Latest news with #BrianPearson
STV News
28-04-2025
- Sport
- STV News
Football charity launches recycled football kit initiative
Award winning football charity Street Soccer has launched a new initiative involving upcycled football shirts. Kitback will collect pre-owned football shirts from donors at dedicated drop-off points or by post and upcycle them in preparation for resale. The shirts will then be put up for sale and all proceeds will go towards supporting people suffering from homelessness, poor mental health, social exclusion, substance use and poverty. The charity, which has had kits donated from English Premier League side Fulham FC, is urging people to donate their old kits to 'empower peoples lives'. STV News Brian Pearson has been involved in Street Soccer for four years. Street Soccer founder, David Duke, from Govan, said: 'Kitback is more than just a campaign; it's a movement that brings together our shared passion for football and our collective commitment to helping our local communities. 'Football has a unique ability to unite people behind social causes and through Kitback, supporters can make a real difference. 'By donating your pre-loved football shirts and buying from Kitback when adding a new kit to your collection, you're not only reducing environmental waste but also helping to empower and enrich people's lives through everything we do at Street Soccer.' Street Soccer started with a drop-in session in Townhead in Glasgow city centre in 2009 and has now expanded to 63 projects running every week. The charity has helped over 25,000 people since it was launched 16 years ago, including Brian Pearson, who struggled with addiction for 20 years before the initiative 'gave him a purpose'. 'I think the guys and girls that come to our sessions, they suffer the same problems, the same issues, and whether it be isolation, mental health, addiction and so with that having, you know, the same issues as these guys, it helped me go forward', the 49-year-old said. 'I used tricks that they knew, how to keep yourself clean, how to keep yourself motivated and when Street Soccer said to me, don't worry about your mobility, move onto the coaching side of things, it seems to have worked well for myself. 'I'm still involved, heavily involved. It's such a sense of community. When you're at Street Soccer, you feel a connection with the team. 'Street Soccer has given me a purpose, but it's time for me to push the rest. 'What I'm doing is available for everyone. There's no limits and you may think you can't, but you can. It's there on a weekly basis, there's thousands of players now.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oregon USDA scientist fears ‘cooling effect' after Trump admin layoffs hit Hood River research facility
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A group of three USDA scientists in Hood River were among the latest layoffs in the Trump administration's purge of the federal workforce, creating whiplash for the employees who are navigating layoffs and uncertainty for the future of their lab. Three of the four scientists who lease their Hood River lab from Oregon State University's Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center recently received termination notices, according to MCAREC Director Brian Pearson. 'We essentially lost 75% of our full-time scientists overnight,' Pearson told KOIN 6 News. The job termination notices left one of the USDA scientists 'on the brink of homelessness' even though he applied for the offered by the federal Office of Personnel Management. The program offers to pay federal workers through September if they resign, warning their jobs are not guaranteed in the future. 'It's impossible to know what to believe anymore because in less than one week, I've received a termination letter and a letter after the fact saying that I had been accepted into the DRP,' said one of the USDA scientists, who asked to remain anonymous in this story because of retaliation concerns. Kotek, Drazan agree: Involuntary mental health treatment bill 'incredibly important' 'I felt very strongly that we were being told if we didn't take it that we would be laid off. I applied for it, and I was laid off anyway,' the former USDA scientist told KOIN 6 News on Wednesday. In July 2024, the former scientist started working in the Hood River lab, where scientists researched ways to help local cherry and pear farmers improve the quality of their crops. 'Because we're so small, we have to rely on each other a lot. We had so many different kinds of scientific and intellectual strengths in our team — people who are great writers, people who are great at statistics and experimental analysis — everybody has their own distinct jobs, but in the meantime, we're constantly supporting each other because we're not connected to a large campus or a larger research institution,' he said. 'It felt like a family was being broken up.' Lives 'have been destroyed': Portlanders rally against fed worker mass layoffs On Feb. 13, the scientist received his termination notice, which states, 'The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest,' according to the letter shared with KOIN 6 News. The scientist noted he and his colleagues take issue with this reasoning as their previous performance reviews have been satisfactory. 'The day I got my termination letter, I had $400 to my name in my checking account. The research station is about an hour and a half away from Portland. The housing situation here is so uncommonly expensive that I live in a travel trailer half an hour away on the Washington side,' the scientist explained. 'Every single month, I lose about $50 for the privilege of working for the federal government. The way I justified all this, and the way I justified living so frugally, was that if I had made it a year, I would have been promoted…That was part of my hiring contract.' Pearson said he was disappointed to learn about the layoffs among his federal counterparts, emphasizing the critical role the scientists play in the research center. 'They were just cut and lost immediately,' Pearson explained. 