On June 3, we welcomed a wonderful crowd to our annual Spring Into Housing fundraiser! As our largest in-person event of the year, it’s an important opportunity not only to raise funds for our ongoing work, but also to spend time with the people who make that work possible: our donors, volunteers, board members past and present, and more!
More than anything, the evening is about gratitude. We are incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by compassionate, dedicated people who generously share their time, expertise, and resources. So for this issue, we wanted to feature the people we had the honor of recognizing at the fundraiser.
Each year, we recognize some extraordinary individuals with our Housing Hero Award. This year, it felt especially fitting—following the groundbreaking of Third Street Commons—to honor two volunteers who played an instrumental role in helping make that project a reality: Marty Fulford and Andy Zaremba.
Marty, dubbed “the most pleasantly pushy person”
Marty has been a dedicated member of our Facilities Committee and served on our Board of Directors, most recently as Board Secretary. She has helped navigate complex real estate decisions, built valuable community connections, and consistently asked thoughtful questions that have strengthened our work and shaped many of our biggest decisions over the past several years. When Dan Easdale was introducing Marty, he asked those who knew her to raise their hands. It seemed as though most of the people in the room did! She is a true connector and master at bringing people together for meaningful causes.
Andy Zaremba: the “Dad Joke” King
Andy has also been a longtime member of our Facilities Committee, helping guide both the purchase and renovation of DeDe’s Home and the development of Third Street Commons. Since 2019, he has also volunteered with the SORT street outreach team at the Corvallis Daytime Drop-In Center, bringing hot coffee, and warm conversations, to people experiencing homelessness each week. He is also known for starting meetings with groan-worthy dad jokes like:
“What do you call fake potatoes…imataters”
We can’t thank him enough. 😂
We are deeply grateful to Andy and Marty for their unwavering commitment to Corvallis Housing First and to our community. Their leadership, generosity, and countless volunteer hours have helped create lasting opportunities for people experiencing homelessness, and we were honored to celebrate their incredible contributions.