Portland, February 9th, 2013. A capacity crowd of more than 300 supporters turned out for the SnowCap Community Charities 11th annual Valentine’s benefit. Solen and Jeremy Wilebski considered a game of Texas Hold ‘Em against past auction chair Tom Weldon, but folded. (Photo credit, LeeAnn Gauthier) Supporters donated a record $94,000 to help SnowCap provide food boxes to 8,000 needy people, per-month, in east Multnomah County. The need for assistance has doubled over the past few years.
Kirsten Wageman coordinated SnowCap’s event and thanked volunteer cashiers Debra Robertson and Rhonda Rowan. (Photo credit, LeeAnn Gauthier)
SnowCap Executive Director Judy Alley attributed the boost over 2012’s $63,000 to a $10 increase in ticket prices and, “an incredibly generous donation from Old Chicago Restaurants’ CraftWorks Foundation of $15,500.” Alley explained, “We were seeking $15,000 to pour new foundation slabs for the warehouse expansion and we received sufficient funds to get that project started right away.” She also credited a final donation of $1,600 from longtime SnowCap supporter Alyson Huntting. SnowCap is expanding its warehouse to meet increased food box demand from needy individuals and families in the east Portland area. Communities served by SnowCap include Gresham, Troutdale, Wood Village, Fairview and Parkrose.
Business partners like Vestas Americas make soup kits, candy bags for stocking stuffers, and raised $1600 dollars for Snowcap over the holidays.
“Our numbers grew during the recession from 4,000 served each month to more than 8,000 currently,” Alley adds. SnowCap provides a food pantry services at its location at S.E. Stark Street and 178th, and through a mobile food pantry that meets food needs at schools and low income apartment complexes. In addition, SnowCap provides heating assistance, a clothes closet and a community garden for low income people living in East County.
Major sponsors of the annual SnowCap fundraising event include Pacific Power, Alyson Huntting (cq), Portland General Electric, On Point Community Credit Union, Parkrose Community United Church of Christ, and Covenant Presbyterian Church. Auctioneer JillMarie Wiles sold vacations, classes, restaurant dining, private dinner parties, golf outings and fishing trips at the Holiday Inn Portland-Airport event.
“We are thankful the community has stepped up to support needy families in this serious economic downturn,” Alleys says. “Many people are struggling with unemployment and underemployment. Many are finding their low wage jobs are not sufficient to feed a hungry family. New requests for assistance are made every day.”
Here’s more information about the history of SnowCap:
In the mid 1960’s, the basic life needs of many in East Multnomah County were not being met by any agency or organization. About 25 area churches stepped in to help fill the void felt by so many residents. SnowCap — Suburban Neighborhoods Operation Witness Community Action Program — was born on January 16, 1967.
The purpose of SnowCap was to discover the real needs in the area, communicate them, and assist residents, church and community leaders to meet those needs individually and cooperatively. The organization adopted a philosophy that “SnowCap will cross lines of race, religion, national origin, and economic status, hoping to coordinate and act as a barometer, correcting conditions which call for improvement.”
The area covered by SnowCap was bounded by East 82nd Street, the Columbia River, and the Clackamas County line — including Troutdale, Fairview, and Wood Village.
Originally three centers were set up. Rev. Wendall Jacobsen, pastor of Epiphany Lutheran was overall coordinator. SnowCap — the church-community action program of the Greater Portland Council of Churches — was born.
The three centers merged in 1968 and headquartered at Savage Memorial Presbyterian. SnowCap was run entirely by volunteers until 1969 when Sister Gemma Kennedy was voted in as full-time director. She was released indefinitely from her teaching assignment with the Franciscan Order, and served until 1979 when Jenny Steward became Director.
In 1977 SnowCap had opened a Gresham office located at Trinity Lutheran which provided only food and informational/referral services.
By 1980 there were 39 actively participating churches. SnowCap gave away $86,400 worth of food and fed 12,350 people. Doug Rogers became Director in 1981.
By 1983 SnowCap was serving 36,000 people. Requests for help increased 155% over 1981, the last “normal” year on record.
