Compassion Connect Innovates to Attract Volunteers and Raise Funds During Pandemic

Compassion Connect Innovates to Attract Volunteers and Raise Funds During Pandemic

Portland, OR. Despite the challenges that have ensued in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, Compassion Connect has continued to provide resource connections and unite some churches that serve Portland neighborhoods. Thanks to the continued support of donors, the nonprofit was able to raise over $10,000 for COVID-19 relief programs this spring.

The Portland-based nonprofit (which also has chapters in Washington and Arizona) has had to put its main outreach programs on hold until further notice due to health and safety concerns as well as state mandates. These programs include free health clinics and after school groups for vulnerable youth who face a higher risk for sexual exploitation.

Setbacks, have not stopped the small staff from brainstorming ways to invest critically in the communities they serve. Communications director Anna Johnson offers some insight: “During this time of hiatus, our team hasn’t ceased tackling the challenging question of how to resume operations safely so we can continue helping churches serve their neighbors in a time when they need the support more than ever.”

At the beginning of the outbreak, the company held area-specific Zoom meetings with church leadership from eight local neighborhoods to provide a platform for prayer and collaboration on how to meet the needs of the community. According to Ana, the “meetings culminated in a webinar in late May, where we shared ways for the church to make the ‘new normal’ look more like the Kingdom of God by providing a framework and tools for churches to build relationships, work together in unity, and transform the neighborhoods.”

While working from home, staff have rallied volunteers and churches to collect care package items for youth, many of whom now find themselves immersed in unstable home environments. The kits include essential hygiene items like masks and hand sanitizer along with games, treats, and encouraging notes.

Compassion Connect Health Clinics saw patients before the pandemic (above). The nonprofit is offering a community support form for clinic guests in need of medical services while the organization’s clinics are closed.

For those who have been without healthcare or have lost job-based insurance due to layoffs, Compassion Connect hopes to resume clinic services in late August with additional safety features in place, configured by staff, volunteers, board members, and outside experts. With additional precautions, the nonprofit has also been working on gradually relaunching its after school program, as well as its Adorned In Grace bridal shops, which offer new and gently used wedding gowns, formal wear, and accessories to support its work in anti-trafficking.

The nonprofit is currently exploring completely virtual or small group options for its largest fundraising event in October, which typically sees an attendance of around 300 guests.

About Compassion Connect:

Interested in volunteering with the Compassion Connect team? The nonprofit is looking for a technology coordinator to help plan virtual events, as well as other virtual volunteers, donors, and interns to make a difference in the community during this challenging season. For more information, go to  www.compassionconnect.com  or Compassion PDX on Facebook or @compassionconnect on Instagram.

We believe in the volunteer leaders, in those who are yet to rise up and in the potential of any community in the world to make a difference by uniting in Jesus-like service to its most hurting members. You have the heart to make a difference. We have the tools to make it a reality.

Cool Winter Light Festival Expands Footprint in Portland

Cool Winter Light Festival Expands Footprint in Portland

Portland, OR. With hubs around the city instead of just around OMSI, thousands more people are taking in the 3rd Annual Portland Winter Light Festival than in past years. One eye-catching display called FORM was outside the WeWork Custom House at 220 NW 8th Ave. More than 100 illuminated installations, artists, performers and events brightened the Portland cityscape. The festival is an activity of local nonprofit The Willamette Light Brigade.

The free, all-ages festival February 1-3 expanded to its largest footprint yet, featuring illuminated art installations, live performances, and interactive activities designed to unite the community during the darkest time of the year.  (Cosmic Space Worm by Tyler FuQua at Hub B.)

Saturday closing night live events include:

Hub A:
Light Science Talks, Theory Cafe at OMSI
Stories Around the Fire, Oregon Rail Heritage Center
PDX Winter Light Festival Art Walk (ASL & Deaf Friendly!), starts at Oregon Rail Heritage Center
Tesla Coil Show: Arcs, Sparks & Corona Glow, Oregon Rail Heritage Center
Flamebuoyant Productions, Caruthers Landing
Lantern Parade, OMSI (ends at Hub B)
Return of the Love Show!Ford Food & Drink
Byte Me 7.0AFRU Gallery

Sailing between Hub A & Hub B: Portland Opera resident artists & Mysti Krewe of Nimbus.

