The Gresham Rotary is ready to go with this year's Wine Raffle, Dinner, and Auction Event!
Friday, April 30
6:00 to 10:00 PM
Persimmon Country Club
500 SE Butler Road
Gresham, OR 97080
This is the 7th annual event with a dinner, silent auction, and wine raffle. A good opportunity to have some fun and help a very good cause at the same time. Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provide humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world. Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 31,000 Rotary Clubs located in 167 countries..
This is not a formal event, but it's a perfect time for me to wear one of my bow ties! There's wine tasting, great food, and the auction -- simply a fun night. $50 per person.
The Wine Raffle is a hoot. Tickets are $5 each with prizes being:
3rd Prize: 10 bottles
2nd Prize: 25 bottles
1st Prize: 50 bottles
The Silent Auction usually holds a great variety of items on which to bid. Some are small; many are significant. In the past, they have had in the neighborhood of 40 items.
Can you tell why I'm excited? I'll be there... Will you?
The Gresham-Barlow Education Foundation is a group of tireless volunteers and donors who give of themselves year round for the benefit of our District's students. They have been strong partners and supporters of the Gresham-Barlow School District since they were founded in 1994. Now, they need your help to help them continue their work. In the press release that follows, you'll see the formal announcement of the 2010 Phone-A-Thon taking place February 22-25. This year's "Learning to Read" campaign continues their focus on providing additional support for reading skills in the elementary grades. How the Phone-A-Thon works: High school students make outgoing calls to members of our community requesting donations. With the Gresham Outlook and Gresham Ford sponsoring the event and covering all costs, all donations received from the high school students' phone calls go entirely to the reading programs. All costs? What costs are there? The students making the calls are all part of various high school activity groups. The Gresham-Barlow Education Foundation provides a small grant to each of the groups who field calls as a way to support their activities. Combine this with some refreshments (after all, we are talking high school students!) and other supplies, and you can see that it takes some money to make some money. With the generous sponsors who are covering those costs, every "telephone dollar" supports reading. If you are in the Gresham-Barlow School District attendance area, please give what you can when you receive the call. Every dollar helps. If you are a New Blogged Word reader and are outside the District - or even outside the United States for that matter - you can donate to the Foundation at www.gbefkids.org. By the way, donate $50 when you receive the call and get a free oil change from Gresham Ford. Where else can you get a more than 50% return on your investment? (Not to mention the support you'll be providing.) Thanks! Dave Gresham-Barlow School District News
February 9, 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gresham-Barlow Education Foundation's seventh annual Phone-A-Thon to raise funds to help students become better readers
February 22-25 the Gresham-Barlow Education Foundation will hold a Phone-A-Thon for the Foundation's "Learning to Read" 2010 campaign. During the four-day event, students from the district's high schools will call parents and community members asking for donations to the campaign. Donations will be primarily used to provide support for elementary students learning to read. The event also provides a fundraising opportunity for high school student groups.
Last year, parents and community members in the school district raised $40,000 for the reading campaign. The Gresham Outlook and Gresham Ford are sponsoring the event. Individuals donating $50 or more will receive a certificate for a free oil change from Gresham Ford. Community members can visit the website www.gbefkids.org to make a pledge.
The Gresham-Barlow School District serves more than 11,000 students in grades K-12. The Gresham-Barlow Education Foundation was formed in 1994
to assist the schools of the district in providing the best possible educational opportunities for its students.
Just these two words conjures up a time when nothing else really matters, September and the start of school is a lifetime away and kids can just be kids. Unfortunately, that isn't often enough these days. Although I didn't enjoy summer camp as a kid, I have been fortunate to be exposed to its virtues in a number of ways since then.
In this area of the country, many 6th graders enjoy "Outdoor School." They spend a week during the school year attending a summer camp along with their teachers and spend an environmentally educational week. For many, it's the first time away from home alone.
Outdoor School didn't yet exist when I was a 6th grader, but I had the chance to be a counselor when I was a senior in high school. All the best of summer camp and more rewarding at the same time.
Then, Daughter Collette went to Camp Collins as a 1st grader. Six years old and a camper for life. On the banks of the Sandy River east of Gresham, Oregon, Camp Collins is the ultimate location. Sitting in a horseshoe bend in the river, it makes it easy to ride the river in an inner tube and not travel far from your base.
