Raven and I like to keep our sides open to each other so we can watch each other's booths while we run to Farmer's Market or the food court, and we have our sequence of that. He gets his pastry first, then his peaches, then his coffee, and somewhere in there he leads the little parade, and I usually stay in the booth and get all of my stock and signs hung until that is finished and I go off for my second breakfast. All day long we chat and cover each other while the various purchases and discussions are held around the blocks. This week we were enjoying the rituals of thousands of Market days and thought to actually calculate an estimate of how many thousands. It turns out that at thirty years and approximately 33 Markets per year, Raven has probably reached the one-thousand-markets mark!
As this is my fortieth year, I have probably surpassed the mark, but I did spend at least ten years working on my house-building project on weekends instead of selling on Saturdays, so maybe we are at about the same place in time. It's hard to say, though I probably still have all of the receipts up in the attic. I'll be throwing those into the recycling soon I suppose. I've reached the time when I have to seriously abandon some of the good junk I've collected over the years. It's hard to know where to start. I have to admit to myself that maybe I won't make cast paper or sheets of handmade paper anymore, so could let go of the screens and tubs and handy accessories for that craft. Or maybe I won't paint silk, and could sell off the scarves and dyes, or maybe it's my comic book collection I have to get rid of. Something has to go. It seems hard now but like the roof project I'm avoiding, it won't get any easier. Raven and I also commiserate about the decline of our bodies, our spines and our nerves and our various abilities. It has been a relatively gentle decline until recently, but the direction is clear. It's hard to imagine believing that we couldn't trust anyone over 30...that was half a lifetime ago.
He got the shingles, and so did my Mom, and clearly this is something to avoid even harder than I'm avoiding that roof project I was supposed to do this summer. I went for my first Medicare appointment and although I am not old like they expected me to be, I'm going to be fitting into their system with increasing need and denial won't help. After a lifetime feeling like the ant I'm afraid I was more like the grasshopper in effect. My safety net has some really large holes in it.
On Sunday, however, I got to meet with a group of people who represent one of the best aspects of Saturday Market: the Kareng Fund Board. This fund, started by Market members about twelve years ago and funded almost completely by Market members all this time, has in the very recent past stepped up to a more solid legacy by completing the process of becoming a 501c3 non-profit. It was scary at first but we paid for a professional training and once trained, directed ourselves to think bigger. We have a couple of people in our midst who know how to do that. Alex thinks we will give a million dollars in grants. (We have a way to go, but we've given over $25,000 to date!) We expanded our granting to all independent artisans in Oregon who meet our criteria. We started asking for funding.
Our first try was the Rex Foundation, the arm of the Grateful Dead organization set up to help nonprofits thrive. We put together a grant application and asked for, and received, $5000! This will be used to increase the amount we can give from a $750 maximum to an amount more useful to those in crisis. We will also engage in more outreach so more people know about our resource. While we only fund low-income artisans (up to 200% of the poverty level) we wanted to expand our granting outside the Market community. It's not that easy to reach the people who need us.
Saturday Market has always been very kind about keeping the KF under their wing, collecting donations from the payment envelopes and hosting the basket drawings and Auction with Percussive Interludes at the Holiday Market. Many members round up their weekly percentage payments with a few cents or a couple of dollars to the Kareng Fund. It's a very simple way to support our fund, easier than finding the right change to pay the exact ten percent we owe at the end of the sales day. I welcome it, and contribute twice a week with my Tuesday earnings as well. All of those small amounts add up. The fund kind of magically hovers at about the same amount as we have given, although the recent windfall swelled the fund total to over $30,000.
It's time to give more grants! If you know anyone who is struggling with a career-threatening crisis, someone who makes money from their art by participating in some type of arts organization, send them to the Kareng Fund. Our application is online and easy to fill out. The Saturday Market office also accepts applications via our brochure, which should be widely available, but the online process is the easiest and quickest. We don't have a fancy website. We aren't a fancy group. Our potluck brunch featured homegrown tomatoes and homemade muffins. It was very warming to look around the table at this group and recognize the purity of this fund created out of simple goodness and caring for others. There is no politics, no contention, no misunderstanding connected with our mission. We occasionally discuss the nature of "career-threatening" and want to avoid funding chronic need rather than crisis, but we adopted the tagline of "a safety net for artisans." That's what we are, a small part of something sorely needed in our artisan community.
The world seems increasingly un-caring and people undergoing suffering are often on their own, particularly when they have lived the independent and often isolated lives our artist culture fosters. Isolated people often do not know where to turn when they are suddenly the ones with health issues or what I call the "life tax." When your shop is burglarized or your bike stolen, your garage burns down or your partner falls ill, you can feel quite frightened about how you will make things work. Often the self-employed fall through the cracks of government programs, or those not old enough or disabled enough to access senior or other services find no help from the local agencies. They may not have the ability or time to craft the complicated forms to apply for government programs, or trust that asking won't cause some other type of harm to come to them. We don't give a lot, but it might be just enough. We've funded things like water heaters and bus passes, purchases of inventory after a greenhouse freeze or the loss of a shop. We funded many health crises before the advent of Obamacare, and continue to do so. If you need us we want to be there for you.
We will be continuing to ask for your donations and continuing to reach out to those who need us. Don't be afraid to ask. Sure, there may be someone who needs the money more than you, but there is enough for them as well as for you. Don't be too humble to get the help you need, even if it is just the small amount we can give. We want to help. It feels good all around. A huge thank you is due to those who started and continued the work of the fund for so many years, and to all those who gave their nickels and dimes. It's simple and good. It's one step up from passing the hat and neighbor helping neighbor. Help us spread the goodness by asking, giving, and talking about us, especially to those in need. If you know someone with money they want to share, direct them our way or invite them to the auction at the HM. Together we have an impact and we can see the immediate increase in safety, health, and the ability to thrive in those we care about.
And here's to another thousand days selling at Eugene Saturday Market! I may never be rich in dollars, but I am most certainly rich in so many other ways. See you on the Park Blocks.
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