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August 2010
Tutors, Children in Need Gain from Experience. At an age when some people slow down, 76-year-old Dorothy Schulman has gone back to school. Not so much to learn, but to pass on a lifetime of knowledge and a love of learning to a 10-year-old girl and others just like her. More

Student Health Enhances Academic Performance - Recently SE Portland residents Mark and Brenda Saling welcomed friends and neighbors to their home to discuss ways to improve school lunches and support children’s health and academic success. More

July 2010
PDC touts credit repair program provided by Metropolitan Family Service. The largest source of past debt for EOI Credit repair participants is medical bills. To prevent future problems, MFS tries to help people access the OR Health Plan. More

May 2010

CAFE Hula serves up luau fundraiser for Lot Whitcomb Elementary's afterschool program. The hula dancers who participate in the CAFE (Children and Family Enrichment) Hula program range in age from first through eighth grade. More

April 2010
Metropolitan Family Service names volunteer Mabel Hall Volunteer of the Year. MFS recognizes volunteers for their years of service to the community through Metropolitan Family Service volunteer programs. More

February 2010
Vernon volunteer: 25 years and counting. After 2½ decades volunteering at Vernon K-8 School, Betty Messinger sees no reason to stop doing what she loves. More

Experience Corps Earns Commendation from the What Works Clearinghouse. Experience Corps was awarded the commendation based on the strength of Washington University in St. Louis’s research on program outcomes. More

December 2009
Johns Hopkins University Study Confirms Experience Corps Improves Older Adults’ Brain Functioning. Older Americans can delay or actually reverse brain aging at a neurological level by tutoring young children in reading and math. More

Quilters donate their creations to benefit the elderly, isolated and homebound.            Photo by Faith Cathcart/TheOregonian

Brena Adams, a Project Linkage volunteer for Metropolitan Family Service, delivers a quilt made by Bonnie Kiltow and Nancy Turner to Ann Carlin, 91, as she recovers from hip replacement surgery at Laurelhurst Village. More

November 2009
Metropolitan Family Service convenes 2nd annual Work + Service Forum. The forum for people 50+ is scheduled for Thursday, November 19, 2009. More

October 2009
Soldier’s son, volunteer, forge friendship. Face to Face program matches adult mentors with fifth-graders. More

September 2009
MFS ranked number 13 in the 100 Best Non-profits to Work for in Oregon rankings for large non-profit employers.  The Oregon Business magazine listed all of the rankings in its October issue. More

Ways to work wins performance award. Metropolitan Family Service in Portland, Oregon has been recognized as one of the best-performing Ways to Work programs in the organization’s national network. More

Leaders in our midst. Metropolitan Family Service congratulates two of our staff members, Ursula Loret de Mola and María Eugenia Perdomo, for their successful participation in the Latino Leadership Program. More

July 2009
All 28 of Sherri Brown's about-to-be-fifth-graders squeezed into the classroom tent to listen to her read a scary story about a werewolf at summer camp. When she finished the chapter and closed the book, they let out a spontaneous cry of complaint, because they wanted her to keep reading. More

June 2009
With kids, it turns out Experience does count. When Lester Strong was in third grade, growing up in the gritty western Pennsylvania steel town of Braddock, the school district told his parents he was mentally retarded. More

May 2009
Gresham High gains $2 million grant. The federally funded grant will finance an after school program for about 300 students at Gresham. More

Automobile loans available for those struggling. Sonia Yemane took advantage of a car loan, which in turn enabled her to spend more time with her daughter, Shalom. More

Portland-area schools recruit retirees to help in class. Experience Corps mentor Patsy Stephens, known as "Grandma Patsy" to many students, goes over a reading exercise with 7-year-old Kristine Martin at Woodlawn K-8 School. Older adults spend 10 to 12 hours a week offering academic and personal support. More

Metropolitan Family Service’s Experience Corps: Retirees offer knowledge, nurturing to students. At North Portland’s James John Elementary School, being sent to the hall is anything but punitive. More

