MLK Weekend of Service Projects Under Way

About 2,200 volunteers from across the Portland metro area are celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by contributing their time and effort to help local school and nonprofits.

This is the third year that United Way of the Columbia-Willamette is hosting the United Way MLK Weekend of Service, in partnership with Hands On Greater Portland. Projects are under way now through Monday, January 18.

In 2008, United Way debuted MLK Day of Service, attracting about 400 volunteers at about 30 projects. This year, there are over 100 "done-in-a-day" volunteer projects at 70+ agencies and schools throughout the region.

Above: Cree leaders from Friends of Trees work with volunteers to plant trees at a Southeast Portland neighborhood. Friends of Trees promotes planting, care and protection of urban trees to strengthen neighborhoods and renew the environment.

Volunteers help paint the interior of Outside In, an agency that provides housing, meals, health services, job resources and support for homeless youth and other low-income and marginalized people as they work towards self-sufficiency and improved health.


Volunteers help frame eight homes for the Jubilee Commons site of Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East.

Thanks volunteers for all your hard work in helping local agencies get important projects done. More photos from the weekend will be posted soon.

Help Quake Survivors in Haiti

Dear friends,

Below is a message from United Way Worldwide’s Linda Daily, Director of 2-1-1 and Interim Crisis Director, regarding the recent earthquake in Haiti.

Thank you,

United Way of the Columbia-Willamette

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Dear Colleagues:

On the evening of January 12, 2010, a major 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. It is the most powerful quake to hit the impoverished country in more than 200 years. The tremor struck 15km (10 miles) south-west of the capital Port-au-Prince, and was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. Reports describe the destruction to affect as much as 70 percent of the buildings, with debris filling the roads making emergency response difficult. The Prime Minister reported on January 13 that hundreds of thousands of lives may have been lost.

You can help people affected by donating to the United Way Worldwide Disaster Fund.

Gifts to the Fund support long-term recovery efforts to rebuild lives and infrastructure devastated by disaster and to address educational, financial and health-related challenges.

United Way Worldwide members in the Caribbean region have mobilized their staff, volunteer leaders and resources in response.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your staff who have family and friends in Haiti and the Caribbean region.

Please feel free to pass this information along.

Thank you and take care,

Linda

Linda Daily / Director, 2-1-1/Interim Crisis Director CILL / United Way Worldwide
tel: +1 703.836.7112 x 474

MLK Weekend of Service In the News

We're a week away from the start of the four-day MLK Weekend of Service volunteer blitz, and volunteer slots for more than 60 projects are almost full. Marking the third year that United Way of the Columbia-Willamette is hosting volunteer projects, this weekend of service is the largest thus far.

United Way's MLK Weekend of Service covers the four-county Portland-Vancouver metro region. The volunteer blitz is organized in partnership with Hands On Greater Portland.

Check out this wonderful story on MLK Weekend of Service by Oregonlive.com's Shop Oregon blogger Jen McCabe.

Also today, The Oregonian's Susan Green posted a short story on the MLK project at Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, a mental health clinic for low-income adults in North Portland.