Army of Volunteers Join Portland Timbers for 2nd Annual Stand Together Week

Portland, August 4th-10th, 2013. Fans volunteered alongside Timbers players, club mascot Timber Joey, and Portland Thorns players, to lend a hand with 30 different community projects. All available Timbers players volunteered their time, for example, midfielder Rodney Wallace helped coach a soccer clinic at the Hacienda Futsal Court during Stand Together Week. (Photos courtesy Portland Timbers)

Portland Timbers defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste tended Beaverton’s Kennedy Community Gardens during Stand Together Week.

Volunteers tend to Beaverton’s Kennedy Community Gardens.

Many volunteers at Beaverton’s Kennedy Community Gardens saw meeting Timbers as extra motivation for signing up.

This is the second year the Portland Timbers have teamed up with Hands on Greater Portland for Stand Together Week. The goal is to spotlight nonprofit projects and volunteer opportunities across the metro area.

Portland Timbers midfielder Kalif Alhassan joins volunteers to plant seeds at Supa Fresh Youth Farm in Tigard. Its mission is to train underserved teens in workforce skills, entrepreneurship, organic sustainable agriculture, nutrition and life skills.

Timber Joey and volunteers box cereal at the Oregon Food Bank during Stand Together Week.

Defender David Horst gardens at HB Lee Middle School on August 6th.

The work crew poses for a photo at H.B. Lee. It’s one of two middle schools in the Reynolds School District adopted as part of the nation’s first Dreamer School. “I Have a Dream” Oregon will follow the students through high school to ensure they gain access to every resource necessary to graduate from high school and pursue post-secondary education. The ultimate goal is to help Dreamer students become economically independent adults.

Portland Thorns midfielder Becky Edwards joins Alaska Airlines volunteers to help pack food for Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division. Since 1923, the Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division has been providing emergency food and clothing relief to Portland families and individuals in need.

The Schoolhouse Supplies organization gets help from Stand Together. Schoolhouse Supplies is an award-winning nonprofit that supports public education in Portland by giving students and teachers free classroom supplies.

The Portland Timbers forward Sebastián Rincón helps clean up with Growing Gardens volunteers.

Bright Dike and the 4 Worlds United Soccer Alliance play soccer with local kids in SE Portland.

Stand Together Week included the maintenance of walking paths and removal of invasive weeds in an 18-acre natural area at Dairy Creek Park, with Timbers players Diego Chara, Jack Jewsbury, Will Johnson and Diego Valeri.

Supported by partners adidas, Alaska Airlines, CenturyLink, Coca-Cola and Providence Health & Services, Stand Together Week, with the help of Hands On Greater Portland benefited more than 20 organizations focused on youth and the environment.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.