But tubing is a small fraction of the benefits that come with a stay at Camp Collins. First of all, your stay will include my 21 year old as the Arts and Crafts Director. Yes, a camper for life. The video above should be your first clue why she's a camper for life and I take every chance I get to visit camp. Add horses, archery, a climbing tower, a ropes course, songs, nonsense, well... you get the idea. A great environment, all with the positive YMCA virtues of love, respect, honesty, responsibility, and service.
But why am I sharing this? Camp Collins needs your help.
Each year the camp raises over $100,000 dollars to help families with tuition assitance. Assistance is strictly needs-based and those needs are increasing during these challenging economic times. Couple that with a more challenged donor base - for the same reasons - and you see the need for this plea.
If you want to help make a difference in a child's life - a difference that amounts to the only positive influence in some kids' lives - please give what you can. A dollar or a thousand dollars - it all makes a difference.
A primary responsibility we have collectively as a civil and just society with so much available to us is to help fellow citizens in need. One way to do that is through support of a very basic need: food.
There are many ways to help provide food to those who need the assistance. Food, cash and in-kind donations to your local food bank are just a few. One enjoyable and very needed form of support is your muscle. Individuals in the local Portland, Oregon area are invited to exercise that muscle at the Oregon Food Bank.
Our company is planning a Volunteer Day to work in the Volunteer Action Center. There, 75 of us will repack bulk food into individual and family-sized portions. Bulk foods can range from rice, to beans, to well... just about anything. It will be a great time, helping a great organization do great things for people all around the state.
If you, your family, or your colleagues at work are interested in having some fun, contact the Oregon Food Bank and sign up for a Volunteer Day. Everyone is welcome - even children at least six years old. A Youth Release Form will need to be completed for volunteers under 18 along with the appropriate supervision.
Exercise your philanthropic muscle. It will only cost you a few hours and a short drive to the Oregon Food Bank.
The New Blogged Word has been my tool for "casual blogging." Items of more general interest live here, while topics about what I'm learning about blogging reside at The Ultimate Blogging Toolkit. These will continue to be a places to share my perspectives, but I also want to share the result of two other passions: renewable energy and education.
First, education.
For the last eight years, I've been a school board member. A lot of work, but a very rewarding experience.
Now, renewable energy.
As a self-proclaimed solar geek, I'm always looking for innovative and successful uses of solar technology. Taking a page from the school district's math initiative, I put two and two together - and got Energication.
The combination of Renewable Energy and Education, "Energication" is my latest project bringing information of value to educators about renewable energy curriculum. My hope is that it will become a central topic in all schools across our nation. For now, I'm just happy our local district is interested in pursuing the concept.
Renewable energy is our future. Electricity will be the currency of that future. Through Energication and speaking in person to any school who will listen, I am looking forward to helping our students have some "spending money" when they get to the future.
The first effort is to pursue a working solar system and related curriculum through a grant application. You can read more about it on the site.
A good friend of mine is the Program Director for a small non-profit organization in Portland called Donate Life Northwest. They are responsible for the statewide public education about the importance of registering to be an organ donor.
Part of their fundraising efforts is an annual benefit raffle which is coming up in August. I am reaching out to all Ultimate Blogging Toolkit readers and fellow bloggers to buy a ticket or two. There are six great prizes and if by an unfortunate chance you don't win, all of your charitable gift is tax deductible and 100% goes towards their wonderful programs.
You can buy tickets online at their secure website:
Grand Prize: Roundtrip airfare for two on Alaska Airlines within the continental US
2nd Prize:Seven day stay at Eagle Crest Ridge in Redmond, OR (sleeps 6)
3rd Prize: Central Oregon Getaway - weekend stay in a cabin on the banks of the Metolius River and dinner at Chloe Restaurant
4th Prize:16GB Apple iTouch
5th Prize:A one-of-a-kind handcrafted jewelry piece by local artist Jessica Vasi
6th Prize:Beach Getaway - Two night stay at a charming cottage on the Yachats River in Yachats, OR (sleeps up to 6)
For more details on the prizes and some pictures of the getaway cottages, you can check out their website.
I'm already signed up as an organ donor. If that appeals to you as a way to help another person, sign up or just buy a raffle ticket. Hey, you may get to pick up one of these prizes.
Donate Life Northwest PO Box. 532 Portland, OR 97207 Office: 503-494-2257 Fax: 503-494-2290
Register today to be an organ, eye and tissue donor. Thanks for your support.
