Portland, October 4th, 2013. Over 300 people gathered at The Nines Hotel for Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East’s Hard Hat & Black Tie Dinner and auction. This was the third year of this fun event, where movers and shakers around the Portland area get to dress up in their finest construction attire to raise money for homebuilding. Scott Holden from First Republic Bank and Dawn Holden from Sterling Bank Home Loans were King and Queen of the night. Habitat creates successful homeownership by partnering hardworking, local families in need with the community to build healthy, affordable homes. This event, emceed by KGW’s Reggie Aqui, raised over $176,000. (photo credit, Sarah Galbraith)
Paul George, Attorney at Lane Powell and Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East Board Chair toasts at VIP reception
Susie Vischer, Former Habitat for Humanity board memeber and long time volunteer, and Sandra Casillas Future Habitat Homeowner show off their outfits made from construction material
Tom Kelly, Owner of Neil Kelly; Mark Waller, Owner of Bridgeworks Capital; Steve Messinetti, President and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East
Many of those who attend are the also involved in the hands on building of homes for low income families.
From Habitat for Humanity:
Every day in Multnomah County and northern Clackamas County, low-income, hardworking families struggle to find affordable places to live. Rapidly rising rents force these families to live in unsafe, unhealthy, and crowded conditions. These families often have to move once or twice a year in search of rents that stay within their reach. Because of this, children transfer from school to school, affecting their learning and their self-esteem.
The American dream of homeownership is seen as simply unattainable, due to the skyrocketing cost of home prices and little change in incomes of hardworking families.
Our mission of working with the community to build simple, healthy, affordable homes with and for these families has resulted in over 200 families permanently escaping poverty housing. We believe in this mission, because we have seen first-hand how affordable homeownership impacts families, children, and communities.
Families have a chance to experience stability, build equity wealth, and have something tangible to pass on to their children.
Children are healthier and safer. They do better in school, have higher self-esteem, and feel more hopeful toward their future.
Communities are improved, as homeowners tend to be more active in their communities than renters, and pay into the local tax base.
Coming up….
Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build is gearing up for their third annual Pie Bake-Off on Sunday, October 27, from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m. at the Alberta Street Pub. Forks are provided and there are several ways you can get involved!
You can submit a pie, or several, to the contest to be judged by professional Portland area bakers and have a chance to win some sweet prizes! If you are more akin to pie consumption than production, you can just show up and sample from a bounty of delicious pies for a small donation! All proceeds from the event will go directly to building an affordable home in partnership with a local family. In addition, this year there will be a costume contest for kids and a Pie-walk for those that are feeling lucky!
Beaverton, April 15th, 2013. NIKE, Inc. announced grants totaling $250,000 to 25 local nonprofits and schools through the Nike Employee Grant Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation for its Spring 2013 cycle. Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East was one of the recipients of the funding. (Photo credit,
Nathan Williams)
The Nike Employee Grant Fund, which was established in 2010 and is administered in a unique partnership with The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF), supports projects that encourage physical activity in meaningful ways, especially those that create early positive experiences for children through physical education, sports and play. Since its launch, it has provided 144 grants to organizations and schools that contribute to making Oregon and Southwest Washington great places to live and work.
The Spring 2013 award recipients include a wide variety of organizations in greater Portland, including New City Initiative, a program to increase participation in extracurricular sports and activities among children and youth who have experienced homelessness, and Incight, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering people with disabilities to become contributing members of society.
“These 25 award winners provide innovative programs and passionate dedication to improving our community through physical activity opportunities for young people, as well as offering sustainable social and environmental solutions,” said Kathy Webb, Nike Community Investment Manager and administrator of this program.
“We are proud to support these local projects and connect Nike employees with our communities, not only through the grant making process but through their continued volunteerism efforts with these important organizations.”
Nike employees are integrally involved with the Nike Employee Grant Fund grant making process. With OCF oversight, a Nike employee advisory committee develops grant recommendations. Employees at Nike World Headquarters continue their involvement by volunteering their time and professional experience to help the winning nonprofits achieve their overall objectives. When it launched in 2010, the program was the first of its kind for OCF to partner with a company to bring its grant making and community knowledge to help employees have a greater impact.
“Our team is very excited, as the Nike Employee Grant Fund will help power our second annual PDX Summer Handcycling Series for athletes with disabilities,” said Dan Friess, Executive Director of Incight, a Spring 2013 grant recipient. “Together with our partner, Oregon Disability Sports, we believe strongly in Nike’s mantra, ‘If you have a body, you are an athlete.’ With Nike’s tremendous support, we are looking forward to engaging more riders and Portland area families with inclusive recreation.”
The next Nike awards cycle is open, with $300,000 in cash grants being offered to nonprofits and schools in the greater Portland area (Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington, Yamhill, and Columbia counties in Oregon and Clark County in southwest Washington). This cycle will be an increased focus on programs that have positive impact through physical activity or sport, in step with Nike’s support of First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Active Schools program, which was announced in February 2013.
