NAYA Family Center's food Pantry is Empty - Help fill the shelves!

The Sellwood Bridge: A New Milestone

Dear Friends,

I majored in English, not math or economics, but it doesn't take a special degree to realize that the impacts of the recession are hitting our community hard. Two startling things happened last week that really painted the picture for me of how much people in our community are hurting.

First, our family winter warming shelter housed 90 people in one night. That is significantly more people than we expected and about 150% more people than at our highest time last year. Over half of the shelter guests are children. Second, I talked with Liesl Wendt at the Mayoral Candidate's Housing Forum last week. Liesl runs 211 Info - the information and referral line for people seeking social services. Last Monday they had more calls for assistance than they've ever received in one day.

Instead of getting depressed, I decided to do something. My staff, some friends and I bought holiday gifts for five families working with JOIN. Of course families need help year round, but this holiday season I'm encouraging everyone to do at least one thing to help someone in need. Below are four simple ways you can help today:

Thank you and Happy Holidays to you and yours, 
Deborah Kafoury

Donate Socks & Gloves - it's cold outside!
http://211info.org/blog/portland%E2%80%99s-homeless-need-you-now-donate-socks-gloves-and-more

Volunteer at the Family Warming Shelter
You can be an overnight host, bring a meal or a non-perishable food item, donate blankets and more.
http://www.humansolutions.org/homelessness-services/warming-center-homeless-families.php

NAYA Family Center's food Pantry is Empty - Help fill the shelves!
Bring non-perishable food items to the NAYA Family Center - 5135 NE Columbia Blvd. Portland, OR 97218. (For more info call 503 288-8177). http://www.nayapdx.org/

Sign up for a one-day volunteer shift
Visit Hands on Greater Portland's Holiday Volunteer site to sign up for holiday volunteer opportunities (everything from wrapping gifts for the MS Society to serving a meal to providing homework help to kids). http://www.handsonportland.org/Holiday_Volunteering

The Sellwood Bridge: A New Milestone

Last Friday, more than 150 citizens joined me, Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen, Commissioners Judy Shiprack and Diane McKeel, Portland Mayor Sam Adams and representatives from the offices of U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Kurt Schrader at the groundbreaking celebration for the new Sellwood Bridge. The groundbreaking took place at Sellwood Riverfront Park in Southeast Portland.

We were honored to introduce special guest U.S. Department of Transportation Undersecretary Polly Trottenberg, who traveled from Washington, D.C. to present Multnomah County with a $17.7 million check and officially announce that the county received a federal TIGER grant for the Sellwood Bridge project. Multnomah County received the seventh largest TIGER grant in the nation.

"The application for the Sellwood Bridge knocked it out of the park," Trottenberg said, praising the project's strong state, regional, and local support and enthusiastic public participation. 

Faith Community and Non-profits Working Together to Give Hope to Homeless Families

One month after opening, the emergency warming shelter for homeless families, located at Eastminster Presbyterian Church, is already significantly over planned capacity. Currently, the shelter is housing between 70-90 individuals per night, all of whom are members of families with children. Human Solutions, which operates the shelter, planned for 40 people per night based on last year's utilization. If utilization continues at this pace, the shelter may deplete its budget well before the scheduled end of the emergency warming season (April 30, 2012).

In response to this crisis, members of the faith community have created a "Covenant of Hope". The goal of the "Covenant of Hope" is to recruit 10 congregations willing to sponsor a family currently living in an emergency shelter with rent and utility support, basic household items, and regular community support from the congregation. Sponsorships are $2400 and will be matched by Human Solutions for a total of 6 months of rent assistance. This will not only be a significant "hand up" to the sponsored families, it will also help to free up space at the emergency warming shelter.

To learn more about this innovative approach, please contact Barbara Willer, Multnomah County Interfaith Coordinator, by email at Barbara.Willer@multco.us or 503-724-8870.  
 

Multnomah County Board proclaims December as Transgender Children Awareness Month

The Board of Commissioners has declared December as Transgender Children Awareness Month. The proclamation acknowledges that transgender and gender non-conforming children and young people are among the least understood, most marginalized and under-served populations. "While the stories of transgender adults have been written about, talked about on television and filmed for theaters, the lives and unique challenges transgender children and youth face have remained in the shadows," Jenn Burleton, Executive Director, TransActive Education and Advocacy, said.

The latest estimates are that 1 in 100 children experience discrimination, abuse and rejection because they don't conform to gender stereotypes for their assigned birth sex, Burleton said. One in 250 children do not experience their gender identity in a way that corresponds to the gender they were assigned at birth, she added. "This is in fact a higher prevalence rate then that of children born with Type 1 diabetes," Burleton said.

For more information, visit the TransActive website at http://www.transactiveonline.org/index.php