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Mid-County Agency seeks drivers, English as Second Language tutors and pantry workers
Even if you have only one hour a week to volunteer - your time makes a great difference in Mid-Multnomah County, according to Judy Alley, Executive Director of SnowCap Community Charities. “One hour is all it takes to pick up a supply of groceries at our facility and deliver it to a senior,” says Alley. The 300 seniors served by the Food 2 You program at SnowCap Charities would find the groceries too heavy to carry home on public transportation. SnowCap has organized a cadre of drivers who spend one hour on the last Tuesday of each month to deliver groceries to a senior in need. Alley says more drivers are needed.
On the last Tuesday of each month drivers arrive between 1 and 8 p.m. at the SnowCap facility at Southeast 181st and Stark. Then, the Food 2 You volunteer delivers the grocery supply to a senior in need. “Because pick up and delivery time is flexible, this is a program you can participate in just one evening or afternoon - even on your way home after work,” says Alley. Initial requirements include a reference check, brief orientation session, and willingness to provide copies of drivers license and proof of auto insurance. “We still have seniors in need, “ reports Alley, “and your one hour of volunteer time makes a tremendous difference in the life of one of our Mid-County seniors.”
Other important volunteer positions are available, too. Pantry workers and English as Second Language, or ESL, tutors are needed according to Alley. “We have a wonderful variety of opportunities at SnowCap Charities,” says Alley. Pantry workers assist clients at the SnowCap facilities located at Southeast 181st Avenue and Stark Street, keeping the pantry stocked with produce and completing the food box pick-up. Volunteers are needed between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and should be able to lift a 25 pound food box. “We’d like to have a commitment for a particular day on a weekly or monthly basis for our pantry positions,” says Alley, “It’s a great activity because you have direct contact with our clients and can see the immediate results of your work.” In addition to the supplies in the standard food box, the Pantry worker adds fresh produce from the SnowCap Community Garden or produce provided by donations. Other non-standard items are added as available, such as donated bakery goods.
Alley, an ESL instructor herself, says the organization also has need for ESL tutors. Alley notes there is a training program available for ESL tutors and you do not have to have foreign language ability in order to train for the ESL positions. “ESL classes are fascinating, we have a mixture of languages and cultures. To see the participants refine their English skills and build confidence is immensely rewarding.” Alley spends two hours each week with her ESL class, held at SnowCap Charities.
“SnowCap volunteers set the standard for service in our community, “ says Alley, “Training for specific assignments is carried out by experienced volunteers or SnowCap staff. Volunteer hours are recorded and reported along with our other donations of time, resources, food and cash. We diligently record your service because volunteer hours are a valuable measure of community support and are included in grant requests and other financial reports. Your generous gift of volunteer time is a positive influence on other donors.” To find out more about volunteer opportunities with SnowCap Community Charities, plan to attend the spring assembly at Rockwood United Methodist Church, 17805 S.E. Stark St., from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 18. Board Members will be present to answer your questions about volunteer opportunities, a light brunch will be served and annual reports will be available. Or call SnowCap Community Charities at 503-674-8785.
“Over 200 volunteers make possible the services at SnowCap. Every year in Oregon, one in six families are forced to ask for an emergency food box. A full time minimum wage job leaves a family of three (mother and two children) living below the poverty level.” reports Alley, “There is an on-going need for people to pack food boxes, sort clothes, drive truck, interview clients, answer phones. We greatly appreciate the unbounded energy and talent of the Mid-County volunteers who help their neighbors in need.
Gifts to SnowCap Community Charities are fully tax deductible, the organization is a 501(c) (3) charitable non-profit corporation.
Med Center announces plans
A draft master plan has taken longer than expected to prepare, but Portland Adventist Medical Center should be ready to begin a public review processes this month.
Adventist’s Tom Russell and Steve Kolberg gave the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association a preview of the plan last month. They contain all projects the hospital expects to build on its campus during the next 10 years. Indeed, Kolberg said, “We don’t have to build them all, and we only will if we see a need for expansion.
The projects include:
•A new structure on Southeast Main Street near a proposed light rail station whose use is undecided, but could include professional offices and retail
•A new oncology center near the center of campus to the south of Main, and a new medical office building to the north of the street, each with a three-story parking structure nearby, maybe linked by tunnels:
•A new central facilities plant
•A possible expansion of the existing nursing school
•The addition of two floors to the main hospital building’s north wing
Also on tap is reconfiguration and installation of a pedestrian pathway linking Southeast Main and Clay streets. It will be rerouted about 40 feet from its current location to go through a grove of trees. The Type III review process will include a public hearing.
Putting out cigarettes in the API community
Approximately 70% of those who smoke really want to quit but only 5% do. If you smoke, it is really hard to quit. This is the challenge that the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, or IRCO’s Tobacco Prevention and Education program, or TPEP, is addressing for the Asian Pacific Islander, or API community Don’t start; if not for the money you can save, don’t start for the future of your family.
