“Hey, let’s get our bikes, we can go over to the Sandy River. There is a lifeguard there today and it’s supposed to be a hot one. We can even take the MAX back with our bikes!”

How would you feel waking up every morning knowing that every day will hold unforgettable adventures, bonding with a diverse group of co-explorers, facing exciting challenges, learning life lessons from trusted mentors, and looking back at the end of each journey with a sense of the world around you grown closer and full of possibility?

Camp Bike Fun will run two to three week long summer programs between June and August 2010 for 10 to 15 year olds. Cost is 190 per week- with scholarships available. Bicycles and helmets (and more) are provided by the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. Registration begins in March at the North Portland Bike Works. 3901 N Mississippi Ave. Portland. 503-287-1098.

http://www.northportlandbikeworks.org/

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The deadline for the 2010 Woodlawn Friends of Trees planting is now Monday January 4th. Sign up to get trees for your parking strip, or your yard. Tell your Woodlawn neighbors about this wonderful event!

Go to friendsoftrees.org to register. It only takes a couple of minutes.

More information from Gregg Lavender… Read the rest of this entry »

Tonight is the neighborhood association board meeting at 7:15pm. The meeting takes place in the Woodlawn Community Resource Center on the second floor of Woodlawn Methodist Church (15th and Dekum). Enter on the WEST side of the building and head up the stairs.

This month’s board meeting will feature a discussion of future plans for the use of the space currently occupied by Rumpspankers.  Space is limited but the meeting is open to the public. The board will be discussing taking an official stance on the use of that space. Future information will be presented at the general meeting.

Board meetings cover board planning, the budget, future planning and large projects. They are open to all neighborhood residents and people who work in the neighborhood.  General meetings take place on the third Wednesdays, same location, at 7:00pm.

Huge thanks goes to our neighborhood board, elected neighbors who give of their time to offer guidance and direction to our neighborhood.  Elections happen annually, so if you have an interest in joining the board, talk to the current board members.

Heart of Healing is presenting Village Dance Convergence, a benefit for the Physicians for a National Health Program.  Below is more info from their press release.

When: Friday, November 6, 2009 7:30 pm
Where: Village Ballroom 700 NE Dekum St Portland, OR
Admission: Open to the public at a sliding scale of $10 to $25
Contact info: Mike Meyer, mmeyer //at// efn.org 503-680-6576
Website: http://www.pnhp.org/

Come join your community for a free-form dance, food, conversation, live music, and many more healthy activities to benefit community health care solutions. This celebrational evening will feature Portland’s famed ecstatic dance in a beautifully decorated hardwood space and will intertwine live music into your dance. Read the rest of this entry »

You’re invited to a public hearing addressing the challenges of developing affordable rental housing, as part of the process of developing the 2010-2015 Consolidated Plan.

Where: United Way of Oregon—619 SW 11th Avenue.
Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Time: 2:00-4:00 pm
Trimet: Bus lines: 15, 51 & Max Blue/Red Lines/Streetcar

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Article contributed by Laura Demeri

There’s still time to sign up for the Woodlawn planting on February 20th.   Before you can purchase these “highly discounted” trees, the city needs to assess the parking strip to determine the proper size and types that can be planted.   Therefore it would be to your advantage to register now in order to take advantage of the inventory that will be available.  Register on the Friends of Trees website.

Lawn signs are a great way to have a $5 discount on your order.  Even if you’re not purchasing a tree this year, support Friends of Trees and get the word out to neighbors by having one on your property.  There are plenty in stock and can be picked up at Believe Movement Studio, 728 NE Dekum Street.

Article by Marilyn Mauch, Coordinator of the Backpack Lunch Program at Fremont United Methodist Church

For many students, the federally-sponsored school lunch is their main source for a nutritious, satisfying meal during the day.  If there’s not enough food in the house, these children can go hungry on the weekend when the school lunch isn’t available.  In its second year of operation, the Backpack Lunch Program puts food items for two weekend lunches each Friday into the backpacks of 40 children at Woodlawn Elementary.  The need is much greater.

Your food donations can make a difference.  We invite you to bring food donations to the monthly Woodlawn Neighborhood Association meetings, so that we can reach more Woodlawn Elementary students who are at risk of hunger on weekends.

Food items to donate:

* cans of chili, soup, ravioli in meat sauce, cans/boxes of mac n’ cheese

*  small juice boxes—100% juice only, no foil containers

*  individual-size fruit cups

*  small packages of crackers w/cheese, raisins or fruit snacks,

* granola bars (no peanuts)

Four NE Portland United Methodist Churches, including Woodlawn United Methodist, are working with community friends in this non-profit, all volunteer effort.  To learn more about the program, contact Marilyn Mauch at 503/287-3014 or Fremont United Methodist Church at 503/284-4647.

All residents of our community deserve equal access to services and opportunities. The trouble is that good jobs, high performing schools, social service agencies, and even grocery stores are not always conveniently located. Census data shows that poverty now extends past the inner Portland neighborhoods to the County’s outer reaches. Yet, basic amenities and services such as parks, sidewalks, health clinics, and social service agencies are still concentrated in Portland’s inner core. Language and other cultural barriers may also stand in the way of people of color and immigrant communities seeking to connect with these vital resources.

Your input will inform how federal dollars are spent on programs addressing equitable access to services for households in Multnomah County.  You’re invited to a public hearing on equitable access to services, as part of the process of developing the 2010-2015 Consolidated Plan.
Where:          King Elementary School Cafeteria
Date:           Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Time:           6:00-8:00 pm
Trimet:         Bus lines 6 & 72 (www.trimet.org)

If you can’t attend this hearing, there are four other convenient ways to comment. Read the rest of this entry »

1st Annual BBQ – Saturday Sept. 26th
noon-3pm at 5431 NE 20th Avenue

From neighbor Gregg Lavender, a re-post from LivableStreets.com:

Where are social networks created? The answers often embrace institutions such as work and school and today, a host of online communities, while the neighborhood block, a historically vibrant source of local relationships, has largely become a disconnected collection of houses and residents. For many communities, this trend of fewer informal links within a neighborhood has been associated with a heightened sense of risks that threaten the health and well being of neighborhood residents and their children. Furthermore, studies have shown that neighborliness influences perceptions of health and reinforces the local relationships enabling response to community concerns. Read the rest of this entry »