Portland, OR. Community Warehouse raised a record $200,687 at its annual gala, “Chair Affair,” which was held on June 26th. The event was held virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Chair Affair 2020 was “a virtual affair to remember,” according to Community Warehouse Communications Manager Pua Trice, and featured “unique art, exciting auctions, and inspiring stories from people whose houses have been transformed into homes.”
“The event raised a record-setting net of $200,687 that will connect essential furnishings to neighbors in need throughout the region,” Trice said. Dale Johannes and Dunethcka Otero-Serrano, Community Warehouse’s Executive Director hosted the event, as shown in the photo above. “I want to start tonight’s Chair Affair with gratitude,” Otero-Serrano said. “These past few months have been so challenging for all of us, but we have been able to get creative and continue service to our community because of our partners.”
Children’s Chairs created by local artists and sponsored by wonderful supporters of Community Warehouse. These chairs go to children of families that visit the Warehouse in need of furnishings.
“These past few months have certainly been challenging,” Johannes said, “but your team of superheroes—and they are superheroes—they’ve been hard at work adapting to this change and creating some new ways to meet the needs of the community.”
The hosts emphasized how important a table or a bed can be throughout Covid-19’s disruptions to daily life, and that Community Warehouse has continued to serve their clients throughout the pandemic by supplying them with Home2Go essential item kits.
“These are kits that are essential items for every household, designed to give our clients an opportunity to cook their own meals, to have a safe place to sleep, a full set of dishes, and a full set of towels and bedsheets,” said Community Warehouse Program Director Joe Glode in a video.
Stories from various partners, volunteers and clients were spotlighted at the event. Partners like the Tigard-Tualatin School District detailed the impact that essential furnishings have on their students’ capabilities in the classroom, and Youth volunteers highlighted their understanding and proactivity towards Community Warehouse’s mission.
Matthew Mickles, Ben Garcia, and Priscilla Villanueva from the Tigard-Tualatin School District
“Well-being was encapsulated by the Espinoza family,” Trice said, “clients that can enjoy ‘family day’ in a warm and welcoming home.”
The Espinoza Family—Amelia, Alexander, Ailani, Steve, Sandra, and Sandy
According to Glode, at the beginning of the pandemic in March, Community Warehouse had to temporarily lay off most of its staff. “When city and state officials issued a stay at home order, we really were thinking, how do you stay at home if you have nothing at home?” Glode said.
That’s when Community Warehouse decided to start making essential item kits—called Home2Go kits—with items they had readily available in both their Portland and Tualitan warehouses.
Since March, Community Warehouse has been able to bring nearly all of their staff back to work in some capacity, and the organization is continuing to focus on providing their services to the Portland community.
“It means a lot to know that we have the support of everyone in the community to make sure that we can provide furniture in a safe place to live for everyone,” Glode said.
Joe Glode, Program Director at Community Warehouse, preparing a Home2Go Essential Item Kit.
About Community Warehouse:
We’re your friendly local furniture bank, serving the Portland area for over 15 years. How does a furniture bank work? In a nutshell, we collect donated home goods, and work with social service agencies to get those goods in the hands of those who need it most. The stuff you no longer need becomes the solution for a family in need. Pretty simple, huh? At Community Warehouse, it’s the simple stuff – the extra dishes, towels, beds, and more – that changes lives.
Portland, OR. Things continue to feel far from normal for My Father’s House, where the regulatory efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have led to the cancellation of all fundraising events this year. The organization – which is will soon celebrate 20 years of service to the houseless community of Oregon – is rescheduling its anniversary celebration From January to April 17, 2021. Currently, much many of the resident families (like the one above) are looking forward to continuing the back-to-work education in person at My Father’s House. My Father’s House reclaims at-risk homeless families from street life by providing them with the life skills necessary to become permanently independent and productive citizens.
The mass layoffs in the wake of the pandemic have severely disrupted the organization’s back-to-work program. “It’s been difficult as residents have lost jobs. It feels like one step forward and two steps back…,” conveyed Assistant Director Andrea Pickett. She explained that their educational program – which includes the Life Skills and Rent Well curriculums – encountered difficulties in adapting to Zoom.
This single dad and his kids are residents at My Father’s House.
The support of family means everything during these times.
The community has stepped up to lend a hand during the pandemic.
Nonetheless, faculty have been working hard to meet state requirements, conducting classes on Zoom, and striving to keep contact with residents via phone and internet. “We certainly have upped our technology skills,” Andrea noted. “We have been able to keep a somewhat normal schedule of classes, case management, job, and housing search. In addition, while secluded, we have been able to work on facility issues of repair.”
Despite the difficulties, the faculty and residents remain hopeful. Phase One has allowed many residents to return to work. The community has also stepped up to help fill in the gaps, which Andrea added, “has been extremely generous by providing food, PPE supplies, and help with our cleaning/yard work.”
For anyone interested in getting involved with the organization, please contact Sara at [email protected] OR 503-492-3046 x224.
About My Father’s House
The mission of My Father’s House is to equip homeless families with the life skills necessary to become contributing members of their community.
Portland, OR. SEMpdx held its annual Rooftop Party in Portland’s Pearl District at the On Deck Sports Bar & Grill. It’s the eleventh year for the networking event. The SEMpdx Board of Directors took time for a photo. Leaders include: Ryan Campbell, Scott Hendison, Kevin Getch, Anna Madill (back row) Tony Svoboda, Trish Carey, Garrett Browne, Robert Frost, Todd Mintz, Sarah Hinds, and Ashley Kennedy. Every year, the nonprofit Search Engine Marketing Organization selects a charity to support and this year, it’s Girls Inc., an organization encouraging girls to be “strong, smart, and bold.” The benefits of becoming a SEMpdx Charity of Choice include: recognition at events, pro-bono digital marketing services, and up to a $5,000 donation.
During the Rooftop Party on August 1st, members try their hand at the giant Connect 4 game.
One of the founders of SEMpdx, Kent Lewis, talks with members. Lewis is also the President of Anvil Media.
SEMpdx was founded in 2006, because we felt that there was a lot of veteran talent here in PDX, but we weren’t really recognized for it because we were all so busy working that we weren’t self-promoting. We also knew that the business community in Portland was coming around to SEM, but didn’t really know about the level of talent here in PDX. This led to our rather simple mission “put search on the map in Portland, and Portland on the map in search”. In other words – to get PDX recognized in the national SEM community, and raise awareness for search marketing in PDX. We got the group together when Scott Orth & Blu Drobushevich approached me (Kent Lewis) after SMX Seattle in 2006 and suggested we create our own industry association in Portland. Initially, I (Ben Lloyd) was hesitant, and wasn’t sure we had critical mass in the area. That said, after a brief debate, we agreed to run it by folks we knew and trusted in the industry. A month or two later, we scheduled a meeting with a dozen or so local SEM professionals. Everyone at that meeting was on board (literally, everyone become an initial board member). I sold the initial sponsorship (Site9) that gave us the funding and moved SearchFest from IPN (Stan Davis & I created the initial events in 2005) to SEMpdx and we were on our way. Ben Lloyd helped us incorporate through his father’s firm and we started formalizing articles, bylaws, processes, mission, vision, and so on. Scott Hendison worked on the blog and website, Tracy Chapman started organizing, and Todd Mintz started blogging. The rest is history! There was a great deal of hard work & details by the board, which was critical and appreciated. The group then started putting on monthly educational events.
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