older age, but also all of the
different challenges that can come with that, such as chronic

(26:39):
medical concerns, substance abuse, mental health concerns, and then there's
also you know, intersecting identities when we think about communities
of color, when we think about LGBT, QUI A plus
individuals who are fall into the older adult population. We
want to ensure that folks have a soft and friendly

(27:00):
landing spot somewhere to call in a society that really
values productivity, in a society that values, you know, just
being able to be super social, and when folks are
not able to do that, or when they contribute so
much more to their communities and to their families in
other ways, but they don't often kind of get the

(27:20):
credit for that or the support and resources that they need.
We are very proud of the fact that we have
co created and developed a resource within our state to
really offer that that that that friendly voice on the
other side of the call, to be able to address
daily challenges, to be able to address some of the
larger things that are going on in folks life without

(27:43):
that stigma, without that bias, and without judgment, which, unfortunately
and in the day to day life of some of
the individuals that we work with, they experience that, and
so they might shy away from being more honest with
their family or with their friends about what's going on.
But the Senior Loneliness Line gives them an opportunity to

(28:04):
be really transparent and just to be honest with what
is going on and to get immediate support for their concerns.
So we're very proud of this work. We're very delighted
to partner with Lines for Life, not just in this area,
but in a lot of different areas. They are very
innovative and just a wonderful partner that helps us meet

(28:27):
the needs of orgonians.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
Aging can be a difficult process. Is the Senior Loneliness
line just for seniors are also caregivers.

Speaker 7 (28:35):
The caregiver can call for themselves or on behalf of
their care recipient, So that is very much part of
this line that it is available to caregivers. As you know,
caregivers have one of the highest healthcare utilization, both for depression,
anxiety and for by the way, physical health you know,
cardiovascular disease, hypertension, so absolutely available for.

Speaker 1 (28:58):
Them too, Namala, thanks for telling us about the Senior
Loneliness Line. That's Rmala, dar Carli Cox and Krista Jones.
The Oregon Senior Loneliness Line is available to adults sixty
and older from five thirty in the morning through eleven
thirty at night every day. The numbers are five oh three,
two hundred one six six three or eight hundred two
eight two seven zero three five. You'll find information about

(29:20):
the Senior Loneliness Line at linesperlife dot org. Thanks for
listening to Local Voices. I'm Brad Bord. You can hear
past episodes on the iHeartRadio app under the podcast tab.
Local Voices is a public affairs presentation from iHeartRadio