Rural Community Builder Name: Diane McKoen
Community: Business owner in Merrill, Oregon and lives in Malin, Oregon
Role: Business owner, founding member of Rural Klamath Connects, FLIP graduate
Recognized by: Linda Woodley
What is one word or phrase that describes this person as an RCB: Dedicated and committed to rural living
Tell us a bit about what you appreciate about them as an RCB: Many things inspire me about Diane McKoen and her commitment to community. During the pandemic Diane and her business partner Robin King (owners of Tater Patch Quilts in Merrill, Oregon), committed to making face masks for the medical professionals for our local hospital, Sky Lakes Medical Center in Klamath County. This was a huge task but they both willingly accepted. After they had made hundreds of masks for the hospital, they decided that our five rural communities, which Rural Klamath Connects represents, Merrill, Malin, and Bonanza in Oregon, and Tulelake and Dorris in California, needed the same service for each of their residents. So these two amazing women went to work organizing the amazing women who volunteered to help in these five communities to make masks for their community. They tirelessly worked to make sure that masks were available to anyone who needed them in their communities. What a labor of love for their rural communities!!!
