09/23/2017
Sign Up for the School Backpack Program
Impact hunger in Arbor Lodge - one weekend at a time via a backpack of food from Chief Joseph school.
* What? you donate 30 individual pieces of fresh fruit on your assigned week - it goes in a backpack for the weekend for children identified by their teacher or school counselor as coming to school hungry most Mondays - They all qualify for free and reduced meals at school too.* How? you volunteer by responding to this request - you get assigned a week or two from the school calendar. On your week you take 30 individual pieces of fresh fruit - think apple, orange, satsumas - to Chief Joseph on Saratoga at Delaware anytime between 7:30 and 3:30 on Monday or Tuesday, or 7:30 and noon on Wednesday. Other volunteers add shelf stable foods and distribute to the children each Friday. (Bags packed Wed afternoon or Thursday by others.)* Can I change my assigned week? Yes, usually trading with others from that month, or with help from me* Do you share my e-mail? Usually not, and if you ask that I not, I won't. The assigned weeks come out at the beginning of planning, and a reminder comes out the last week of the month for the next month. The general assignment e-mail is all bcc. The monthly is not to allow for "trading weeks" as needed. But, again, if you don't want it shared, it won't be.
Right now we have about 12 folks volunteering. We have 33 weeks of school this year. So, we will be asking folks to donate 2.5 times for the school year if no others join, or less depending on the number of volunteers overall.
Join the Backpack Program, or ask questions by emailing Ginger - ginger.edws@gmail.comI'll be slow responding in early October, by mid month I'll be up to speed.
09/18/2017
Everyone Welcome: Neighborhood Meeting 9/21
Join us this Thursday, 9/21 for our September Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Meeting, 6:30 PM at the Historic Kenton Firehouse.
We'll be learning about the Hot Soup program in North Portland, the Bonneville Environmental Fund's Pilot Project seeking participants for event Oct 23, 2017, Artists & Craftsman Supplies seeking a letter of support for a building mural, changes to the Tree Code, an upcoming event to make Greeley (and parallel street) traffic more safe, and changes to the Bike Code.
Plus, we are planning for Board elections in October! Come learn more about what it means to join our great team of board members. We will publish a list of names of people who we know to be running for the board after this meeting, so we hope you'll consider running.
Everyone is welcome, plus, we usually have cookies. Hope to see you there!
09/13/2017
It's crunch time. Do we have a Tree Team or not?
If we do, we can write a grant, likely get funded, and plant 100 trees in the next 5 years in Arbor Lodge to increase our beauty, lower the heat via increased canopy, and improve our air quality via tree filtration.
But, we need at least 4-5 folks to step up now. I mean in the next 24-72 hours. No one responded to my last post except to say thank you. While appreciated, it's not enough. We have a meeting tomorrow, Thursday the 14th, to work on this grant with City of Portland Urban Forestry staff. But, the 2 of us will stop planning if we don't get some additional volunteers. 2 people can't do it all.
If you want more trees in Arbor Lodge, now is the time to volunteer. Maybe you can't plant, but you can do some computer work from home, maybe you can plant and only want to do that, maybe you don't like meetings, but could do part of the project on your own and report via e-mail to others, or you like to meet over a beer and want to come talk it out. You tell us what can work for you, but please strongly consider volunteering or this ALNA project is kaput. Thanks for any consideration.Questions? ginger.edws@gmail.com
09/12/2017
Update: September 12th 2017
"Put the Park to Bed for the Winter"Work Party: Saturday October 14th, 9-12 noonWhere? Arbor Lodge Park - meet at tool shed near Dekum, behind baseball diamondWhy? Maintain our pesticide/herbicide free status - 1 of only 3 out of 252 Parks in PortlandWhat? Weed around trees, spread bark mulch, flame weed baseball dugouts, backstops, and curbing along both Dekum and Bryant.
Snacks and water while volunteering, meeting neighbors, helping your local Park look good and stay spray free, and a hosted lunch at Azteca Burrito for up to 30 volunteers after volunteering. We have a limited supply of T-shirts to give out too, and a few water bottles from the Parks Foundation.
Mark you calendars now and come join us on October 14th at 9 am. Thanks!questions, ask ginger.edws@gmail.com
08/30/2017
Update: August 30th 2017
Do you want clean air in Arbor Lodge? Do you love trees?
The 2 go together! How? Trees help clean the air. Join the Arbor Lodge Tree Team in 2 activities this fall.
1. Park Tree Inventory - Sept 16th, 8:15 to 12, noon. Join small teams of 3-4 folks, get the support of an Arborist, measure and ID all the trees in our Park. Large conifers clean the air best and we have a few, plus those nice big firs in Gammon's Park. We need 24 people for this and have 19 at this point. Sign up online at www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/53181 - look for Arbor Lodge Park and sign up.
2. Help us put together a grant to plant 100 trees in the next 5 years in our neighborhood. We hope to team with Friends of Trees and plant about 20 trees per year for the next 5 years in targeted areas with large parking strips. We hope to plant as many conifers as possible in these parking strips. How can you help? Measure some identified parking strips, help us look online to ID property owners, talk to those owners, help make a watering plan to ensure the trees survive and thrive.
Questions? Contact Ginger at ginger.edws@gmail.com, or come to either the Arbor Lodge NA Sept 21st, 6:30 at the Kenton Fire House, or join us at the Park Tree Inventory on Sept 16th, 8:15 to 12 noon at Arbor Lodge Park. Thanks!