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Mid-County residents well represented at City Hall ceremony for Spirit of Portland Awards
LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
Some East Portland people received early and special Christmas presents last month as winners of the Mayor’s Spirit of Portland Awards. Wilkes Community Group Chairman Ross Monn, Wilkes Community Group volunteer Don Green, Parkrose High School Principal Roy Reynolds, Argay Neighborhood Association volunteer Jane Roffe-Berry and the younger grades of Cherry Park School received the annual awards for community service, the last under outgoing Portland Mayor Vera Katz.
Monn, in addition to his stewardship of Wilkes in general and leadership on land use issues specifically, was cited for his work on the Rose Festival Neighborhood Float, which received the Grand Floral Parade Community Service Award. He thanked his partner Allen Russell and the Wilkes board, saying, “I couldn’t have done the job without their support. They’ve encouraged me to continue.” He also thanked Katz for “the caring and support she’s always shown me.”
Green has been a Wilkes member for 15 years, and organizes the community group’s annual picnic. He has also been a volunteer for the Lions Club since 1951, and played a key role in implementing its Mobile Health Screening Program.
Roffe-Berry, chairwoman of the Argay Neighborhood Association Parks Committee since 1992, established a demonstration drought-resistant flowerbed in Argay Park, one of just four in city parks, as well as establishing a park patrol to clean up litter and discourage criminal activity. After Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard read her citation Roffe-Berry said, “I honestly can’t recognize myself in that,” and said her accomplishments were really the work of 25 people. However, she added, “There’s no place like a park.” Among other things, she said, it’s a place where very disparate people can “come together and play pickup basketball.”
Reynolds’ involvement with Parkrose High began with some highly publicized inter-racial fights and bad publicity over drug dealing. Conversely, he introduced advanced placement classes for the college bound. His citation said that through his efforts, “Parkrose High is now connected to the neighborhoods, the business community, the religious community, students and staff.”
Reynolds wasn’t so ready to accept the credit he was given. “I’ve taken the school to where it was already headed without me,” he said. He credited Parkrose School District Superintendent Mike Taylor for urging him to “at least look at” the job. “When I first went there, I told myself, ‘Well, I’ve got nothing to lose,’” he said. “By the time I left I had everything to lose, because I wanted to be there.”
Another school program, the six- and seven-year-olds of Cherry Park School, received their award for a program of community service. It has included creating public murals, collecting and sorting food for a local food bank, painting over graffiti, landscaping the school grounds and marking storm drains. With regard to the last, Principal Barbara Chester told Council, “They picked the hottest day of the year,” yet persevered with the task. “I like to think we’re creating future mayors and City Council,” she said.
“We often ignore our young people because we think they’re too young to give back to the community,” said Katz, who presented this award. “Here we have six- and seven-year-olds who want to give back, and made choices of how to give back. You are a model of citizenship and what it means to be a citizen of Portland.” She urged them to remember, “What it means to make a difference” as they advance to “grades three through six.”
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