Our Funding Request Denied

Our Funding Request Denied

Greetings, board members and friends---

I am sorry to say that I just found out from our grant officer at the Northwest Health Foundation that their board met on Monday [Dec. 5] and that we were not awarded funding.  

Please, please do not take this as a "rejection of MH/OSTA"—I'm guessing that it has more to do with the match between the organization's funding criteria and what we were proposing and the extremely competitive nature of grants in this era of scarce resources. I've reviewed a lot of grant applications in my time, and I can assure you that our organization is deserving of support.  We do good work, and we work hard at it.  We are a viable, valuable organization providing a needed service—and sooner or later we will find a funding source that matches our profile. 

I want to especially express appreciation to Rita Loberger, who was my partner in this effort.  She represented the board and organization admirably and stepped up to the challenge of introducing the Northwest Health Foundation grant officer to manufactured housing community living.

So, the next step is to look ahead to another source of funding. I believe that the “Request for Proposals” goes out in January to another source with funding [expected to be] available in June. The MH/OSTA board will be discussing this possibility at their next meetings.

We will keep at it!!!                                                                                  —Andrée Tremoulet

Miller Estates Contribute to Adopt-A School - Central Point Elementary School

Briarwood MHP in Eugene Update on Adopt-a-School

Katherine Barnes and I are feeling kind of warm and fuzzy about the progress of our Adopt-a-School project.

Katherine headed up the knitting and crocheting project and wow did she do a super job! She alone knitted around 30 hats and donated several other things. She had a friend she works with at Meals on Wheels that donated a couple of cute homemade back packs and a lot of cute hats and several homemade stuffed toys. Others donated gloves, hats and scarves, most of them crocheted or knitted. We still have more coming in later that we will take over to Danebo School. Oh, and someone even donated toothbrushes and dental floss they had gotten from their dentist.

Our Bunko group that has been collecting money for shoes had $172. We got a letter from Mari Weil, who is the principal, and she suggested if we didn't want to donate it for shoes they have a program at Christmas and try to get together enough money for food to send home to 30 of the families at Christmas time. So that is what we did with the money.

We had a thank you party yesterday, the 21^st, for all of our donors so we could show them all of our goodies. Katherine and I made cake and had tea, coffee and lemonade for all of them. Pretty good turn-out we thought. Then we bundled everything up and took it all to the school along with more Box Tops for Education, which we are still collecting as well.

                                                                          --Nancy Robinson, Co-chair,

                                                                             Briarwood OSTA Chapter, Eugene

Annual MH/OSTA meeting in Keizer in Brief

The annual MH/OSTA meeting in Keizer this fall was very informative. Andree Tremoulet and her panel on Aging in Place presented information about in-home care and basic remodeling so that older manufactured home owners can continue living in their homes.

Four directors were re-elected for a two year term: Terry Smith, Rita Loberger, Susan DeLateur, and Gary Walters. The board will elect officers for the 2011-12 year that runs November through October. Any member wishing to be on the governing board needs to get an application from one of the board members and submit it. Contact information is on page 2 of the OSTA Review. 

Following lunch, chapters that have adopted a school reported on their efforts and John VanLandingham introduced Rep. Bill Kennemer from Oregon City who spoke. VanLandingham then entertained suggestions for the coalition to consider for the 2013 legislative session. He pointed out that we can't expect the Legislature to consider our issues in their brief 2012 session when all attention will be based on the state budget. 

A full report of the meeting will be in the next OSTA Review, which will be mailed to members in early December. Theresa Wingard, the program coordinator for Manufactured Communities Resource Center, the state agency that provides landlord/tenant dispute resolution, also provided useful information. 

2011 FALL Review See MH-OSTA REVIEW links to see it in full

ADOPT A SHOOL NEWS - Miller Estates adopts Central Point Elementary

Miller Estates, a 55 + Manufactured Home Community in Central Point, Oregon, adoped Central Point Elementary School for there "Adopt a School" program. Contributions for the under privileged elementary school children totaled $782.00 from a very caring, very concerned group of senior homeowners. Louise LaFoya, chapter board member, volunteered to head up the program and is directly responsible for talking with the school principal, talking with school teachers, collecting donations, and  finding the lowest prices on school supplies.

 Louise, along with board president Terry Smith, purchased $444.99 worth of school supplies on August, 23rd to be delivered to the Kindergarten class teachers on August 30th. Then, after talking with the teachers on August, 30th, and finding out their future needs for the children, the remaining $337.01 will be spent for additional school supplies.

I am very proud of the Miller Estate homeowners for their generosity, in giving for such a worthy cause.

Miller Estates

Chapter President
Terry Smith

New Members seeking Friends in Bend, OR

Hello, Central Oregon!

A friend and I have just joined MH/OSTA and we would very much like to contact other members and potential members on this side of the mountains, with the intention of forming an informal, or maybe formal, group in central Oregon. We both live in a manufactured home park in Bend. Perhaps we could get together for a BBQ or something. Please contact me at 541-647-1120 evenings only.

Chris and Cathy.

Annual Meeting Scheduled for October 22

Plans are underway for an informative meeting and program this fall. Salem area director, Susan DeLateur, and her committee, have engaged the Elks' Lodge in Keizer for Saturday, October 22.

