The neighborhood favorite Classic Foods will open for retail again this Friday between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. That means we can stop by to get those fabulous raviolis, pastas and pestos, as well as olive oil and cheese.

Shoppers can drop by every first Friday of the month. The pastas would make a delicious and simple meal for those holiday get togethers.

For more information, check out the Classic Foods Facebook page.

Hi neighbors. Rob Ingram, who ran the city’s Office of  Youth Violence Prevention, died unexpectedly over the weekend of a heart attack.

Rob worked tirelessly to steer our youth away from gangs and his loss will be felt across the community.

Here’s the story from The Oregonian.

Woodlawn Swap N Play is hosting a Halloween Harvest Festival this Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Village Ballroom, 700 N.E. Dekum St.

Kiddie movies, treats and games are provided for youngsters five and under (though all are welcome). And here’s the best part: It’s free.

Beer and wine will be for sale for $4 with proceeds going towards the opening of the Oregon Public House.

So put on the kid’s costumes, bring a blanket and a pillow, and join your neighbors for an afternoon of fun.

Calling all Woodlawn Neighborhood Association board members: WNA is holding a special meeting this Saturday to review grant applications.

The grants are for the following things:

1) To help boost membership by providing food, childcare and outreach for the association.

2.) To help with the Easter egg hunt, a neighborhood yard sale and National Night Out.

3.) To fund cooking classes in the community garden.

The meeting is at Good Neighbor Pizza, 800 N.E. Dekum St., at 4 p.m.

We need as many board members as possible to attend. The meeting should only take a half hour and could go along ways towards making our association and neighborhood stronger.

Curbside Composting Made Easy

Most Portland residents can add food scraps, along with yard debris, to their green Portland Composts! roll carts. This means that residents can turn meat, dairy, bones, vegetables and grains into nutrient-rich compost for fertilizing yards and gardens.

As you get used to scraping plates into your kitchen pail and tossing leftovers into your green roll cart, here are a few tips to make the transition easy.

The City of Portland, CASH Oregon and the Financial Planning Association of Portland invite you to attend Portland Financial Planning Day on Saturday, Oct. 22,  from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Portland Building. You have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with dozens of professional financial planners to discuss personal finance questions, concerns and interests.

Information will be provided on a pro-bono basis by experts from the Financial Planning Association and highly qualified CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professionals. There are no strings attached – volunteering financial planners will not pass out business cards, marketing materials or sell products or services.

You may seek information and advice on a wide range of topics, including:

GENERAL FINANCIAL PLANNING
Buying a Home – Debt Management
Building a College Fund – Savings Goals
______________________________________
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES
Job Loss and Job Change – Foreclosure Assistance
Change in Marital Status
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INVESTMENT PLANNING
Investment Strategies – Asset Accumulation
Generating Investment Income
______________________________________
RETIREMENT PLANNING
Building a Retirement Fund – 401(k) and 403(b) Plans
IRA Accounts – Social Security
______________________________________

INCOME TAX PLANNING
Tax Reduction Strategies
Charitable Contributions – Small Business Taxation
______________________________________
ESTATE PLANNING
Building an Inheritance – Wills and Trusts
Estate Tax Strategies
______________________________________
INSURANCE PLANNING
Life Insurance Coverage – Disability Insurance
Long-term Care Planning
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EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
Managing Health Insurance – Health Savings Accounts
Pension Benefits
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In addition to personalized advice, Portland Financial Planning Day will also feature a series of classroom-style 50-minute educational workshops.

For more information, visit www.cashoregon.org and click on Financial Planning Day.

Sounds like a great event!

Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods has a new committee that is launching a speaker series.

The Community Economic Development Council will present its first speaker series with a talk Nov. 1 on the history of economic development in inner North and Northeast Portland.

The event takes place at Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Blvd., and will include refreshments.

Speakers will be Dr. Karen Gibson, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning and Portland State University;

Hey Woodlawn. We’re arriving at the time of year where our energy bills shoot up. Thanks to Pacific Power, we can learn how to make our home more efficient and keep some cash in our pockets.

