FEATURE ARTICLES Memo Calendar Memo Pad Business Memo's Loaves & Fishes Letters Home
East Portland Community Center’s ‘Nibble’ attracts neighbors
Local firefighters welcome heroes from Ground Zero
Multnomah County Sheriff’s office may soon be for sale
Parkrose School District roils over Ballot Measure 13 defeat
Rossi Barn Dance meets a wider charitable need
Hazelwood seeks lost pedestrian path

About the MEMO
MEMO Archives
MEMO Advertising
MEMO Web Neighbors
MEMO Staff

© 2002, Mid-county MEMO
Terms & Conditions
Rossi Barn Dance meets a wider charitable need

Organizers expand beyond Youth Football, meet other athletic needs

LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

Irene and Aldo Rossi, your hosts for the 2002 Barn Dance Saturday, July 13 from 6pm to midnight. Proceeds benefit Parkrose Youth sports and activities.
In these tight money times, most public and private agencies and charities are performing surgery, cutting back on the things they’d like to do, or should do, to maintain what they must.

The Rossi family’s annual Barn Dance is an exception. It is expanding its original mission.

The event was originally intended to provide for Parkrose Youth Football. However, as Joe Rossi says, “We began to make too much money to spend it on just the football team. We only do things the schools aren’t already doing, but if someone has a good request for a youth sports activity in Parkrose we do it.”

Last year money was donated to the girls volleyball team, the middle school pep squad, the track team, for first aid equipment, and a cheerleading camp.

The money is funneled through a separate entity with an even broader mission: The Parkrose Educational Foundation. Spokesperson John Butler says it subsizes school projects that the district cannot pay for itself due to “budget shortfalls.” The foundation helped purchase track lighting for the high school’s theater, and new equipment for the middle school that allows teachers to project computer images onto a wall for the whole class to see. “We fund things that benefit not just one kid, but the whole district,” Butler says.
The foundation is currently raising funds by selling inscribed bricks in the administration building courtyard. For $25 you can have your own or someone else’s name (up to 13 characters) immortalized, and contribute to school programs at the same time. For more information call Michelle Butler at 408-2104.

Contributors can designate that their money go to a particular program. The funds Rossi raises from the Barn Dance are earmarked for athletic activities, Butler says, although he adds, “Joe is such a generous guy that if people were to approach him about giving to some other need, he’d probably be willing to give to that, too.”

Last year the dance netted $8,000 for the foundation. This year, Rossi and other organizers hope to do even better.

The event this year will be 6 p.m. to midnight at the farm, Northeast 122nd Avenue at Shaver Street. For $10 you get all the barbecued chicken, baked beans, macaroni, green and potato salad you can eat, plus your choice of beverage. You can also listen and dance to live music by the Last Rodeo Band.

This will be your opportunity to watch the world premier of Turkey Creek Production’s “James Prescott and the Legend of Parker Rose.”

It’s a sequel to last year’s tale based on the origins of Parkrose and “That Other Town To The West Thar”. Once again, most of the cast consists of your friends and neighbors. The plot? Well, let’s just say that this last spring was not the first time that people were asked to give too much, to the wrong people, in the name of Economic Development.

Does it sound like a good deal? So good you’d like to lend a hand to make it happen? Then for you there’s an even better deal. Put in some volunteer time and you can eat, drink, dance and watch the film for free! Call 503-253-5571.

And remember, it’s all for a good cause. This is not just for football players, but all the kids in Parkrose. There’s no such thing as too much money; count on the Parkrose Youth Sports Foundation to find something worthwhile to spend it on.

Memo Calendar | Memo Pad | Business Memo's | Loaves & Fishes | L etters | About the MEMO
MEMO Advertising | MEMO Archives | MEMO Web Neighbors | MEMO Staff | Home