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To fully serve the community, the Mid-county Memo offers this section to showcase upcoming special events, celebrations of milestones in our readers' lives, those seemingly small accomplishments that often do not receive the recognition they deserve, and everyday events that should be shared with friends and neighbors along with opportunities to participate in the community. Memo Pad submissions for the December issue are due Thursday, Nov. 15. For best results, e-mail Darlene Vinson at editor@midcountymemo.com. Or mail submissions to 3510 N.E. 134th Ave, Portland, OR 97230. To leave a phone message, call 503-287-8904. The fax number is 503-249-7672.
From Parkrose to Afghanistan
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| Shanna Benfiet, a 2010 Parkrose High grad celebrates graduation from Marine Corp boot camp with her parents, Kathryn and Russell Benfiet. She was recently deployed to Afghanistan. COURTESY KEN MARCH |
Lance Cpl. Benfiet is stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. As part of Combat Logistics Battalion, Benfiet's platoon spent four months training and preparing for deployment. This training included hand-to-hand combat (Benfiet currently has her brown belt), and participation in field ops, which provided opportunities to practice a variety of scenarios which they might encounter during deployment, including first aid and rescue. In addition, Benfiet was chosen to learn how to drive the Logistics Vehicle System, a 10-wheel drive all-terrain vehicle, used by the USMC to haul up to 22.5 metric ton vehicles.
In May, the Combat Logistics Battalion traveled to Twentynine Palms, Calif., where they participated in Combined Arms Exercise-five weeks of live fire and maneuver exercises in the Mojave Desert. Benfiet received the Living Legend award and following her CAX training, where she distinguished herself. She was one of two Marines to receive Meritorious Mast, a commendation for: “… participating in over 13 training events in and outside her MOS. Benfiet displayed a willingness to learn and was selected to participate in training events ranging from First Responder Training to the Combat Marksmanship Program...even while she performed the collateral duties required of a motor transport operator.”
Women comprise just 6.2 percent of the USMC and Benfiet is one of just a few females with the Combat Logistics Battalion, which deployed to Afghanistan in late July. They are expected to return stateside sometime next year. Shanna has several job responsibilities, but most often spends her days (and nights) as a convoy driver for her unit.
Shanna's parents, Kathryn and Russell Benfiet (who is also a Parkrose High School graduate) are working on an adopt-a-Marine program in order to make sure that everyone in their daughter's unit receives support through letters, cards and care packages. Receiving care packages is a huge morale booster for these Marines, particularly when they have limited access to any type of store or entertainment.
If anyone - a family, class, business, or neighbor - would like to adopt a member of Shanna's unit or contribute to care packages sent by the Benfiets, you can contact Kathryn at fabscrapper@comcast.net for information. The Benfiet's are incredibly proud of their daughter's service and appreciate all support and prayers on behalf of Lance Cpl. Benfiet.
Food, clothing, and personal hygiene items needed
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| The Family Winter Shelter is a seasonal 80-bed homeless family shelter that operates Nov. 1 through. April 30, 2013 in Parkrose Community United Church of Christ, 12505 NE. Halsey St. The shelter is open every night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., providing safe shelter to homeless families with children. Mid-county Memo photo/Tim Curran |
Immediate needs include blankets and unused pillows, winter coats, pajamas for children of all ages, new socks and underwear, office supplies, hygiene products including toothpaste, toothbrushes, diapers and diaper wipes, and disposable plates, bowls, cups and utensils. Food donations are also needed, including instant and canned soups, microwave dinners, frozen pizzas, powdered baby formula, breakfast bars, fruits and vegetables, and cold cuts and bread for sandwiches. Gift cards to purchase food are needed as well.
Donations are currently being accepted at Human Solutions' Daybreak Shelter, which is located directly behind Peace Church of the Brethren, 12727 S.E. Market St., from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Starting Nov. 1, donations will also be accepted at the Family Winter Shelter itself, located at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ, 12505 N.E. Halsey St., from 7 to 9 p.m. seven nights a week. While the Family Shelter has many needs, it has limited storage space, so people are asked to only donate items listed here or on the Human Solutions website.
The Family Winter Shelter is a seasonal 80-bed homeless family shelter that will operate Nov. 1 through April 30, 2013. The shelter is open every night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., providing safe shelter to homeless families with children. During the day, families staying at the Family Winter Shelter have access to housing placement and other services designed to end their homelessness as quickly as possible. Groups or individuals may prepare and serve a nightly meal at the shelter, or volunteer to assist families staying at the shelter in various ways. Human Solutions relies on the community to help provide evening meals and breakfast for the families. To find out more about donating or volunteering, visit www.humansolutions.org, or contact Amie Diffenauer at 503-841-1728 or adiffenauer@humansolutions.org.
Program doubles resources for scholarships
Mt. Hood Community College has announced its participation in Future Connect, a new scholarship program sponsored by MHCC and the city of Portland. The city will match gifts to the MHCC Foundation, in effect doubling the power of each donation.
Future Connect provides qualifying in-district students with money for college, job and internship resources and a coach to help navigate the path to success. The program is open to a limited number of recent high school graduates or recent GED completers within Multnomah County who have not yet begun college.
Ten students are currently enrolled in the program. Applications for the 2013-14 academic year will be accepted in spring 2013. For more information, please contact Sydney Eustrom, manager of Student Outreach and High School Services at MHCC, 503-491-7319.
If you make a gift to the MHCC Foundation for the Future Connect Scholarship, the city of Portland will match your gift, doubling the power of your donation. Please give online at mhcc.edu and click on the Give Now button located near the top left of the page. Or, visit mhcc.edu/foundation and use the Give Now button. The Foundation may also be reached by phone at 503-491-7206 and email give@mhcc.edu.
