You’re on an east Portland centric version of Jeopardy. An answer in the St. Rita Catholic Church category is Spaghetti Dinner. You ring in and say, “Rose Garre.” You are correct. If you answered Bert Garre or the Garre family, the judges would give it to you.

Rose Garre, second from right, marked her 76th year of volunteering at the St. Rita Catholic Church Spaghetti Dinner in April.

Since  its beginning in 1936, a Garre — Rose, her husband Bert (until his passing in 2001) their children, grandchildren and cousins — have been part of every spaghetti dinner.

Faithful Savior Ministries, 11100 N.E. Skidmore St., is a host site for “Word among Us”, a cover-to-cover study of the Bible. Beginning with Genesis, participants will journey through the Bible, including the inter-testament books. Classes will look at the Bible in the context of history, archaeology, culture and customs of the people at the time.

Faithful Savior Ministries Lutheran Church, 11100 N.E. Skidmore St.

This study group is non-denominational and open to the community. This is a safe environment to study the Bible, as no church membership solicitation is allowed.

Classes begin Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Register now at 503-257-9409 or pr.kurt@fsmpdx.com.

We all have things in our life that we wish we could change — mistakes, broken relationships or bad decisions that we wish we could undo. Something that can help is grace — the opportunity to leave our past behind and start anew. In a special, movie-based series, “The Grace Card,” you will discover how to rebuild relationships and heal wounds by giving and receiving grace.

Woodland Park Church offers this series beginning with a free movie night featuring “The Grace Card” on Friday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 24 at 6:30 p.m., Refreshments will be served. Free childcare will include a movie just for kids.

Crossroads Church, 2505 N.E. 102nd Ave., will host a celebration in commemoration of the powerful resolve of the American people to rise from tragedy on Sunday, Sept 11 from noon to 5 p.m.
Visitors to the east Portland church will enjoy live music, arts and crafts, international foods, community information, games for kids and more. This is a free event. The public is invited.

The July issue of the Memo was posted earlier this week.

This month’s feature stories include: a story by Heather Hill about the schism at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Parkrose; Lee Perlman reports on the progress of PAC, or the Gateway Regional Center Urban Renewal Area Program Advisory Committee; Perlman also reports on the wrapping up of the Portland International Airport’s Master Plan; finally, this month’s Perlman’s Potpourri, a beat reporter’s round-up of news and information in Mid-Multnomah County.

As always, the Memo Calendar, containing east Portland’s most comprehensive listing of community events.

We received an e-mail from Scott Bradley, pastor of Abundant Life Church in Parkrose, requesting publicity for an upcoming marriage seminar at his church. It was too late for the print version of the January edition of the Memo by the time it was received (editorial deadline: 15th of every month),  so I told him we’d place the notice on our blog site; it follows.

“Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage! Register now for a 2-day marriage seminar. This is a wildly entertaining and informative marriage event designed to bring hope and positive change to marriages. Cost is $35 per couple or $18 per individual.

Parkrose United Methodist Church tonight holds its Christmas Eve Candlelight Service beginning at 7 p.m.

Join them as they live out the celebration of great joy through music (hymns, carols, Chancel Choir and the Bells of Praise) story, scripture and candles.

Parkrose United Methodist Church is in the east Portland neighborhood of at 11111 N.E. Knott St. Their phone number is 503-253-7567.
All are welcome.

Links and a recap of feature articles from the December 2009  edition of the Mid-county Memo online version follow:

Latest photos and full story about the world’s largest choral festival, The Grotto’s twenty second annual Festival of Lights in east Portland.

Full story about east Portland neighborhood association leaders examining the different ways other neighborhood offices are run.

Latest photos and full recap of fall high school spots in Mid-County.

Latest photos and full story about Hall of Fame wrestling coach Marc Sprague joining the David Douglas Mat Club.

Mid-county Memo Neighbor of the Year (1994) William “Bill” Winge’s obituary.

Links and a recap of feature articles from the online editon of the November 2009  Mid-county Memo follow:

Latest photos and full story about the transformation of the former Children’s Receiving Center into the Gateway Center for Domestic Violence Services in east Portland.

Latest photos and full story about how former elementary schools within Parkrose School District — Thompson School and Knott Elementary — are being used these days.

A story about developers, for all intents and purposes, killing a proposed amendment to control the way garages are built on smaller parcels

A recap of feature articles from the September issue of the Mid-county Memo follows.

The three stories on the front page are: TriMet opens light rail service in Southeast Portland to Clackamas Town Center with the opening of the Green Line Saturday, September 12.

Marking the completion of the Russellville community — begun over a decade ago by the Rembold family — Russellville Park II opens with fanfare and politicos speechifying.

Mid-County’s Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization uses federal stimulus dollars to keep hundreds of teenagers working and learning.