The business meeting will start at 10 a.m., after coffee and pastries for early birds. The morning session will follow the theme of "Aging in Place."

You will have an opportunity to tell about your Adopt-a-School projects.

 You should also consider bringing your suggestions for possible legislation for an interactive discussion and any questions you have on legal issue in your parks.

Like last year, we'll have a silent auction as a money raiser, so bring your auction baskets and other items to display for bidding on throughout the day. And don't forget your checkbooks!

Register before October 15 and the cost is the same as it has been for the last few years--$20. That includes morning goodies, coffee, lunch, and warm cookies for the ride home.  See the  next OSTA Review for details.

Breaking News Coalition Bill SB 294

The coalition bill, SB294, was signed by the Governor and became law on June 23, 2011.

Senior Resource Directory

I recently discovered that Jackson County publishes a very valuable Senior Resource Directory (46) page, 22,000 issues, with names and phone numbers from almost every organization that offers help for seniors in Jackson County. A small sample of the listings includes:  Access, American Red Cross, Food Stamps, Legal Assistance, Housing Assistance, Medicare Information, Disability Services, and many, many more.  

People living in Jackson County can find their copy at no cost in Rogue River, Central Point and Medford Senior Centers. Pick up additional copies at Providence Lifeline/Medivan, 753 Spring St., Medford, or call 541-732-5466. I would expect other Counties to have similar publications.

Board President

Terry Smith

Tenant Rights as to Rule Changes

The question that I am asked quite often by tenants (residents) of mobile/manufactured home parks has to do with Rules and Regulations. Some residents don’t have a copy of the rules and regulations, and don’t know how to get them. Some residents don’t know that it is okay to have rules and regulations that are not the same for all residents. Some residents don’t know they have a right to vote for or against changes in the rules and regulations.

Every landlord who rents a space shall provide a copy of the Statement of Policy; rental agreement; rules and regulations; and remedies before the prospective tenant signs an agreement. If you don’t have all of these, you should get them from the landlord.

 When new tenants move into a mobile/manufactured home park they may be given rules and regulations that are different from yours. This is okay. You are only responsible to follow your R&R’s and not theirs, and the same goes for the new tenants.

If the landlord wants to change or add to the rules and regulations, including changes that make a substantial modification of the landlords bargain with the tenant  the landlord must notify all residents with a 60 day notice and unless tenants of at least 51% of the eligible spaces file an objection within 30 days of the date the notice was served, the change shall become effective for all tenants of those spaces on a date not less than 60 days after the date that the notice was served by the landlord. Title 10 Chapter 90 (90.510) page 53 and (90.610) page 63 & 64.

Be sure to get several more signatures than the required 51% because some tenants may change their minds.

--Terry Smith, MH-OSTA president

OSTA chapter at Lee's Mobile Home Park in Eugene has been reactivated.

I'm pleased to announce that the OSTA chapter at Lee's Mobile Home Park in Eugene has been reactivated with E.J. Ross serving as president, Mark Prever as vice-president, and Marita Ruiz as secretary-treasurer. Three former members re-joined. Lee's is an older park along the beltline in the Santa Clara area of Eugene. The houses are well kept, and residents help each other, even painting the homes as needed. The gardens are beautiful. I was pleased to be invited to the meeting and hope to go again next time when maybe there'll be cookies and lemonade and more of the neighbors to get to know!

--Jane Capron

ADOPT A SCHOOL PROGRAM - Briarwood in Eugene

The Adopt-a-School project at Briarwood in Eugene is going well. Katherine Barnes is continuing her work on the knitting for the children at Danebo School. I am working on collecting Box Tops for Education and have sent over around 40 or 50 dollars worth so far. Newest project is Bunko as a fund raiser for money for shoes for the kids. We have had 3 Bunko sessions so far and I have $34 collected for that project. We are having Bunko bimonthly and $1 goes into the kids fund for each person who plays. We have had 12 people the past 2 times and hope to get another table going next month. We are playing the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month. Having fun and helping the kids too....Can't get any better than that!
--Nancy Robinson

Planning State Annual Meeting

The Salem area committee that's planning the  MH-OSTA state annual meeting will make further plans on June 22. Committee members include, June Abbott, Trudy Kenny, Karon Gilmore, Marilyn Davis, Jim Harless, Nan McWillams, and Kay Strobel. Call me for details on time and place of this second planning session for the October 22 meeting at the Keizer Elks Lodge.

--Susan DeLateur, Salem Area District Director

BREAKING NEWS

Senate Bill 294, our coalition bill that you read about in the current OSTA Review, passed both Houses with its amendments yesterday, June 10, and is now awaiting the Governor’s signature. We owe a big round of applause to John Van Landingham, moderator of the coalition and MH-OSTA board member, for his untiring efforts to move this bill.

--Jane

The latest manufactured home park to adopt a school is Madrone Hill in Central Point. The park will be helping the children at Patrick Elementary in Gold Beach during the up-coming school year.  Now is the time for all you wonderful people to choose your schools and start your plans. Do keep us informed. Just send an email to your district director and we’ll post the information on this new blog.

--Gary Walters

Feel Good News

News that makes me feel good is I've gotten more feedback on this current OSTA Review than on any other issue. People like the aging-in-place article.

Jane