TPEP provides education, outreach and advocacy about the dangers of secondhand smoke, tobacco prevention and youth smoking prevention in order to decrease tobacco use in the API community in Oregon. This will involve countering tobacco-advertising campaigns especially those aimed at youth and women, and creating a network of concerned API community members throughout the state. Additionally, the program offers cultural competency trainings to local county tobacco coalitions and acts as an advocate for culturally appropriate media outreach and cessation services in Oregon.
Last year, the program focused on API youth and established the API Teens Uniting for a New Era, or TUNE group, which continues to meet on a weekly basis.
This year IRCO is looking for API community members throughout the entire state to join the network. The network will be involved with projects such as, anti-tobacco advertising campaigns and assisting in developing and implementing tobacco prevention strategies.
There are more pressing issues to worry about, such as immigration, employment, and mental health, but most people do not realize that smoking and other uses of tobacco silently contributes to family disease, economic hardship, fires and substance abuse.
Here are more statistics:
•Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death among Asian Pacific Islanders in the U.S. according to the Asian Pacific Partners for Empowerment and Leadership.
•Studies reveal that smoking rates among API males are much higher than the national average of 24% of males — 72% of Laotian males, 71% of Cambodian males and 42% of Native Hawaiian males smoke.
•API women and girls are currently the tobacco industry’s new target.
•People who smoke just one pack a day for one year with the cost of $3.50/pack, spend $1,277.50 a year on cigarettes. If they smoke for five years, they could have saved enough money for a down payment on a house.
•Children whose parents smoke are more likely to become smokers.
•A tobacco-related disease will kill 25% of all teens that smoke.
To get involved, call Jennifer Kue, Program Coordinator at 503-235-9396.
Attention High School Artists
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) has announced that he is soliciting entries for the 24th Annual Congressional Art Competition for high school students. This competition provides students a unique opportunity to showcase their artistic talent at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The winning student’s art will be displayed in the Capitol, and the student will be invited to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The Congressional Art Competition was first launched in 1982. Since then, thousands of contests have been conducted around the country, involving more than 650,000 high school students. Each member of Congress sponsors a local art competition in their Congressional District and selects one winning entry. The winning piece of art from each District is displayed in the Capitol for one year.
The competition begins immediately, and all entries must be submitted no later than Monday, May 7. Entrants must be high school students from the Third Congressional District of Oregon. Letters soliciting artwork were sent to all high schools in the District last month. To participate, each student must fill out an application and follow guidelines set by the U. S. House of Representatives. The winner will be announced on May 14. The winning student will receive an invitation to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new display in the U.S. Capitol Building, on July 13 and two round-trip airline tickets to Washington, DC courtesy of Southwest Airlines.
Eligible entries should be delivered to 729 N.E. Oregon St., Suite #115, Portland, OR 97232. For more information or to receive competition guidelines and an application visit Blumenauer’s website at www.house.gov/blumenauer or contact Kathie Eastman in Congressman Blumenauer’s office at 503-231-2300.
Glisan at Northeast 99th Avenue to be re-aligned
The Portland Office of Transportation, or PDOT, plans to re-align Northeast 99th Avenue at Glisan Street to create a conventional intersection, PDOT’s Rich Newlands says. The street’s current configuration interferes with its traffic function and with the city’s plans to redevelop property upon it. Newlands says the $500,000 project, to be paid for with tax increment funds from the Gateway urban renewal district, is scheduled to begin this summer.
Portland Planning Bureau to address multi-family and rowhouse design issues though upcoming public open houses
The Portland Planning Bureau will hold a series of three open houses to inform the public about Infill Design Project and to invite public input and participation. The Infill Design Project’s objective is to improve the design of multifamily and rowhouse development in neighborhoods outside Portland’s downtown.
The project’s focus will be on areas zoned for multifamily development, located primarily along main streets, transit corridors, and near light rail stations. In recent years, a significant amount of higher density development has been built in these areas, helping to implement the community’s goals for concentrating development near transit facilities and providing needed housing for the residents of this growing city. The Infill Design Project will be an opportunity for the community to find ways to help ensure that this development also serves as a positive contribution to the desired character of Portland’s neighborhoods.
During the open houses, the public will be invited to share their ideas on how the design of higher density development can be improved. Public input from the open houses will help provide answers to questions such as:
•What aspects of neighborhood character are especially important for new development to respect?
•Are there particular types of multifamily housing that are more appropriate than others and that should be encouraged?
•What are community members’ priorities regarding issues such as pedestrian-friendly design, vehicle parking, usable open space, housing affordability, and environmental impacts?
The open houses will feature informational displays to encourage consideration of a wide range of design issues and to illustrate different types of multifamily housing. City planners will be on hand to talk about the Infill Design Project and to answer questions. The open houses are being held in three different locations (one event each on the westside, inner eastside, and in outer east Portland) to acknowledge that design issues may vary in different parts of the city.
Mid-County residents will want to attend the Outer East Open House on Thursday, April 8 from 4 to 8 p.m. at East Portland Community Center, 740 S.E. 106th Ave.
For more information on the Infill Design Project open house events, please contact Bill Cunningham at 503-823-4203 (e-mail: bcunningham@ci.portland.or.us) or visit the project Web site at www.planning.ci.portland.or.us.
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