Lunch lady serves special Saturday meals
SnowCap Community Charities provides what is described as a “food fest” on the fourth Saturday of each month at Rockwood United Methodist Church, 17805 S.E. Stark St., from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Nancy Childress is the chef for this monthly luncheon gathering. She shows up to start the meal preparation early in the morning and is joined by a steadfast group of volunteers at 10 a.m., who begin setting the tables, readying the coffee service and putting out an assortment of desserts and juices.
In the kitchen, the Childress crew finishes preparing the Saturday luncheon entree. On a recent Saturday, it was a selection of sandwiches and a hearty bean soup. On a typical Saturday 80 children, teenagers, adults and seniors are served. Seconds are permitted if food is available.
The menu changes to reflect what is on hand in the Snow Cap pantry. “We try to serve a variety of meals,” Childress says.
The monthly luncheon serves as a valuable resource in many ways. One client met up with a cousin he had not seen in 35 years at one luncheon. On a recent Saturday, a mother with six children said the SnowCap lunch would likely be the only solid meal of the weekend for that family.
Childress says she enjoys her once-a-month meal making. “I take great satisfaction in helping provide nourishing meals for low-income families and their children.”
Now officially retired, Childress was a cafeteria worker and cook in the Centennial School District for almost 23 years. Prior to working in the food service business, she was a Portland beautician. She also tutored children in reading.
A longtime resident of east Multnomah County, Childress has been an enthusiastic supporter of SnowCap and was eager to head up the agency's monthly meal project when it started in 2008.
Sunday Parkways a good day
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| The East Portland Sunday Parkways, held annually in outer Southeast Portland, had its most attendance ever, according to organizers. Mid-county Memo photo/Lee Perlman |
Plant a tree scholarships available
Friends of Trees invites homeowners in east Portland to sign up for trees to plant with their neighbors this fall and winter. The cost for a tree in the 11 east Portland neighborhoods where Friends of Trees is planting this year is $35, except in the Hazelwood and Mill Park neighborhoods, where street trees are free.
Friends of Trees doesn't want the cost to keep anyone from adding trees and the good things that grow on trees to their home and neighborhood. If the cost is more than you can afford, please call 503-595-0212 to sign up for a scholarship. You can help others beautify their neighborhood by donating to the scholarship fund at friendsoftrees.org/donate. Just select Planting Scholarship Fund from the donation category dropdown menu.
You can add your name to the growing list of people who want trees at friendsoftrees.org/buytrees. Each neighborhood has one planting per year, and sign-up deadlines are approximately five weeks before each planting event. Friends of Trees' new tree selections and engaging website make selecting trees easy and fun. Your $35 fee includes the price of the tree, delivery, hole digging, planting assistance, stakes, and follow-up maintenance checks. You'll also be invited to join a neighborhood potluck after the planting.
Click Order Trees at friendsoftrees.org to find the planting date for your address. Plantings are scheduled in the Argay, Centennial, Hazelwood, Lents, Mill Park, Parkrose, Parkrose Heights, Powellhurst-Gilbert, Russell, Sumner, and Wilkes neighborhoods. If you don't see your neighborhood on this list, contact Andy Meeks at andym@friendsoftrees.org to learn how you can bring a planting to your neighborhood.
PDC revises citizen role
At the Portland Development Commission's Urban Renewal Advisory Committee in late September, agency officials spelled out new directions for the agency and new procedures for citizen involvement - which seem to include a diminished role for the old advisory committees.
PDC director Patrick Quinton said the agency now has an adopted economic development strategy, and an emphasis on four targeted industry clusters: traded sector, athletic shoes and apparel, clean tech and manufacturing.
There is less emphasis on geography-based strategies and, to the extent that there is, there is an emphasis on serving areas that “have not historically benefited,” such as east Portland, Quinton said.
PDC is also experimenting with new urban renewal models, notably six Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative districts (of which four are in east Portland), he said.
Another staffer, Jennifer Nolfi, said that the agency has become much more strategic in how it spends its funds. “We wanted to do a few clusters, and do them well,” she said. If they are asked to help fund new buildings, she said, “They must come with pre-signed tenants in them, and hopefully in targeted industries.”
PDC's Keith Witcosky said, “For the first time we have a strategy that is very sound, and a direction to achieve our goals. Before, things were much more wide open, and we didn't exert much leadership.” In addition, he said, “We have a lot of other advisory committees, a lot of ways to get input from citizens. You have a different role.”
In the discussion that followed, some of the URAC's members expressed dismay, and questioned whether in fact they still had a function. Opportunity Gateway members who attended had a calmer outlook. Gateway co-chair Bob Earnest told the Memo, “The summit was an opportunity to present a new paradigm, a reorganized PDC. There wasn't enough time for questions and answers, and they recognized that. We will have fewer meetings, but more people there as resource people”; for Gateway, this includes former representative Sara King. “We're losing some of our identity, but for people trying to access PDC it should be much easier. Our role still includes setting priorities and passing on budgets.
“We have been listened to in the past. We have had a consistent, focused approach, and because of that, we have a certain level of credibility.
“We have called consistently for economic development, and now they're doing it. Either they're finally listening to us, or we got lucky.”
Glisan Commons to break ground
The three non-profit partners will break ground on Glisan Commons at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 15 at the site, Northeast Glisan Street and 100th Avenue. The first phase of the project on the 6300 square foot site will be a five-story building. The ground floor will be offices and vehicle storage space for Ride Connection, which provides transportation for elderly and/or disabled people, while the upper stories will contain 67 units for affordable family housing managed by Human Solutions. In a second phase, REACH Community Development hopes to build 60 units of housing for low-income seniors. This will occur when they secure funding.
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