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June 23, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Sherry Manning, Development Director
503.445.0994
SUMMERTIME PLAY GETS A HELPING HAND FOR PORTLAND'S CHILDREN
This morning, the children who use Portland's neighborhood parks received a gigantic boost as trucks bearing more than $382,000 of goods from local and national businesses were unloaded with gifts donated to Portland Parks Foundation. Box
after box emerged from three large trucks revealing sports gear, clothing, books, electronic equipment, art supplies, and other useful and fun items. The bounty will be used in summer playground programs throughout the city.
"When budget cuts lower expectations of good things to come, what communities need more than anything else are people to step up which is exactly what NBC's Al Roker has done with his "Lend A Hand" program," said Rich Brown, chairman of
the board of Portland Parks Foundation.
Portland Parks Foundation, a nonprofit charity, was selected in a nation-wide search as the beneficiary of the Lend A Hand program. The Foundation's mission is to work with donors to support park programs for children, bring parks to
park-deficient neighborhoods and steward Portland's existing parks.
Since 2003, Portland Parks Foundation, with major support from partners throughout the community, has directed more than $1 million toward park programs that serve at-risk children in Portland through its Project Inclusion program.
Working hand in hand with Portland Parks & Recreation, the Foundation has provided thousands of children access to park programs that meet vital needs such as regular physical exercise, activities to stimulate creative thinking, positive
role models, and a sense of belonging to the broader community.
In all of this morning's Lend A Hand abundance, there were several standouts. Two new mobile climbing walls donated by Kool-Aid and KinderCare Learning Centers will more than double the current capacity of the City of Portland's Bureau of
Parks & Recreation to offer this valuable sport to children and youth. An 8-passenger Toyota van will help to bring kids without transportation to parks. Donations from Columbia Sportswear, Nike, Toys R Us, Office Depot, Canon, Glidden
Paints, and a host of others will fuel playground programs for years to come.
"We are delighted and grateful to be the recipients of such wonderful gifts," Brown continued. "This is the strong jump start we needed as we launch our campaign to raise $1 million for Project Inclusion over the next three years. This
will expand investment in park programs that serve children in under-served Portland neighborhoods."
Contributions to the Project Inclusion campaign will be targeted for children and youth in Portland neighborhoods with high concentrations of low-income and minority families.
We are our parks. They help define us, pay testament to what we believe in, where we stand, and how we stand apart from other places. Today, thanks to the vision of those before us, we stand out quite proudly.
Overview
Portland's Parks & Recreation system has a scope, ambition and vitality most cities can only dream of. The green spaces, gardens, forests, swimming pools and playing fields are truly the city's backyard. Neighborhoods affectionately borrow
their names, and identities, from the parks they adjoin. Every year, kids aged 5 to 18 attend over 12,000 after school, evening and summer classes through Portland Parks & Recreation, mastering everything from computers to kazoos.
Behind the numbers, of course, are the stories. Of fathers and sons finding common ground on a ball field. Of little girls learning not just to swim, but believe in themselves. Of at-risk kids finding a passion instead of a gang. Of all of
us reclaiming sanity in the saving grace of a wooded trail.
By all yardsticks, Portland's parks work. We use them. Cherish them. They teach us. Bring us together. Draw new business and national acclaim through the quality of life they provide.
But our parks have always depended on visionaries. Even at the outset, when Portland itself was largely wilderness, there were those setting aside green spaces to enjoy in perpetuity.
Today, the system faces both short and long-term threats. Despite the best efforts of a passionate staff and volunteers who orchestrate miracles daily, the underlying problems can't be ignored.
Many community centers are outdated and serve purposes for which they were never intended. Critical maintenance is going undone for lack of funds. The city is divided into have and have-not sectors, leaving some families rich with
opportunity and others high and dry. Park expansion is lagging frighteningly behind growth. Since 1970, the population has increased by 50% and active park space only 5%.
And we can't serve many of those who need us most. Currently, we have scholarships for a small fraction of those low-income families who require them. Vast Spanish-speaking communities are excluded for lack of bilingual staff. And for
every team that gets playing time on our courts and playing fields, others are turned away. |
