a photo of Sara Ingle, a pale complected woman with chin length gray hair and glasses, wearing a blue button down shirt and thin chain necklace.It is always tough when a good friend moves away and this is especially so when that friend is also your housing advocate ally. Of course, I am talking about Sara Ingle – long time Corvallis LWV member and for many years its Treasurer, but for me a friend and co-conspirator.

I met Sara when she was my accountant, and for a time our relationship revolved around discussion of my taxes and how I might possibly make wiser financial decisions. However, somewhere along the way, the conversation turned to politics and to our community. I discovered that Sara was passionate about many issues, but especially about housing and homelessness. Why didn’t we have more affordable housing? How can we tolerate men, women and families living on the street? Doesn’t anyone care? What can the city do and, more like Sara, what can she do? I knew then that this was a person I wanted to be friends with and to work with on these important issues.

Sara urged me to join our local League of Women Voters and to get involved. I did this by suggesting to the League that we form a committee on Housing. I knew at least one person who would work with me on it.

The Housing Committee was soon formed and the rest, as they say, is history. Sara quickly realized that as a League organization, our committee had the ability to influence how the city and our community chose to address issues around housing and especially ways to improve the lives of those who were unhoused. She developed strong relationships with the other service providers and found her own ally in League member Lynn Jarvis. Noting the need to update an earlier League publication, “Homelessness in Corvallis”, Sara and Lynn worked on the update but expanded the coverage to all of Benton County. At the time of its publication, the City did not have really good data on the number of unhoused individuals in our community and of that number, how many were from Corvallis.

There is a term in economics: “added value”. Sara epitomizes someone who brought added value to all that she did. She supported organizations financially, she offered moral support and encouragement to all of those working with her, and she never let go of the idea that everyone deserves a home and our job is to make it happen. Sara’s work to improve the lives of our homeless population included taking on the leadership of Stone Soup, an organization dedicated to feeding anyone in need.

Sara Ingle is a force to contend with. Her leaving Corvallis is a loss to our community, to the League and to all of us who called her friends. She will be sorely missed.

Note: This article was written by Karyle Butcher, Chair, LWV Housing Committee, and edited by Annette Mills, First Vice President

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