In 1987 SnowCap celebrated its 20th anniversary, had 145 volunteers, one-full-time worker and 7 part-time workers.
In 1991 Judy Alley became Director. SnowCap’s budget of approximately $200,000 included two full-time staff members and three workers on token stipends. 200 volunteers worked for SnowCap. Over 58,000 people were fed and half of those were children.
On SnowCap’s 25th anniversary in 1992, more than one-half million people had been served by SnowCap.
By the 40th Anniversary 1.4 million people had been served. SnowCap had a staff of 7 and a budget of $500,000. New programs included English language instruction, community gardens, and home delivered food boxes for seniors.
Portand, February 12th, 2013. The newest residents of the Oregon Zoo will be pretty in pink. This month, 21 lesser flamingos arrived from the San Antonio Zoo. After about a month of acclimation and observation to ensure the birds’ health, the flamingos will wade into their home in the newly remodeled Africa Rainforest aviary.
The pink birds will meet the public March 23 at the reopening of the Africa Rainforest aviary, which has been closed for remodeling since November. The flamingos’ new home boasts a pool especially designed for them, a new nesting area, and separate holding areas for the flamingos and for the ducks, pochards and ibises that share the aviary.
Northwesterners may not be used to seeing pink flamingos — except for the lawn variety. The birds have not been part of the Washington Park landscape since the early 1950s, when three flamingos were given to the zoo by the Meier & Frank Co.
It’s fitting that this flock will make its Oregon Zoo debut just in time for spring break, since flamingos often put people in mind of Miami and other getaway destinations. But animal curator Michael Illig hopes the aviary’s flamboyant newcomers help visitors think of the lake regions of eastern Africa, where most of the world’s lesser flamingos are born.
“The flamingo is such a gorgeous, social bird,” Illig said. “When people make a connection with the flamingo, they become curious about where the birds come from and the challenges they face in the wild.”
The smallest species of flamingo, the lesser flamingo (Phoenicopterus minor) stands nearly 3 feet tall and weighs 3 to 6 pounds, with a wingspan up to 41 inches. The Oregon Zoo’s lesser flamingos come to Portland from the San Antonio Zoo, which is phasing out its flock. All of the flamingos are males, but Illig says the zoo plans to add females and begin a reproductive program in the future. The zoo’s flamingo population will be managed under a cooperative program of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, of which the Oregon Zoo is an accredited member.
With a global population of more than 2 million, the lesser flamingo is not considered an endangered species. There is cause for concern, though: Some of the birds’ main breeding sites are facing risks due to industrial pollution and human encroachment.
The primary habitats of the lesser flamingo are shallow, brackish lakes in the Rift Valley of eastern Africa, where three-quarters of the population is born. A smaller population lives in India. The birds have specialized salt glands that allow them to excrete excess salt they ingest, letting them take advantage of habitats other animals cannot.
Lesser flamingos feed on spirulina, a blue-green bacteria, which thrives in alkaline lakes and contains the photosynthetic pigments that give the birds their pink color. At the Oregon Zoo, the flamingos will eat a specialized diet that contains the algae they need. They’ll scoop food out of the lagoon in much the same way they do in the wild, dipping their beaks upside-down into the water and sweeping them back and forth to filter food.
The Africa Rainforest lagoon renovation is part of a larger, donor-funded aviary upgrade project. Cascade Marsh, in the Great Northwest habitat area, is also reopening after renovation that included new netting, a new vestibule and pole caps to preserve the aviary structure.
The aviary upgrades are part of an effort to improve habitats, enhance animal welfare and make the grounds more sustainable, but these renovations were not funded by the zoo bond measure passed by voters in 2008. The aviary improvements were funded entirely by donor contributions through the Oregon Zoo Foundation.
The zoo is a service of Metro and is dedicated to its mission of inspiring the community to create a better future for wildlife. Committed to conservation, the zoo is currently working to save endangered California condors, Oregon silverspot and Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies, western pond turtles and Oregon spotted frogs. Other projects include studies on Asian elephants, polar bears, orangutans and giant pandas. Celebrating 125 years of community support, the zoo relies in part on donations through the Oregon Zoo Foundation to undertake these and many other animal welfare, education and sustainability programs.
