Arbor Lodge Newsletter – March 2026

Message from the Chair

With everything going on in the world right now, I don’t even know what to say. “Hang in there” sounds hollow. I’m going back to what I said last month: remember, you’re not alone. 

If you want to meet neighbors, Monday, March 16 is the perfect opportunity. Neighbors are coming together with the shelter to pick up trash in the three blocks around the shelter. Just meet at the shelter parking lot on Denver at 6:30 pm. We’ll provide gloves, safety vests, trash picker uppers, trash bags, and afterward, snacks and joy for a job well done. Maybe this is your chance to make a new friend. Even if it isn’t, you’ll be helping make Arbor Lodge better. ❤️

We’ve lost many small businesses in recent years, though we’ve gained some great new ones. I was excited to hear that Reggie’s Manga Shop just celebrated its first anniversary. Congratulations! 

Thanks!

Kevin Micalizzi, Chair, Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association

Neighborhood Meeting

When: Thursday, March 19, 2026, 7:00-8:30 pm

Where: Historic Kenton Firehouse, 8105 N Brandon, or via Zoom.

Agenda:

  • Arbor Lodge Shelter
  • Shelter Community Advisory Committee
  • Mattt Zmuda – MultNoMo
  • TBD: Possible guest on political engagement
  • Neighborhood Concerns
  • District 2 Updates
  • Arbor Lodge Tree Team
  • See full agenda

PPS Kindergarten Registration is OPEN! 

Do you have or know a child who will be 5 years old on or before September 1st? If so, it’s time to register them for kindergarten! To register you can visit pps.net/kinderenroll. 

We understand that deciding where to send your kindergarten student can be a stressful decision, but we want you to know that your neighborhood school is a great choice!

Chief Joseph Elementary is the neighborhood school for many families in Arbor Lodge. If you have an incoming kindergartner, we encourage you to join us at our upcoming Connect to Kindergarten event:

  • April 21st at 5:00pm – FAQ session with the Principal and staff along with Kindergarten classroom tour. Children and parents welcome! 

Are you in the neighborhood and considering switching to your neighborhood school?

For families of current K-5th graders at other schools, if you live in the school boundary of your neighborhood school, you can make the change to your neighborhood school. If you would like to discuss this option, feel free to call the CJES office at 503-916-6255.

Arbor Lodge Tree Team

Brian Duncan Memorial Fruit Tree Giveaway

Thank you to all the volunteers who helped the Arbor Lodge Tree Team complete another successful fruit tree giveaway. This year 78 trees were given to neighbors, along with buckets of mulch and great advice for caring for these new trees. This year’s trees included:

  • Scarlett Sentinel Columnar Apple (Malus domestica)
  • Improved Meyer Lemon (Citrus x meyeri)
  • Meiwa Kumquat (Fortunella crassifolia)
  • Coolidge Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)
  • Cascara (Frangula purshiana)
  • Western Serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia)
  • Black Hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii)
  • Interior Live Oak (Quercus wislizeni)
  • Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo, St. Johns — a true tree)
  • Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo, Compacta — a large shrub)
  • Sweet Bay Magnolia (Magnolia virginiana)

Want to share your love of trees?

The Tree Team meets on the second Wednesday of each month at 7pm to talk about trees and tree policies, and to plan events like tree walks and bike rides. We would love to have you join us! We meet at  Double Mountain Brewing at 1700 N. Killingworth. Please check arborlodgetrees.org for more information.

Arbor Lodge Shelter

Shelter Updates

  • Our wonderful neighbors came together to build and install a Free Library on the outside of our shelter, to best engage with our surrounding neighbors. We will be painting it with our participants soon. 
  • Trash pickup collaboration with the neighbors has started. Arbor has a flyer posted for our participants to join. (Next pickup is March 16, 
  • We received lots of donations from our neighbors this month. Coffee, sweatpants, shower shoes, etc. 
  • Wy’East closed, and Arbor Lodge received many of their unsheltered folks. We are proud to say that none of their participants were exited to the streets with that shelter’s closure.

Abor Lodge Shelter Community Advisory Committee (CAC) Updates

Recycling

Did you know you can recycle the screw-on soda bottle plastic caps now? https://www.portland.gov/bps/garbage-recycling/recycling

Around the Neighborhood

Events

[See the North Portland Events Calendar]

Highlighted Events

Other Neighborhood Calendars

Support ALNA

Money


The Arbor Lodge Neighborhood Association is an all-volunteer 501c3 nonprofit. Donations are always welcome to help us continue our work for Arbor Lodge. Delivering neighborhood & park cleanups, the porta potty in Arbor Lodge park, and concerts like Jazz in Arbor Lodge Park.   https://arborlodgepdx.org/donations

Help

Love keeping up with everything that’s going on around Arbor Lodge? We need someone to help us build the events list for the newsletter each month. Just reply and let us know if you’re interested. Thanks!

Ideas

If you have an idea for a future newsletter topic or neighborhood project, please let us know using the Arbor Lodge Ideas form.

Resources

We’re working to collect more resources on our arborlodgepdx.org site. Let us know what we missed.