Kurt Kessler
"It's the Election of 2006 that made what we accomplished in 2007 possible. Without a predominantly pro-labor legislature and governorship, the hard work we put into Lobby Days and our other lobbying programs would have produced slim results...." Kurt Kessler, Dept of Human Services, Medford CAPE Committee Member
Find Your Legislator

Back to Home Print This Page Email This Page

Eastern OR Training Center Remains Open

 Workers from EOTC lobbied to keep the facility open.Members from the Eastern Oregon Training Center came to the Capitol to keep their facility open, lobbying members and finding legislative champions. Above, members from the Eastern Oregon Training Center presented Representative Bob Jenson (right) with letters and petitions that were collected from his district.

Representative Jenson was a champion for keeping the center open.

The Eastern Oregon Training Center is a residential facility in Pendleton that cares for 40 adults with severe developmental disabilities. This is challenging work. Local 503 members are proud of the impact they make on their patients’ lives and the benefit they deliver to their community.

When the Center was slated to be closed, members got active. They wrote letters, circulated petitions, called the Governor. On February 14, a bus load of them left Pendleton at 4 am to come to Salem and tell their story.

The result was a bipartisan agreement to keep the Center open. As a result of the work of many members, including Carol Kitchen, Bill Morris, Dot McBean, June Mazzei, George Harwood, Debbie Peterson, Sharyle Burtch, and Rene Lopez, organizers Bruce Nobles, Lianne Dyche and Mike Geoghegan, and Eastern Oregon Legislators Rep. Bob Jenson and Sen. David Nelson, the Center will continue to serve the regions’ most vulnerable citizens.