The zoo opens at 10 a.m. daily and is located five minutes from downtown Portland, just off Highway 26. The zoo is also accessible by MAX light rail line. Visitors who travel to the zoo via MAX receive $1.50 off zoo admission. Call TriMet Customer Service, 503-238-RIDE (7433), or visit www.trimet.org for fare and route information.
Information provided by the Oregon Zoo’s Hova Najarian
PORTLAND, Ore. February, 8th. In an agreement finalized today, the zoo assumed legal ownership of Rose-Tu’s new calf from Have Trunk Will Travel, the California-based company that had previously held rights to the young elephant.“Lily’s living arrangements were never in question,” said Kim Smith, zoo director. “But this makes it official: Lily will live her life with her family herd, the way elephants should.”
Lily plays in the sand back yard of the Oregon Zoo’s Asian elephant habitat. Photo by Michael Durham, courtesy of the Oregon Zoo.
Smith said the zoo also will retain Tusko, the 13,000-pound bull elephant who sired both Lily and Samudra and has been here on a breeding loan since 2005. The zoo arranged to acquire both elephants for $400,000, thus voiding its loan agreement with Have Trunk Will Travel and putting to rest any speculation that Tusko’s future offspring might not belong to the zoo. The purchase was funded entirely by the Oregon Zoo Foundation, the private nonprofit fundraising arm of the zoo, and did not involve public monies.
“We are grateful to the dedicated donors who recognize the zoo as an important community asset and support our work through the Oregon Zoo Foundation,” Smith said. “The ongoing support these gifts provide not only made this ownership transfer possible but helps advance our daily efforts to create a better future for wildlife.”
Lily’s status was secured today with a payment for half the total purchase amount, while the transaction involving Tusko is complete pending a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (a requirement since Tusko was born outside the country).
Smith said she understands the need for reassurance about the fate of Rose-Tu’s calf, as well as the initial public outcry over some misleading reports.
“Given the sensationalized story people were first presented with, that’s exactly how they should have reacted,” Smith said. “If I thought for one minute that this baby was going to be taken from her mother — taken from her home — I would be outraged too. But Lily was never going away, and I think everyone understands that now.”
Controversy first stirred when a Seattle newspaper ran an article suggesting the zoo’s newborn elephant calf could be plucked from her mother and dropped into a traveling circus. As evidence, the paper produced a copy of the 2005 breeding loan for Tusko; the agreement stipulated that Tusko’s second, fourth and sixth offspring would be owned by Have Trunk Will Travel.
The contract, Smith said, was a standard one — and old news to those who’d followed Tusko’s story in The Oregonian. In the zoo world, she noted, ownership is not an indicator of where an animal will live. Even so, the timing of the Seattle article hit a nerve with local residents, who had fallen hard for Rose-Tu’s baby and sought reassurance that she wasn’t going away.
“This controversy was much ado about nothing,” Smith said. “But it’s still been incredibly gratifying to see our community come together like this on behalf of elephants. The passion we’ve seen is precisely what we aim to inspire — it’s what gives me hope for the future, because Asian elephants are facing serious threats to their survival right now.”
Considered highly endangered in their range countries, Asian elephants are threatened by habitat loss, conflict with humans and disease. It is estimated that fewer than 40,000 elephants remain in fragmented populations from India to Borneo.
The Oregon Zoo is recognized worldwide for its successful breeding program for Asian elephants, which has now spanned 50 years. Lily’s grandmother, Me-Tu, was the second elephant born at the zoo (just months after Packy in 1962), and her great-grandmother, Rosy, was the first elephant to live in Oregon.
The zoo is a service of Metro and is dedicated to its mission of inspiring the community to create a better future for wildlife. Committed to conservation, the zoo is currently working to save endangered California condors, Oregon silverspot and Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies, western pond turtles and Oregon spotted frogs. Other projects include studies on Asian elephants, polar bears, orangutans and giant pandas. The zoo relies in part on community support through donations to the Oregon Zoo Foundation to undertake these and many other animal welfare, education and sustainability programs.