Hub B:
WTC Showcase: BodyVox/Éowyn Emerald & Dancers/Simple Machines, WTC Auditorium
WTC Showcase: Rainbow Dance Theatre presents iLumiDance, WTC Auditorium
Fun Luv’n Silent Disco, WTC Plaza
Circus Luminescence, Salmon Street Springs
Christmas Ships Parade, public dock near Riverplace
PSU Light Works, 1914 SW Park Ave

Hub C:
All art galleries and installations excepting Night Lights: Julia Calabrese will be open. Many are viewable 24/7. Check www.pdxwlf.com/hub-c for details

Hub D:
Filmed by Bike at Portland Winter Lights Festival, NW Documentary
Ambient/Techno/Prog @Winter Light Festival with DialecticFlowers, Cathedral Park Place

* All events are free!
* Limited parking at most Hubs. Ride the Portland Streetcar for FREE after 5pm Feb 1-3, 2018, or enjoy complimentary rides on the Portland Spirit River Cruises. Boat rides are about 45 minutes; walking between Hub A and B is about 20 minutes.

The 2018 Portland Winter Light Festival is presented by Portland General Electric (PGE) and powered by PGE renewable energy.

 

Drawing interest and recognition from across the region, the expanded 2018 artist roster showcases talent almost exclusively from the Pacific Northwest. In just its third year, the festival has already established itself as a regional attraction for artists and visitors due to the dazzling and unique installations and family friendly atmosphere.

Highlighted new offerings for 2018:

  • Significant expansion to sites throughout Portland, including dedicated festival hubs
  • at OMSI, PGE Headquarters/World Trade Center (downtown), the North Park Blocks including PNCA, and Cathedral Park (St. Johns)
  • Artworks such as Tyler FuQua’s Cosmic Space Worm (30-foot-long segmented aluminum worm
  • built on 5 adult tricycles), Tron Pong blacklight ping-pong by James “JT” Thompson, and Light Gardening/A Robot at Play by Richard Miner (a large robot tending a fiber-optic garden)
  • Stories Around the Fire, presented by former Live Wire host Courtenay Hameister around a fire sculpture
  • Light Showcase performing arts programming at the World Trade Center Plaza featuring
  • BodyVox dance company and others
  • Tesla coil demonstrations at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center

“The Portland Winter Light Festival has already become a favorite wintertime destination for the Portland community,” Chris Herring, Artistic Director of Portland Winter Light Festival said. “Nothing showcases that more than our ability to bring in artists and performers from around the region and expand the footprint of this year’s festival to neighborhoods well beyond anything we’ve been able to do before.”

Popular festival events returning in 2018:

  • Artworks such as Flamethrower Chandelier by Ryan Ramage, and a 50-foot-tall steel dragon that shoots flames titled Homage to Trogdor by Ivan McLean
  • Complimentary rides on the Portland Spirit and Sternwheeler, with performances by the
  • Portland Opera and others
  • Light Science Talks educational series
  • Silent Disco headphones dance party

Details for the 3rd Annual Portland Winter Light Festival:

Where: OMSI, PGE Headquarters/World Trade Center, PNCA, Cathedral Park, and more. See citywide festival map for exact locations.

When: 6pm-11pm, February 1-3, 2018 (Thursday through Saturday nights). Cost: Free.

How to get there: Free transportation available to most sites. The Portland Streetcar will once again offer free rides on all routes after 5pm on every night of the event. All installations along TriMet bus routes and limited parking available near all hubs.

**For complete artist listings, programming, and schedules, visit www.pdxwlf.com.

About the Portland Winter Light Festival

The Portland Winter Light Festival (PDXWLF) is Portland’s premier outdoor winter arts event that transforms, illuminates and animates Portland’s nighttime urban landscape. Inspired by light festivals around the world, PDXWLF showcases unique light-based art, community installations and performance, engaging Portland’s diverse communities and creating opportunities for artists, designers, creatives and makers to collectively expand the boundaries of art, performance and technology in our region. The third year of the festival will take place at sites around Portland, Oregon from February 1-3, 2018. 

