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Fundraiser’s will go under the razor in Vancouver this weekend. It’s a St Baldrick’s event . . . donors chip in and sponsor volunteers who shave their heads . . . all the money goes to cancer research.
This weekend’s event has a bit of a bittersweet twist. The man who kickstarted the planning is Sam Marks, a high school junior who was recently diagnosed with cancer. He lost his own battle in July. The event is going forward in his honor. For more info, go here.
After that nasty late-spring scare that almost forced Oregon Ballet Theatre to close its doors, the dance organization seems to be bouncing back nicely. Executive Director Jon Ulsh spoke with GNPDX and says they cut their operating expenses by $2 million dollars to ensure that doors can stay open while maintaining the integrity of their artistic presentation.
Fundraising is on track, ticket sales are strong, even the OBT school is fully enrolled.
But, there are still lots of ways you can help through fundraising and volunteering. Check them out he
re for more info.
Hey everybody . . . Sorry for the lagged posts this week. We’ve been working through some back end issues but (fingers crossed) it’s all fixed.
Thanks for reading!
As countless music programs are cut from local schools, one local man is trying to fill the gaps.
As a child, Charles Lewis relied on the consistency of music classes as he moved from school to school with his mother and several siblings. Now, seeing those classes disappearing, he wants to make sure this generation doesn’t miss out.
So he started Ethos, it’s a non profit music center offering free classes, workshops and instrument rentals for kids in need. For more info, go here.
You may have heard the bummer news that several Portland schools are struggling to hit the No Child Left Behind mark. Well, no need to worry . . . the Portland Boys and Girls clubs are doing their part to get kids back up to speed.
A few years ago, they realized that about 1 in 5 kids suffer from dyslexia. Wanting to help, staff developed a special literacy program to work with those kids. The results? Immediate success. Kids who were 2 or 3 grades behind were caught up or exceeding their classmates.
The technique is multi-sensory. They say the letters and words out loud, write them with big scripted letters using their entire arm. And it works.
But it ALSO works for ALL kids. Yeah, when they tested the system with kids who were struggling but NOT due to dyslexia, they saw the same improvement.
So now the program is going into all the Boys and Girls Clubs in PDX and is open to any families that want the extra help. For the club near you, go here.
Senator Jason Atkinson almost DIED after helping a friend
A year ago, Senator Jason Atkinson thought he was doing a favor for a friend. See, Atkinson can fix bikes and someone asked him to give his two-wheeler a tune up. What the Senator did not know, was that there was a bag on the back of the bike holding a gun. When Atkinson took the bag off and tossed it on the floor, the gun went off shattering his femur and ripping through an artery.
If not for quick thinking by his wife to apply pressure and fashion a rudimentary tourniquet out of spare tubing, he would have bled to death on the floor of his workshop.
But he survived, spent a year in recovery, unsure if he could save his leg. And when his leg was safe, having to learn how to walk again.
Now, he walks with a limp, deals with constant pain, but says he’s GRATEFUL for the experience.
See, Atkinson says he now has a better understanding of what it’s like for people living with constant pain, people who have lost limbs and feels he can serve the community better with that knowledge.
He lives everyday with greater happiness and gratitude than ever before. Whether you agree with his politics, I think we can all give Jason Atkinson a thumbs up today.
Project Linkage fills needs for countless individuals every day
A lot of charities focus on a large need. Food banks that collect millions of pounds of food for the hungry. Fundraisers to pay for medical research or treatments. But sometimes, you find a nifty group that has found a unique way to tackle a seemingly smaller need.
That’s one of the many reasons we love Project Linkage. The group run through Metropolitan Family Services offers a lot of services that may seem minor to the rest of us:
Scheduling regular visits between a volunteer and someone who is stuck in the home for the most part.
Driving people to the grocery store, the vet or the dry cleaners.
Heck, even CALLING once a day to make sure they haven’t fallen or need help.
The list goes on (sadly, Project Linkage does NOT offer a compass, toothpick or tweezers).
While the group does many wonderful things every day, they need YOUR help to do more. Go here to learn more about how to volunteer.
The fight against Breast Cancer has a new ally in Clark County. The Southwest Washington Medical Center unveils the Kearney Breast Center today.
GNPDX spoke with Ken Cole at the center and he says there are two key factors they wanted when they set about building the 12,000 sq ft facility:
Top of the line equipment. Check. One of their machines is so state of the art, the FDA hasn’t even finished the approval process (don’t worry, they won’t use it until it gets the formal thumbs up).
Soothing atmosphere. Check. Cole says they put in great attention to make sure the facility would ease anxiety that comes with treatment.
And if you’re wondering what the community thinks, you can ask the 1,000 people who helped raise $4 million to get the doors open. Talk about grassroots.
The Kearney Center is open to anyone in the area, Oregon and Washington, and is designed to serve a woman’s needs for an entire lifetime. For more info, go here.
It’s a very minor perk of being in the military, but it makes a huge difference. The commissary. It’s basically a big grocery store that offers goods to soldiers and retired vets at a lower price than your neighborhood supermarket.
The one problem is commissaries only exist on bases. If you don’t live near a base, you can’t go shopping unless you want to drive however far it may be (for example, in Southern Oregon soldiers might have to drive several hours to Fort Lewis in Washington).
Which is what led to the Comissary Case Lot Sale. The Military effectively brings the store to soldiers by setting up a make shift grocer in central locations around the state, trucking in tons of food to sell.
There’s just such a sale this weekend at the Jackson Armory in Portland. Fri-Sun, 9A-5P.
There’s a great piece on Oregonlive about a local guy who travels around providing food to homeless animals. As a newly-minted owner of a puppy, the GNPDX staff thinks this guy deserves a mdeal.