'The agricultural community is something that agricultural scientists like me are very passionate about and care deeply for. And so, these positions, many of them are absolutely critical to the viability of farming communities, and to see these positions go away, in my opinion, will be very deleterious to the farms and the communities that they support.' 'To be frank, a lot of the ongoing research will have to stop,' Pearson added. 'We simply just don't have the individuals to be able to do it.' Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now The USDA scientist told KOIN 6 News that he and his colleagues are concerned about the future of the lab amid the layoffs. 'We're really afraid that, because we were already at minimal staffing and we lost 75% of our staff in these layoffs, that the research station is going to be targeted for continued efficiency cuts,' the scientist said. 'We don't believe that the layoffs are the end of the changes that we're going to see at the USDA. We have no reason to believe that.' 'I think that as the ecosystem begins to fail because of all of the institutional knowledge that's lost…and when the window to do these research tasks fails, the entire experiment fails. And we think that because of the cascading effect that it's going to have that we might ultimately see our lab shut down,' he said. 'I think it's got a real chilling effect. When I talk with younger plant biologists and horticulturists on social media, they're already voicing a real concern about where their professional trajectory is anymore. The U.S. government and the USDA, the EPA, all these other federal agencies have a real lean towards plant biology and the incoming wave of plant biology and life science professionals, they're really worried about whether or not jobs are going to be waiting for them after this huge commitment that they've put into their education,' he explained, noting he 'can't imagine a worse time' to be a scientist. 'Urban doom loop': Portland Metro Chamber economy report paints grim picture 'I can't imagine there ever having been a situation in the profession with more uncertainty,' he said. 'Some of the scientists that have 20-30 years of tenure in the USDA, the feedback that they're giving us throughout all this is that they've never seen anything like it.' 'It certainly is unprecedented in the time that I have been working in research and higher education,' Pearson agreed. 'This is certainly a challenge that is unlike anything. It's unlike anything I've seen before.' In a statement to KOIN 6 News regarding the layoffs, the USDA said, '(USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins) fully supports President Trump's directive to optimize government operations, eliminate inefficiencies, and strengthen USDA's ability to better serve American farmers, ranchers, and the agriculture community. We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of Americans' hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar is being spent as effectively as possible to serve the people, not the bureaucracy.' The agency continued, 'As part of this effort, USDA has released individuals in their probationary period of employment. Secretary Rollins understands the array of mission critical positions and programs at the Department, and she will ensure that those areas have the resources and personnel they need to continue serving the American people.' Portland budtender leads effort to bring cannabis cafes to Oregon On Wednesday, the scientist told KOIN 6 News he signed a new job offer from his former professor to work on an educational farm in Florida. 'I feel really lucky because I'm pretty confident that 99% of the people who got laid off didn't have somebody call them and offer them a job right on the spot,' he said. Hours later, he received another notice, stating the USDA is enrolling probationary employees into the DRP and placing individuals into administrative leave. On Thursday, he received a 'DRP Separation Agreement' which he was asked to sign in order to finalize his enrollment in the program. According to images of the agreement shared with KOIN 6 News, the agreement includes paid administrative leave for the employee with their current salary and health benefits. One provision of the agreement notes, 'Employee forever waives, and will not pursue through any judicial, administrative, or other process any action against Agency or any other agency or instrumentality of the federal government that is based on, arising from, or related to Employee's employment at Agency or the deferred resignation offer,' including any claims for back pay or damages. Washington's Hanford site, Bonneville Power Administration, see 'mass firings' by Trump admin Ahead of his cross-country move, the scientist has received support from community members after his sister created a GoFundMe page to support his next chapter. As of Thursday, the page has fundraised more than $3,500. 'It's really hard to put into words how grateful I am for everybody's support. Like I said, I had $400 to my name and just trying to live out here has been hard and the notion of having to pick everything up and move again and potentially break down on the road and have to find a new place to live and relocate my life has been really daunting,' he said. 'Their kind words and financial support has made starting over a real possibility for me.' Despite the federal workforce purge, the scientist is still spreading hope for future scientists. 'I think that plant biology, with that intersection between people and food, that calling is so powerful. I think right now, the temptation is to ignore it,' he said. 'The temptation is to probably play it safe and to not get caught up in the machinery in the way that the laid off workers are getting right now. But my counter-argument is that you're calling to do the thing that you're supposed to do won't go away and it doesn't bring reward being ignored either. 'I just want to reiterate, to any young plant scientists, any students, anyone who's ever had a dream of working with plants, working with people and working with the environment: Don't stop. Keep going. They want you to give up, they want you to quit. They want you to give in. Follow your passion – it's still the right move.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