Brighter 2018 Portland Winter Light Festival Expanding Footprint

Brighter 2018 Portland Winter Light Festival Expanding Footprint

Portland, OR. More than 100 illuminated installations, artists, performers and events will brighten the Portland cityscape this February during the 2018 Portland Winter Light Festival presented by Portland General Electric (PGE) and powered by PGE renewable energy. The free, all-ages festival February 1-3 will expand to its largest footprint yet, featuring illuminated art installations, live performances, and interactive activities designed to unite the community during the darkest time of the year. The festival is an activity of local nonprofit The Willamette Light Brigade.

The Portland Winter Light Festival has had all kinds of attractions over the past two years.

The Portland Spirit Lights were created by Mark LaPierre.

This community-wide festival & celebration illuminates the city’s public spaces with installations by premier light artists and designers.

The festival is presented by and powered by PGE renewable energy.

Drawing interest and recognition from across the region, the expanded 2018 artist roster showcases talent almost exclusively from the Pacific Northwest. In just its third year, the festival has already established itself as a regional attraction for artists and visitors due to the dazzling and unique installations and family friendly atmosphere. The Portland Winter Light Festival is hosted by OMSI and the Portland Spirit as an activity of the Willamette Light Brigade.

Growing beyond the festival’s original central footprint at OMSI, this year the over 100 artists, performers, and creators will have work presented at four creative art hubs throughout the entire city.

Highlighted new offerings for 2018:

  • Significant expansion to sites throughout Portland, including dedicated festival hubs
  • at OMSI, PGE Headquarters/World Trade Center (downtown), the North Park Blocks including PNCA, and Cathedral Park (St. Johns)
  • Artworks such as Tyler FuQua’s Cosmic Space Worm (30-foot-long segmented aluminum worm
  • built on 5 adult tricycles), Tron Pong blacklight ping-pong by James “JT” Thompson, and Light Gardening/A Robot at Play by Richard Miner (a large robot tending a fiber-optic garden)
  • Stories Around the Fire, presented by former Live Wire host Courtenay Hameister around a fire sculpture
  • Light Showcase performing arts programming at the World Trade Center Plaza featuring
  • BodyVox dance company and others
  • Tesla coil demonstrations at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center

“The Portland Winter Light Festival has already become a favorite wintertime destination for the Portland community,” Chris Herring, Artistic Director of Portland Winter Light Festival said. “Nothing showcases that more than our ability to bring in artists and performers from around the region and expand the footprint of this year’s festival to neighborhoods well beyond anything we’ve been able to do before.”

Popular festival events returning in 2018:

  • Artworks such as Flamethrower Chandelier by Ryan Ramage, and a 50-foot-tall steel dragon that shoots flames titled Homage to Trogdor by Ivan McLean
  • Complimentary rides on the Portland Spirit and Sternwheeler, with performances by the
  • Portland Opera and others
  • Light Science Talks educational series
  • Silent Disco headphones dance party

Details for the 3rd Annual Portland Winter Light Festival:

Where: OMSI, PGE Headquarters/World Trade Center, PNCA, Cathedral Park, and more. See citywide festival map for exact locations.

When: 6pm-11pm, February 1-3, 2018 (Thursday through Saturday nights). Cost: Free.

How to get there: Free transportation available to most sites. The Portland Streetcar will once again offer free rides on all routes after 5pm on every night of the event. All installations along TriMet bus routes and limited parking available near all hubs.

**For complete artist listings, programming, and schedules, visit www.pdxwlf.com.

About the Portland Winter Light Festival

The Portland Winter Light Festival (PDXWLF) is Portland’s premier outdoor winter arts event that transforms, illuminates and animates Portland’s nighttime urban landscape. Inspired by light festivals around the world, PDXWLF showcases unique light-based art, community installations and performance, engaging Portland’s diverse communities and creating opportunities for artists, designers, creatives and makers to collectively expand the boundaries of art, performance and technology in our region. The third year of the festival will take place at sites around Portland, Oregon from February 1-3, 2018.