The Classic Wines Auction 2013 Beneficiaries Announced

The Classic Wines Auction 2013 Beneficiaries Announced

Portland, October 1st. The Classic Wines Auction supports the good work of Oregon non-profit organizations by providing funds to pre-selected entities benefiting children and families. The Classic Wines Auction partners with organizations with the following characteristics: mission compatibility, effective organizational management, sound financial practices, Board-led fundraising, sustainability, and a solid volunteer network. Participation is by invitation only. Classic Wines Auction does not anticipate any available openings for new charity partners for 2013 events.

The 2013 beneficiaries are:

Metropolitan Family Service, which helps to strengthen families and individuals while enhancing their participation in community life.

New Avenues for Youth, which helps homeless youth overcome tragic childhoods, exit the streets, and become productive members of our community.

Friends of the Children – Portland, a mentoring program providing at-risk children with sustained adult role models.

YWCA Clark County, offering life-changing services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and homelessness.

Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel, one of Oregon’s largest providers of pediatric  inpatient and trauma services, providing excellent care to infants, children  and teens in Portland and the Northwest.

Here are some upcoming events for The Classic Wines Auction.

November 13-15, 2012 – Fall Winemaker Dinners

February 25, 2013 – Walla Walla Wine @ Pure Space
February 19-21 and 26-28, 2013
– Spring Winemaker Dinners       

March 1, 2013 – Ambassadors Dinner
March 2, 2013
– Classic Wines Auction

Over the past several years, the Classic Wines Auction has also supported the following children’s charities: Trillium Family Services, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oregon and Southwest Washington, SMART® (Start Making A Reader Today), The Boys and Girls Aid Society of Oregon, The Christie School and Tuality Healthcare (dba ¡Salud!).

What began as a small group of friends exchanging wine from personal collections to raise funds for Portland’s Metropolitan Family Service, the Classic Wines Auction has evolved into one of the top ten charity wine auctions in the United States according to Wine Spectatormagazine, prompting organizers to form a separate nonprofit entity in July 2004.

Since 2005, the Classic Wines Auction has raised an average of at least $2 million each year and since inception, the Auction has raised over $28 million. Classic Wines Auction’s expanded events now benefit over 82,000 children & families annually served by our charity partners. Classic Wines Auction charities are providing services, hope and opportunity to change the lives of thousands in our community.

Portland Fruit Tree Project Celebrates 200th Harvest

Portland Fruit Tree Project Celebrates 200th Harvest

Portland, September 15th.  Portland Fruit Tree Project marked an exciting milestone with a big multi-site urban harvesting event. There were four harvest sites and one team was entirely bike powered – a new harvest method for the nonprofit.

Over 640 pounds of fruit was sent to the NE Emergency Food Program & to Urban Gleaners. (Photo Credit, Amanda Rohde)

Over 640 pounds of fruit was sent to the NE Emergency Food Program & to Urban Gleaners. (Photo Credit, Amanda Rohde)

Over 40 volunteers harvested 1,281.5 pounds of fruit

Over 40 volunteers harvested 1,281.5 pounds of fruit (photo credit Kimi Nam)

About half of the fruit was shared with the harvest volunteers – half of whom are low income themselves.

The event ended with a celebratory lunch while representatives from the NE Emergency Food Program & Urban Gleaners spoke about the impact the fruit from Portland Fruit Tree Project has on their organizations and the people they serve.

The grapes were ripe for the picking! (Photo credit, Kimi Nam)

Amanda Rohde 200th Harvest 9-15-12-1

200th Harvest (Photo credit, Amanda Rohde)

Since 2007 Portland Fruit Tree Project has brought together thousands of diverse Portlanders to harvest and distribute more than 100,000 lbs of fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste from hundreds of neighborhood fruit trees. 50% of fruit harvested by PFTP goes to local food pantries, and the rest goes to harvest participants, the majority of whom are living on low incomes. Since 2007 PFTP has provided fresh fruit to more than 10,000 low income families.

Portland Fruit Tree Project is a grass-roots non-profit organization that provides a community-based solution to a critical and growing need in Portland and beyond: Access to healthy food. By empowering neighbors to share in the harvest and care of urban fruit trees, we are preventing waste, building community knowledge and resources, and creating sustainable, cost-free ways to obtain healthy, locally-grown food. Because money doesn’t grow on trees… but fruit does!

“We organize people to gather fruit before it falls, and make it available to those who need it most. We register fruit and nut trees throughout the city, bring people together to harvest and distribute thousands of pounds of fresh fruit each year, and teach tree care and food preservation in hands-on workshops.”

MIKE Program’s Autumn Evening 2012 Marks 9th Anniversary of Healthy Living

MIKE Program’s Autumn Evening 2012 Marks 9th Anniversary of Healthy Living

Portland, September 14th. MIKE Program  supporters enjoyed an upbeat fundraiser at the Multnomah Athletic Club. The nonprofit raised over $50,000 to help empower youth to be health leaders—ambassadors for health—through education, mentorship and community outreach. (Photo credit, Anna M. Campbell)

MIKE Program Board of Directors member Brent Barnett, Roy Jay, An

MIKE Program Board of Directors member Brent Barnett, Roy Jay, An Autumn Evening Chair Kathe Fradkin, and Keith Lyons presided over the successful evening.