The workshops will teach you how to:
•       Identify your household energy use and how it changes over time
•       Take a whole-home approach to energy efficiency
•       Recognize the most cost-efficient energy improvements for your home
•       Save energy and improve your home’s comfort, health and safety

•       Save money with Energy Trust incentives

The workshop will also touch on:
•       What uses the most energy at home: appliances, heating and cooling systems, lighting
•       How to use less energy at home
•       If it’s better to buy new energy-efficient equipment or just change habits
•       Cash incentives  available for new appliances, lighting or other energy efficient equipment

The workshop is Oct. 18 from 6:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. at McMenamins Kennedy School gymnasium, 5736 NE 33rd Ave.

For more information, visit www.pacificpower.net/bewattsmart.

The Portland  Backpack Lunch Program packed the first delivery of the school year this week and could use our help.

The program provides two lunch sacks each Friday to more than 120 schoolchildren, including many from Woodlawn Elementary, who are at risk of hunger during the  weekend.

Volunteers gather to help pack the lunches and are always needed. Specifically, the program needs a volunteer to help deliver bins of lunch sacks to Woodlawn School once a month on a Friday — it only takes about 1 hr and 15 minutes. The next scheduled delivery is Friday, Oct. 28. Volunteers meet at Woodlawn Methodist Church at 9:15 a.m. If interested or you need more details, email Marilyn at m_mauch@comcast.net.

But more importantly, the program relies on food donations to ensure our neediest children have food to eat when they aren’t in school.

Needed food items include:

• Cans of chili, soup, ravioli with meat sauce, mac & cheese

• Small juice boxes, 100% juice only, no foil containers

• Individual size fruit cups

• Small packages of crackers/cheese, raisins, fruit snacks, granola bars

Donations can be dropped off at WNA monthly meetings at the  Woodlawn Community Resource Center in Woodlawn Methodist Church, 1425 N.E. Dekum Street. There’s a bin in the meeting room & the bin poster lists the types of food items to contribute.

DONATIONS ARE WELCOME AT THE WNA MEETING THIS WED., OCT. 5.

Monetary donations are also welcomed. Checks can be made to Fremont UMC. Write “Backpack Donation” in memo field and mail to Fremont UMC, 2620 N.E. Fremont St., Portland, OR 97212.

$100 sponsors one child for a school year of weekend lunches.  Each donation, regardless of amount, is important. Fremont UMC sends out documentation of donations for tax purposes annually.

In partnership with Friends of Trees, the Woodlawn neighborhood is planning a tree planting project for February 4th, 2011! Join us to help plant trees and create a healthier community.

Planting a tree in your yard or parking strip creates long lasting benefits enjoyed by everyone. Did you know that trees remove pollutants from the air? A typical tree absorbs 10 pounds of pollutants, cleans 330 pounds of carbon dioxide, and creates 260 pounds of oxygen each year. Having cleaner air in your neighborhood has all sorts of health benefits, such as reduced asthma rates. Trees also help intercept and retain 760 gallons of rainwater each year, which help keep our rivers clean and help save us money on stormwater fees.

Trees can cool our homes in the summer and shade our city which helps us stay cool all summer. Trees raise the property value of your home by up to 20%. Also, unlike many other things, trees appreciate in value each year. And by planting trees now, we can keep our city green into the future.

This fall, the Woodlawn Neighborhood and Piedmont Neighborhood volunteers are teaming up with Friends of Trees to offer homeowners trees for their yard or parking strip for $35. The cost will include a site inspection by the Urban Forestry Department, hole digging, help with planting your tree, stakes, mulch, ties, labels, follow-up monitoring, and information on proper tree care techniques. For more information on purchasing a tree, available tree species, and volunteering, please visit www.friendsoftrees.org.

With best wishes,

Tim Bonnin, Neighborhood Coordinator

Friends of Trees Woodlawn neighborhood planting

Ph: 503.953-5658, Email woodlawn@plantitportland.org