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FEATURE ARTICLES | |
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The Mid-county Memo is a newspaper dedicated to serving the community. The Memo Pad is a special section dedicated to your accomplishments, births, and celebrations of milestone events. If you have something special to announce or news your neighbors should know, publicize it in the Mid-county Memo Pad.
Submissions for each month are due by the 15th of the previous month. Please have submissions for December in by Friday, Nov. 15. We prefer e-mailed submissions sent to Dawn Widler, Department Editor at editor@midcountymemo.com. You may also mail complete information to 4052 N.E. 22nd Ave., Portland, OR, 97212-1503, phone 503-287-8904 or fax 503-249-7672.
Portland parks get a boost
In the face of continued budget cuts, Portland parks are turning to alternative funding. The newly formed Portland Parks Foundation has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the William G. Gilmore Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation. The grant will help establish the new Parks Foundation, a private, non-profit organization founded in 2001 to assist Portland Parks & Recreation with fundraising for scholarships, land acquisition, and innovations in park and recreation programming. A Parks Foundation was one of the top priorities to emerge from the intensive, two-year, community-wide Parks 2020 Vision planning process.
“We are extremely grateful for this generous grant from the William G. Gilmore Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation,” said Joey Pope, chair of the Portland Parks Foundation. “It will help get our efforts off the ground to keep Portland a city of parks.”
For more information, please call Executive Director Linda Laviolette at 503-802-5757.
Open and senior gyms
East Portland Community Center is holding an open gym. A $4 drop-in fee grants you access to 18 and over coed basketball and volleyball. Basketball is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Volleyball is held on Mondays from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.
East Portland Community Center also offers a senior open gym. Coed basketball for ages 55 and up, is available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 to 10 a.m. For more information, drop by the East Portland Community Center, 740 S.E 106th Ave. or call 503-823-7459.
Elders in Action offers help for seniors
Elders in Action has specially trained volunteer Ombudsman available to assist seniors and people with disabilities who may be experiencing problems in the areas of healthcare, housing and elder crime and abuse.
These Ombudsman can provide problem solving assistance, advocate for client’s rights, safety, dignity and well being. They provide information and link clients with community services, provide emotional and peer support, and provide physical support in making phone calls, filling out paperwork, or accompanying clients to appointments.
Elders in Action volunteers are also available to speak to senior and community groups about Medicare fraud and abuse and to alert them to swindles and fraudulent practices aimed at seniors.
For more information on Ombudsman Services, or to arrange for a speaking engagement call the Elders in Action Ombudsman Services Line at 503-823-5293.
You can also get involved over the internet. Sign up today to participate in public surveys about issues that affect seniors. Your voice will help Elders in Action decide what issues to focus on, and you will also be more informed about current legislation that might affect you. Sign up today in an e-mail addressed to volunteer@eldersaction.org.
Help Snow-CAP support our community
Snow-CAP, a Community Action Program, benefits many people in our area. This is made possible by the local volunteers who donate their time or money to help support those less fortunate in the community.
Snow-CAP runs several food and clothing programs for low-income residents of the Mid-County area. These programs have served over 4,000 different families in the last year. This translates to over 65,000 visits for various services. These programs include a shopping style food pantry, produce distribution on Tuesdays, a co-op-type program called Community Basket, a community garden, and a delivery program for low-income seniors called Food 2 You, as well as much more.
Our community works through volunteers from the community pitching in, providing time and donations to help those less fortunate make it through another Portland winter. Assist your community by supporting Snow-CAP.
Current volunteer needs include artistic people to design and produce Snow-CAP greeting cards and Christmas ornaments. There is also a shortage of volunteers to delivers food boxes to seniors on the third and fourth Wednesdays of each month. Use your free time to help those less fortunate in our community. Call Danni at 503-674-8785 ext. 19 to volunteer, donate, or for more information about what you can do to help.
Lights for Christmas
Expecting to welcome over 50,000 visitors this year, The Grotto’s Christmas Festival of Lights opens Friday, Nov. 29, and continues nightly through Monday, Dec. 30. The Grotto will be closed on Christmas day. Celebrating its fifteenth anniversary, the gates for this ecumenical holiday festival are open nightly from 5 to 9:30 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for children twelve and under. Children age 2 and under are admitted free. Visitors are asked to bring a donation of canned or dry food to benefit Snow-CAP, the east county’s emergency food ministry. The Grotto is located at N.E. 85th Avenue and Sandy Boulevard.
The Grotto’s Christmas Festival of Lights blends the sights, sounds, and emotions which are so much a part of the holiday season. The festival features holiday music concerts, spectacular lighting displays, a dramatic living history theater program, and family entertainment for all ages. Widely recognized as the largest holiday choral festival in the western United States, The Grotto’s celebration offers 140 indoor music concerts performed by many of the region’s finest school, church and civic choral groups. Concerts are presented hourly each night in The Grotto’s 600 seat chapel, known for its cathedral quality acoustics.
The festival now features over a quarter million lights including animated lighting displays, narrated fiber-optic displays, and other dramatic displays focusing on the story of the birth of Christ. Each year new features and lighting techniques are added to the festival’s presentation.
The Christmas Festival of Lights also offers family entertainment for all ages. Christmas-themed puppet shows, Biblical era dramatic presentations, a live animal petting zoo, outdoor caroling and a display of nativity sets from around the world. Seasonal food and beverages are also available.
The festival is a walk-through event. While all entertainment areas are full tented and concerts are performed indoors, visitors should dress for the weather including warm rubber-soled shoes. The festival meets ADA requirements and is completely accessible. Ample free parking is available.
Tickets are available at The Grotto Gift Shop, all Ticketmaster outlets, and at the gate. General information, nightly performance schedules, and other festival details may be obtained by calling 503-261-2400.
Be a SMART volunteer
The non-profit organization Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) is looking for daytime volunteers to work with children on their reading skills at Prescott, Sacramento, and Shaver Elementary Schools. You can help a local child by donating just one hour of your time per week. Read with two different elementary school children for a half-hour each, once a week, and make a difference in the lives of children in the Parkrose Community. SMART not only assists children with learning to read, but also sends each child home with two free books per month, so students can build an at-home library. For many students, this would not be possible without SMART. See if you can donate a little time or money to help keep this wonderful program going. For more information or to sign up, contact the person listed below.
• Prescott Elementary: call Vicki Jochimsen on Monday or Wednesday at 503-402-1950
• Sacramento Elementary: Ryan Stuewe on Monday or Wednesday at 503-525-1136
• Shaver Elementary: Micaela Boyington on Monday or Thursday at 503-402-1954
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