Heart of Oregon Corps begins effort to replace aging vehicles

On any given work day thirteen large, white passenger vans and trucks laden with heavy equipment and a big “Heart of Oregon Corps” logo, transport local young adults to work all over Central Oregon.

Once at the site, sometimes 50 or 60 miles away, these local young people set to work on projects ranging from building affordable homes for low-income families, to maintaining beloved recreational trails, to forest thinning projects that protect surrounding area from wildfire.

These young adults learn valuable job skills and experience, but more importantly, they improve their community and become engaged in civic service.

“Empowering Change” is the tagline at Heart of Oregon Corps, the local non-profit that employs over 250 of these young adults each year, and that is exactly what they do.

However, as they have grown to expand their services to more youth in more rural communities, they’ve had to bend over backwards to stretch their current fleet of vehicles and equipment to accommodate all the young people and service projects. Not to mention, they’re doing it with60% of their vehicles over 17 years old.

As Heart of Oregon Corps’ size, scope, and aspirations continue to increase, the need has never been greater to turn their attention to the vehicles and equipment that make it all possible.

On Thursday,, HOC kicked off Fleet for the Future, a capital campaign designed to replace the vehicles and equipment that are so crucial in operating their programs.

At a launch party held at COCC’s Culinary Institute Restaurant, Elevation, the non-profit announced a Kickoff Challenge Grant, doubling initial donations to the campaign up to the first $100,000 and encouraged the community to get involved in this exciting campaign.

Attendees said, “I’m in” and generously donated to the campaign: $8,500 of individual donations added to a $10,000 gift from Mt Bachelor’s Charity Ski Weeks. These gifts will be doubled by the matching grant, for a total of $37,000,

Current campaign supporters include local community members, Mt Bachelor, The Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund, and the Oregon Community Foundation Douglas Crary Laidlaw Charitable Fund. Others can join the campaign by donating at http://heartoforegon.org/.

Heart of Oregon Corps is empowering long term positive change in the most critical window of a young person’s life. 60% of HOC young people are placed in school or work post-program, and 80% of those youth are still in school or working 9 months later. 86% of youth who are court-involved have no further offenses after leaving the program.

Their programs are not a temporary solution; they are a legitimate and worthy investment in the future citizens of Central Oregon. Take it from Michael O., 21-year-old alumni of HOC’s YouthBuild program, who shares, “Heart of Oregon Corps truly changed my life. If I didn’t do Heart of Oregon YouthBuild I would probably be in jail.”

Heart of Oregon Corps is a nonprofit organization invested in inspiring and empowering change in the lives of Central Oregon youth through jobs, education, and stewardship. Their programming creates pathways out of poverty while stimulating regional economic growth. They apply a “work-earn-learn” model that invests in local young people, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds, to prepare them for the workforce and to encourage their self-sufficiency.