happy-holidays-header4.jpg
Make your annual investment in the IDA –
Globally AND/OR Locally

You Are NOT Alone Campaign
The Great Marathon Challenge
The You Are Not Alone Campaign was announced at the 2019 Oregon Branch Annual Meeting. This campaign was born because the mother of an eight-year-old girl, Faith, from Malheur County reached out online looking for support. Living in rural Oregon, there are limited to no resources for helping our 1 in 5 students struggling with dyslexia. Her mother has been learning how to best assist her daughter and was also concerned about her child’s self-esteem.

Shelbe Park, an IDA – Oregon Branch Board Member and the founder of the IDA – Oregon Branch Student Empowerment Panel, was very much touched by Faith's family’s story. She shared it with the members of our Student Panel who agreed they needed to a write note to the girl, sharing that they too struggle with their dyslexia, that they have been in her shoes before, and they sent her one of their You Are Not Alone bracelets. She sent back a heart touching video saying that she understands that she is not the only one.

Our entire community was so touched that we decided to add the You Are Not Alone campaign to our commitment to Oregon. Parents, tutors, teachers or other young people are encouraged to submit students who are in need of personal encouragement and a physical reminder that they are not alone in the form of a bracelet.

Your contribution will provide your volunteer-led organization the funds to create these personal messages directly to our young people struggling, especially those living in the rural areas of Oregon.

To make a contribution, click here .

If you have a young person you know who could use some encouragement,
please submit his/her info here .

If you would like to help write encouraging notes to struggling students, please email us here .
The  Great Marathon Challenge, started by Jared Blank and LeDerick Horne is a mission to spread the word about dyslexia, literacy, and their impact in communities around the world. On Saturday, November 9th, Jared completed a marathon on a treadmill at the IDA conference to continue raising awareness. Jared and LeDerick are committed to raising $70,000 to help children worldwide with dyslexia.

Please consider making a donation to this worthy cause at The Great Marathon Challenge
In addition, if you are interested in purchasing Jared's book, Running the Distance, you can do so here .
100% of the proceeds go to dyslexia awareness and support.
SHINE
In another life
In another world
She could just be
She could play & build & create 
Quite joyfully

But here
In this world
The name of the game
Is worksheets & homework & testing
“It’s important,” they claim

The expectations
The weight of them
Slowly crush her soul
Her spark, her gifts, her light
As if that’s the goal

They want her to be 
Just like everyone else
Why won’t she just think
Like everyone else
It must be her fault that she’s not like the rest

She can see disappointment
In their eyes
When she says “I don’t understand”
Or she says
“But I tried.”

She works so hard every day
To keep up with the rest
All her energy
All her time
Doing her best.

But she fails every day
To understand 
What they say
She fails & she fails &
She can’t find a way

What they don’t see in this girl
Who lags behind her peers
Is that she thinks so much bigger
Is so much wiser
Than her years

She sits in her seat
Soaks in all that she sees
But she needs more to learn
She needs to be free

Free to imagine
Free to create
Free to explore
Free to just make

Now the question remains
Will they kill her spirit
Will they crush her pride
Will they belittle her so much
She never sees how much magic she has inside

For she is magic
She is smart
She is funny & clever & curious
& imaginative & caring 
& courageous & loving

And she is enough
Just as she is
If this world will just
Let her be
She will shine
I am the proud mother of two amazing, differently wired girls, ages 8 and 10. I have a degree in Accounting and an MBA, neither of which was any help in understanding the neuro-diversity of my kids. It has been eye-opening to see how much more complex and varied Dyslexia is than I had always thought. It's not just someone that "has trouble reading." It's a completely different way the brain processes information, and is displayed in so many different forms. 
I wrote this poem the other evening after sitting with my 8 year old as she cried and told me about her day; how she tries so hard at school but she can't keep up. It wasn't the first time her day ended in tears, it won't be the last time either. I often feel like I can see her joy and light being drained away by the pressures of the world. But the world actually needs people that think differently, that see and understand things differently. Essentially, this poem was written as my shout to the world that she doesn't need to change, that she is already magical just as she is.

Thanks, 
Jennifer Hochstetter
Last month, we welcomed IDA – Oregon Branch members to our annual meeting at the 2019 IDA Conference on Reading, Literacy, and Learning, held at the Oregon Convention Center. 
 
There, our outgoing President, Jane Cooper, shared her annual report .
 
In addition, 
  • We recognized the following donors: The Richard B. Siegel Foundation, Cherida Collins Smith, and the International Dyslexia Association’s 777 Campaign, who provided scholarships for 76 individuals to attend the annual conference.
  • We announced our You Are Not Alone Campaign in support of students with dyslexia all across Oregon and beyond who would benefit from a boost of emotional support. 
  • We announced the Running the Distance Scholarship fund. This fund will be used to provide scholarships for high school graduates with dyslexia, moving into the next phase of their education.
  • We voted in new leadership, board members and committee members.
 
Sadly, we had to say good-bye to two outstanding board members. Our current President, Jane Cooper, and Secretary, Christy Coss, have completed their current terms of office. We are grateful for their dedication and service to our branch over the past four years. To read the draft annual meeting notes, please click here .
Save the date for our Spring Symposium
March 14, 2020.  The IDA - Oregon Branch Spring Symposium is proud to offer  From Talking to Writing: Word and Sentence-Level Strategies that Support Narrative and Expository Writing  presented by Dr. Charles W. Haynes.  Registration opens soon . Scholarships are available !

If you missed Charles Haynes at IDA's annual conference or want to learn more, please plan to join us on the beautiful campus of The University of Portland. Dr. Haynes will take us on a deeper dive into his practical tools and methods in teaching writing. Discover strategies to improve the use of sentence variety and cohesion, as well as enriching vocabulary in your students’ writing. You won’t want to miss his valuable training.
Thank you to all our members who contributed to make 2019 such a good year for our branch.

We wish you a wonderful festive season and look forward to your continued support in 2020.
As you shop this holiday season, here are two ways your purchases could benefit
IDA - Oregon Branch
Sign up for or login to the Community Rewards program by linking your card to 89527 at  www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards . Then, every time you shop and use your Rewards Card, you are helping the International Dyslexia Association - Oregon Branch  earn a donation! You still earn your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Rebates, just as you do today. If you do not have a Rewards Card, they are available at the Customer Service desk of any Fred Meyer store. For more information, please visit  www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards .
Did you know that when you shop for the holidays at  smile.amazon.com/ch/51-0185149 , AmazonSmile donates to International Dyslexia Association - Oregon Branch?

Another way to sign up is:
On your first visit to  AmazonSmile , you are prompted to select a charitable organization from our list of eligible organizations. You can change your selection at any time. To make Oregon Branch of the International Dyslexia Association your charitable organization:
  1. Sign in to smile.amazon.com on your desktop or mobile phone browser.
  2. From your desktop, go to Your Account from the navigation at the top of any page, and then select the option to Change your Charity. Or, from your mobile browser, select Change your Charity from the options at the bottom of the page.
  3. Find and select International Dyslexia Association
  4. Shop at smile.amazon.com instead of the regular amazon.com to earn donations for International Dyslexia Association!

International Dyslexia Association, Oregon Branch |  503-228-4455  | info@orbida.org  |  http://or.dyslexiaida.org