Dreaming of a white Christmas...
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According to Sustaining the Village Movement, a report by Capital Impact Partners about lessons learned from pioneering Villages, when it comes to recruiting members, "testimonials and house parties (a.k.a. coffee chats) hosted in members' homes have the greatest impact."
One very successful coffee chat was hosted in November, and we are asking each of our readers to step forward and host one. You provide the home and invite a few friends and neighbors. Jane Braunger and her crew of Village 101 presenters do the rest. It is one important thing each of us can do to nurture interest in our Village. To volunteer, please call Jane at 503-528-9768.
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AARP Recognizes Random Acts of Kindness
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The American Association of Retired Persons is encouraging all of us to honor family caregivers with random acts of kindness and then share our story in 150 words or less, accompanied by a photo.
The top 12 submission in terms of originality, creativity, and impact will share a $10,000 prize pot. What better way to thank those who make the ultimate sacrifice to care for their loved ones. Learn more
at
aarp.org/caregiverkindness.
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See You at the Next General Meeting
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Our next general meeting will be held at 7 p.m., Wednesday, December 9, at Rose City Park United Methodist Church, 5830 NE Alameda, just east of NE Sandy Blvd. and NE 57th Avenue.
This will be a festive occasion, so bring a dessert and warm up your voice. Frank Baldwin will lead us in song to welcome the holiday season and celebrate the Village community we are working together to create.
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Look no farther than Rose City Park United Methodist Church (see Meeting notice above). The church will be selling trees starting on Friday, December 4, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, 9 to 7 p.m. Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays.
Rose City Park Methodist has been a wonderful host for our general meetings, so when picking out your tree, be sure to offer your thanks for the church's hospitality.
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Where does a Village and its mission fit in a community that already has many resources for older adults? Using UC-Berkeley information and reports from other sources that documented services a Village typically provides, Linda Dreyer (see her Profile below) and the Resource Committee spent many hours studying the question and here's what they found.
The ADRC
(Aging and Disability Resource Connection), which exists in several locations around the state, has a staff that provides information and assistance to people who need long-term care resources. Their options counselors do in-depth interviews and help these individuals put a plan together. The people who get help often have low incomes and are receiving public assistance, but those with higher incomes can be served too. The ADRC Website hosts a database of programs and services related to long-term care that is routinely updated.
The Hollywood Senior Center,
which gets funding from Multnomah County, provides a rich array of activities, programs, and services that include healthy lunches. From its inception, our Village has been warmly received by the HSC staff. Before we became a spoke of Villages NW, the HSC provided us with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status and other services, and our Coordinating Council still meets at the Center monthly. We look forward to exploring other opportunities to work together.
Metropolitan Family Service
has two programs for older adults that seek to help them live independently in their homes: through the companionship of other older adults and by providing in-home support and transportation. The latter program, Project Linkage, is perhaps closest in concept to the services our Village hopes to provide. In addition, the RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) helps individuals over 55 use their experience and skills as volunteers in the community. MFS has 30 years of experience working with volunteers, and its staff likes to collaborate with other organizations that serve the same population, making it a potential partner for Villages in the Portland area.
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Linda Dreyer - We're Lucky to Have Her
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Anyone who attends planning meetings with Linda Dreyer appreciates
the years of experience she brings to the party. Linda holds two Master's degrees, one in social work and one in public health. She has worked in in Portland for almost 40 years in several positions, mostly in health care and social services for older people.
For a long time she was manager of social services at Kaiser Permanente before accepting a position with the State of Oregon's Public Health Division. There, her job focused on chronic disease prevention. Next, she went to work for Acumentra
, a quality improvement organization funded by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare. Acumentra helps Medicare recipients when they have problems with their benefits and it takes on special projects. For several years, Linda worked on a project that looked at the care people were getting in nursing homes. After that, she returned to the State of Oregon in its unit on aging.
Read entire article here...
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It's Time to Think About End-of-Year Donations
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Now is the time to think about those end-of-year donations to Northeast Village PDX. Thanks to all of you who have already contributed to our Build a Village campaign, we're well on our way to meeting our target. With your donations (including a $500 award from the Grant Park Neighborhood Association), we have now raised $5,500. That's $2,000 short of our goal of $7,500, which in all honesty is a penny pincher's estimate of what we need.
If you haven't given yet, we hope you will do so now and, in the process, get that 2015 tax writeoff, not to mention an invitation to our donor appreciation event in the new year.
Categories of giving are:
Visionary ($250+)
Sustainer ($100 - $249)
Partner ($50 - $99)
Friend ($10 - $49)
Please make your check payable to Villages NW fbo NE Village PDX and send it to:
Northeast Village PDX
c/o Margaret Baldwin
P.O. Box 18175
Portland, OR 97218-0175
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