 

Former Oregon State Senator Margaret Carter, who serves as director of

Former Oregon State Senator Margaret Carter, who serves as director of Community Engagement with Oregon Health & Human Services, and Bobbie Dore Foster, executive director of The Skanner News and member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Board of Directors, joined in the fun during the festive evening.

MIKE is an acronym for: Multicultural Integrated Kidney Education. The program works to fight chronic disease conditions which harm kidneys including obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. These health issues are are increasingly impacting our children, especially low income and minority children.

Supporters work to empower more youth to be health leaders to counter chronic diseases of diabetes, high blood pressure . They explain that By 2020, Medicare expenses for kidney failure in the U.S. are expected to reach $54 billion.

From the MIKE Program:

Annually, MIKE Program empowers over 160 diverse youth in the Portland Metro Area to be ambassadors of health. MIKE Program recruits and trains caring adults to match with the youth on a 1:4 ratio, supporting them in the teens’ educational and experiential environments. The customized curriculum meets national health promotion and career related learning standards, as the teens develop individualized health promotion projects for their communities. MIKE Program provides critical interventions to the dire health consequences of poor nutrition, physical inactivity, risky behaviors, and poor access to health care.

Portland Center for the Performing Arts 25th Anniversary

Portland Center for the Performing Arts 25th Anniversary

Portland, September 16th. Julie Vigeland, PCPA Foundation member, Gary Maffei, PCPA Foundation board chair and Jeanne Newmark, donor and namesake of PCPA’s Newmark Theatre, celebrated Portland Center for the Performing Arts 25th Anniversary. Opened in 1987, Portland Center for the Performing Arts launched with the “New Theatre Building”, renamed Antoinette Hatfield Hall in 2008. Developed as a public/private partnership to create much-needed performance spaces in Portland, the building houses three distinct theatres—Newmark Theatre, Dolores Winningstad Theatre and Brunish Theatre.

There were live performances on Main Street and in the Antoinette Hatfield Hall Rotunda.

There were live performances on Main Street and in the Antoinette Hatfield Hall Rotunda.

 

For the 25th Anniversary celebration, PCPA hosted an afternoon filled with free, family-friendly activities open to the public. The day included live performances by Portland Taiko, Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre, Festival Brass and Portland Opera To Go! Visitors were also able to visit with PCPA’s resident arts groups, and take behind-the-scenes tours of the theatres.

From the PCPA Foundation:

The Portland Center for the Performing Arts Foundation is the nonprofit organization that helps PCPA maintain high-quality theaters that attract premier performances to our community. The PCPA Foundation raises capital funds and supports PCPA through region-wide community outreach and advocacy.

 

Nonprofit Association of Oregon Appoints Jim White as Executive Director

Nonprofit Association of Oregon Appoints Jim White as Executive Director

Portland, September 13, 2012. The Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO) reports that Jim White, White, who officially begins on October 8, is deeply committed to social change and has worked in the nonprofit sector both domestically and internationally for more than 17 years. He has a passion for affecting systemic change in the way that the public, private, and nonprofit sectors work together to support and strengthen civil society. Throughout his career, White has worked on some of the most difficult humanitarian and development challenges of our times, in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and North Korea. He is specifically skilled on working to build alliances and partnerships so that communities and organizations have a voice in the issues that are most important to them.

The Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO) is pleased to announce the appointment of Jim White as Executive Director.

The Nonprofit Association of Oregon (NAO) is pleased to announce the appointment of Jim White as Executive Director.

(NAO) is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that has served the nonprofit sector since 1977 providing training, consulting, and advocacy to enhance the capacity of nonprofits to fulfill their missions. Each year we serve over 8,000 nonprofit professionals from across the state.
When asked what drew him to join NAO, White responded, “Oregon is a unique state where we celebrate diverse ideas and diverse cultures. We have one of the most stunning and varied natural environments in the country. We have an engaged and passionate population; people who want to get involved in their community life. I am excited to bring what I have learned in the international context to the concerns, needs, and desires of the people of Oregon. I recognize that NAO is the organization that strengthens those voices and provides the kind of capacity building and leadership training that can have systemic change across the sector and beyond. That is something that I want to be involved with!”
Before joining NAO, White worked for Mercy Corps for over 14 years, most recently as the Vice President of Operations. He has also worked for the International Organization for Migration and the American Red Cross. White earned a BS in Engineering Technology from Temple University and an MA in Central Eurasian Area Studies from Indiana University. The Board selected White at the end of a rigorous national search that generated a very large pool of outstanding candidates. Board Chair Rick Nitti says, “We are pleased to have found such a qualified leader and believe that Jim has the vision and skills to enable NAO to become a stronger voice for the sector and advance our work supporting and serving nonprofits statewide.”

The Nonprofit Association of Oregon works in partnership with nonprofits, policy makers, philanthropists, and government agencies to ensure nonprofit success. Through training, consulting, executive transition services, and advocacy, the Nonprofit Association of Oregon helps build strong nonprofits which help build strong and vibrant communities.

Information submitted by
Carrie Kaufman, Director of Communications
Nonprofit Association of Oregon

For additional information visit:
www.nonprofitoregon.org