“Nike’s goal is to create a world where physical activity, play and sports are highly valued and an expected, enjoyable part of life,” said Webb. “Our local communities are filled with organizations that are dedicated to creating early, positive experiences for kids in sport, physical education and active play and we encourage them to apply for funding.”
Applications are due June 1, 2013, and are available online at www.oregoncf.org/nike. Spring 2013 Nike Employee Grant Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation Awardees
The following 25 organizations received Spring 2013 grants:
Above Coping (Portland) – To bring the joy of skateboarding to youth with chronic health conditions and life-threatening illnesses.
Adelante Mujeres (Forest Grove) – To develop a model that addresses access to food, nutrition education and healthy lifestyle habits, and food-based entrepreneurial development.
Child Advocates, Inc. (Oregon City) – To advocate for a safe, healthy and permanent home for abused and neglected youth through trained citizens who live in the same communities in Clackamas County.
Child Care Development Services, Inc. (Portland) – To help childcare providers assess their environments and use best practices to write and implement nutrition and physical activity guidelines to help children learn healthy habits early.
Clackamas Women’s Services (Oregon City) – To teach at-risk boys relationship and conflict resolution through sport-related and learning activities, with an emphasis on peer-to-peer modeling.
Family Stepping Stones (Gladstone) – To help families stay safe, together and thriving by providing therapeutic early childhood development services for children and comprehensive family support.
Girls Inc. of Northwest Oregon (Portland) – To empower girls with the knowledge, skills and attitudes critical to being in charge of their bodies and sustaining a healthy sense of self in today’s challenging environment.
Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East (Portland)– To develop a 6,000 square-foot lot into a community garden, fruit tree orchard, open play space and public pathway to promote healthy eating and walking to school.
“I Have a Dream” Foundation-Oregon (Portland) – To effectively utilize shared resources for matching vulnerable youth with mentors as part of a large-scale collaborative model at one of Oregon’s underserved schools.
Incight (Portland) – To raise awareness and promote inclusive recreation opportunities in the community through a 12-week hand-cycling series for individuals with disabilities.
Lewis Elementary, Portland Public School District (Portland) – To install a traverse wall to serve as a new children’s physical education activity and to continue partnerships with local community businesses.
Mt. Tabor Little League (Portland) – To provide equipment and uniforms for the newly merged Taborvilla Little League (formerly Mt. Tabor and Montavilla Little Leagues) allowing the league members one identity.
New City Initiative (Portland) – To increase participation in extracurricular sports and activities among children and youth who have experienced homelessness.
Northwest Youth Corps (Portland) – To provide low-income high-school youth a paid stewardship to help restore Johnson Creek and lead volunteers in a day of service.
Oregon Human Development Corporation (Portland) – To cultivate confident and joyful youth who enthusiastically pursue their career and life goals through education, internships, training and entrepreneurship.
Oregon Public Health Institute (Portland) – To prepare childcare providers to become leaders in promoting children’s health by creating environments that support good nutrition, fitness and limited screen time.
Oregon Zoo Foundation (Portland) – To introduce 400 low-income and minority youth to the benefits of outdoor camping and conservation. Twenty teens from similar backgrounds serve as counselors.
Portland Parks and Recreation (Portland) – To launch the Portland Community Football Club, a community-based soccer club emphasizing the principles of equal access to sport and diversity, and providing affordable, high-quality soccer for Portland youth.
SCRAP (Portland) – To expand the environmental education program to K-12 youth with an emphasis on outreach to Title 1 schools, children and their families in North and Northeast Portland.
St. Andrew Nativity School (Portland) – To equip at-risk youth for improved participation on basketball and volleyball teams so they can experience teamwork and sportsmanship, and develop new skills and confidence.
The Black Parent Initiative (Portland) – To address the disproportionate number of black youth in foster care through culturally specific, family-focused interventions, and providing expanded duration of services for those already in the system.
The Dental Foundation of Oregon (Wilsonville) – To support the Tooth Taxi, which provides free dental care, oral-health education and dental hygiene kits to uninsured children and youth of migrant and seasonal workers.
Urban Gleaners (Portland) – To expand the Food to Schools program by bringing food deliveries to additional low-income families in elementary schools throughout greater Portland.
About NIKE, Inc.
NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly-owned NIKE subsidiaries include Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories and Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes surf and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories. For more information, visit www.nikeinc.com and follow @Nike.
About The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF)
OCF, created in 1973, is the largest foundation in Oregon, with assets of nearly $1 billion. OCF’s endowment comes from thousands of individuals, businesses and organizations that have created more than 1,600 funds from which grants are distributed to support the critical work that nonprofits are doing in Oregon. Grant and scholarship distributions in 2010 were $60 million. OCF is governed by a volunteer board of directors and relies on more than 1,600 volunteers around the state to provide local perspective on community needs. Information at oregoncf.org.
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Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build is gearing up for their third annual Pie Bake-Off on Sunday, October 27, from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m. at the Alberta Street Pub. Forks are provided and there are several ways you can get involved!