The zoo opens at 10 a.m. daily and is located five minutes from downtown Portland, just off Highway 26. The zoo is also accessible by MAX light rail line. Visitors who travel to the zoo via MAX receive $1.50 off zoo admission. Call TriMet Customer Service, 503-238-RIDE (7433), or visit www.trimet.org for fare and route information.
General zoo admission is $11.50 (ages 12-64), $10 for seniors (65 and up), $8.50 for children (ages 3-11) and free for those 2 and younger; 25 cents of the admission price helps fund regional conservation projects through the zoo’s Future for Wildlife program. A parking fee of $4 per car is also required. Additional information is available at www.oregonzoo.org or by calling 503-226-1561.
January 30th, 2013. Every year Bill Gates drafts a letter encapsulating the efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This year he recalled, “From time to time we should step back and celebrate the way that the right goals combined with political will in developing countries, aid, and innovation have achieved so much.” Gates is most proud of improving health for the world’s poorest children; according to Gates, in 1990 over 12-million children a year died and now that’s down to 6.9 -million. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had donated over $26-billion dollars over the last 18 years to help the world’s most venerable.
Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and co-founder of Microsoft, is considered the richest man in America, with an estimated net worth of $65 billion.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.
Portland, Jan. 6, 2013. The holiday season lived on at the 13th annual Epiphany Choir Fest, a benefit at Rose City Park United Methodist Church that raised $4,406 for the Human Solutions Homeless Families Program. Pacific Power matched the first $1,500 in donations. Human Solutions Executive Director Jean DeMaster joined Sheila Holden, Regional Community Manager at Pacific Power, and retired Pastor Charlie Ross, who served as emcee at the Epiphany Choir Fest. Holden presented a $1,500 gift from Pacific Power.Nine church choirs and one community choir participated in the event, singing traditional holiday carols and combining to perform “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah.
Nine church choirs and one community choir combine to sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah at the annual Epiphany Choir Fest, a benefit that raised $4,406 for Human Solutions’ Homeless Families Program. Pacific Power matched the first $1,500 in donations.
Churches that participated in the Epiphany Concert include those in the network of faith organizations that contribute time and resources to the Daybreak Shelter Network, a year-round, 15-bed facility for homeless families located in the daytime in the basement of Peace Church of the Brethren, and the Family Winter Shelter, a seasonal 82-bed facility that provides overnight shelter to homeless families at Parkrose Community United Church of Christ. In addition to these shelters, the Homeless Families Program at Human Solutions is currently serving an average of 200 more homeless families each night. In total, about 750 homeless adults and children are sheltered or housed at Human Solutions on any given night, according to Executive Director Jean DeMaster.
Funds from the Epiphany Fest help ensure that Human Solutions can provide emergency shelter 365 days and nights per year to homeless families, DeMaster said. “We are seeing record demand for emergency shelter and other services, and rely on the community to help sustain critical programs that help homeless families permanently overcome their homelessness and attain self-sufficiency,” she said. “We are so grateful to our local faith partners, who each year contribute their time and talent to the Epiphany Fest and make it so successful. We are especially thankful this year for the wonderful gift from Pacific Power.” The presentation of the gift from Pacific Power was made by Regional Community Manager Sheila Holden.
As in years past, local church choirs and community choirs sang traditional Christmas anthems and carols at the event, which culminated in the combined choirs singing “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s Messiah. Retired local Pastor Charlie Ross once again presided over the event, serving as emcee and song leader.
Choirs from the following churches and community groups participated this year: Ascension Catholic, Central Church of the Nazarene, Colonial Heights Presbyterian, Eastrose Unitarian, Gethsemane Lutheran, Parkrose United Methodist, Rose City Park United Methodist Praise Band, Sacred Heart Catholic, St. Timothy Lutheran, and Voices of Hope Community Choir.
Human Solutions builds pathways out of poverty by promoting self-sufficiency for homeless and low-income families and individuals in East Portland and East Multnomah County. The agency’s four
key program areas are homelessness prevention, affordable housing, employment and economic development, and safety net services such as rent and utility assistance. For more information, visit www.humansolutions.org.
Contact: Jean DeMaster, Executive Director, Human Solutions
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