NEWS RELEASE: United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley Awards $150K Grant

United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley is proud to announce the award of $150,000 grant to the North Santiam Watershed Council providing them with the additional capacity to assist landowners and the community with the devastating impacts of the Beachie Creek and Lionshead Wildfires.
"It is vital that we all work together to support the recovery and revitalization of the Santiam Canyon and its communities. These funds will not only help to begin that effort, but ultimately create lasting impact for our entire region." said Rhonda Wolf, CEO.
The North Santiam River flows through the watershed east-west for approximately 100 miles, draining an area approximately 766 square miles (almost 500,000 acres). Its headwaters are located in the central Oregon Cascades, much of which was damaged in the September wildfire.
The North Santiam Watershed Council, is local nonprofit with the mission of “Providing opportunities for stakeholders in cooperating to promoting and sustaining the health of the watershed and its communities.” In order to carry out their mission the Council works with interested, volunteer landowners in priority areas by assisting them with addressing their natural resource issues through information gathering, project development, grant writing, project implementation and post project monitoring/ 
For over 80 years, United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley has been working to meet the needs of vulnerable families in our region. No matter the crisis, we have always remained steadfast in our commitment to take care of our community. When the wildfires wreaked havoc across our region, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and seek shelter, we immediately jumped into action with a Resource Hub to meet their most pressing needs.
To date, United Way has raised almost a million dollars to support long term recovery efforts in the Canyon and is facilitating the Long Term Recovery Group (LTRG) – an organized effort of over 110 community partners, volunteers, social service providers, county, city and federal teams to help our friends rebuild and thrive. This effort will continue for the next four to six years.
"The immediate and continued support from our community for wildfire relief was incredibly inspiring. I am so proud that the United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley is in a position to provide lasting support to the North Santiam Watershed Council as well as the Canyon communities.” Matthew Casebeer, Capitol Auto Group and United Way board member, said in the announcement.
Event details:

• February 11, 2021
• Check presentation will be held at the City Hall in Mill City, 444 S 1st Ave, Mill City, OR 97360
• Event begins at 3:30 pm. In person attendance is by invitation only due to COVID restrictions. This event will be broadcast live via United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley’s Facebook page.