April 2009
Independent research shows national service program in Portland schools produces big gains in student learning.Tutoring children in and after school isn’t new, but how much does it really help in critical areas like reading? Rigorous new research from Washington University in St. Louis shows significant gains from a national service program that trains experienced adults to help low-income children in urban public schools in 23 cities, including Portland. More

Free rides to Moreland Farmers Market for area seniors could end - volunteers sought. "If you would like to drive, it's a very rewarding opportunity," says program coordinator, Mark Morley. "Our volunteers thrive on the interaction with our senior and disabled clients." More

March 2009
At 71, Claudine Paris feels like a “rock star” every day she walks through the hallways of James John Elementary School in Portland, OR, where she volunteers as a literacy tutor.“I’m appreciated and I’m needed,” says Paris, who’s called “Auntsy” by the children. “It’s wonderful.” More

December, 19, 2007

Letter to the Editor.  Reacting to news reports of Clackamas County’s gang actifity, MFS Board Member, Dr. Yves Lefranc, recommends community participation.

December, 17, 2007

Metropolitan Family Service Holiday Cheer and Holiday Toy Store bring Joy to Families and Older Adults in Need.  Volunteers and staff give generously of their time and talents at Metropolitan Family Service during the holiday season.

November, 7, 2007

Each day in Clackamas County, thousands of families struggle to make ends meet.  They worry about feeding their families or finding childcare while they go to work. They don’t have time to worry about non-essential expenses like family portraits.

October 2007
SUN Schools Sponsor Pumpkin Lights On AfterSchool Event This year, the Metropolitan Family Service SUN Schools after school programs hosted the area’s Lights On AfterSchool celebrations, featuring several hundred former and current program participants at Dexter Middle School and Shaver Elementary.

September 2007
SUN Programs Lead to Educational Success SUN in East County is a program of Metropolitan Family Service. It offers kids a safe place to spend after-school hours and participate in anarray of academic and recreational activities.
 

August 14, 2007

Students Travel Back in Time During Community Program  Time travel was the theme for a collaborative effort of Metropolitan Family Service, Multnomah County and the Centennial School District during the summer SUN School program. Students, in grades first through sixth, moved from room to room, learning about such eras as the Roaring ’20s, the Middle Ages and America’s colonial era.

August 7, 2007

Neighborhood Night Out Picnic at Harold Oliver School  A picnic and live performances will highlight this year’s National Night Out. The event is planned for 5:30 to 8 p.m. Aug. 7 at Harold Oliver Primary School, and is sponsored by Metropolitan Family Service, City of Portland Neighborhood Grants Program and Centennial Community Association. It is designed to build neighborhood connections and build safer communities through awareness.

June 4, 2007
Project Linkage to Schedule Rides to Farmers Market. 
Are you a senior or disabled? This summer, a fledgling service is expanding to provide rides to local farmers markets.  Ride Connection and other transit providers will be offering rides from several locations.

Gates Foundation Awards Grant to Metropolitan Family Service. 
Students at 11 high-poverty schools in the Portland tri-county area will benefit from a three-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

April 27, 2007

Foster Grandmother Named Top Volunteer.  An 84-year-0ld Rose City Park grandmother has been named Volunteer of the Year by Metropolitan Family Service.  "Grandma" Sybil Barker, a full-time volunteer, has pitched in as a foster grandparent for seven years at the Center for Medically Fragile Children at Providence Child Center, where she works with children with severe neurological disabilities.  She has also served as a volunteer for 13 years at Waverly Children's Home, where she worked the evening shift, helping young victims of child abuse get ready for bed.

February 2007
At 92, MFS Volunteer Grandma Cherry just can't stop helping kids
Cherry Hendrix says there are days when it's hard to muster the energy for another full day of helping children. "At my age, sometimes I have to force myself to go," she says with a laugh. But when she sees adults she worked with when they were children --and now they have children in grade school -- and they say "Hi Grandma Cherry, you still at Woodlawn?" And then look at their children and say, "That's my Grandma Cherry." "Right there, that puts two, three more years on my life," says Hendrix. More

January 2007
MFS Launches Health Education Programs
Metropolitan Family Service was recently awarded a $636,600 grant from the US Department of Education, to establish an expanded physical education program at four schools in Reynolds School District. More