2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
December 2008
Metropolitan Family Service Celebrates the Holiday Season with Gifts
and Toys for Those in Need.
Metropolitan Family Service sponsors two holiday events in December.
Holiday Cheer is a volunteer event that creates gift bags for
seniors and people with disabilities. Our Holiday Toy Store provides
toys for local families in need through community donations.
More
November 2008
Metropolitan Family Service Convenes
Community Forum “Expanding Volunteer
and Work Opportunities for Those
Age 50 and Above.”
Metropolitan Family Service is
responding to the needs and
interests of the fastest growing and
best educated population, adults age
50 and older. Metropolitan Family
Service is developing a new
framework to attract and retain
people 50+ in meaningful work and
service roles.
More
October 2008
Metropolitan Family Service Expands
After School Programs.
Metropolitan Family Service has
received two Oregon Department of
Education 21st Century Grants to
provide after school programs in the
North Clackamas and Gresham/Barlow
School Districts. The grants target
schools in high poverty areas.
More
Metropolitan Family Service Hosts
Second Older Adult Suicide
Prevention Forum
—“Both
nationally and in Oregon suicide
rates are highest among older adults
compared with any other age group.”A
second regional forum on suicide
prevention strategies was held on
October 15, 2008 to further develop
plans to reduce older adult suicides
in Oregon.
More
Metropolitan Family Service Wins
Award for Ground Breaking Ways to
Work Loan Program -
Low
interest auto loans to working
parents get results. Metropolitan
Family Service provides an
alternative for working parents to
receive low-interest auto loans.
More
Help get the vote out -
On the November ballot, the children's levy is up for renewal. Since 2003, the fund has helped 16,000 children each year. More than half live in low-income households; more than a quarter in extreme poverty. The MFS
Board of Directors has endorsed renewal of the City of Portland
Children's Investment Fund (Ballot Measure 26-94). For more
information visit
www.childrenslevy.com. We encourage your support for
this important measure.
More
September 2008
A lasting legacy - We are saddened to learn of the passing of Thomas Stoel.
He was instrumental in the founding of Metropolitan
Family Service more than 58 years ago, and continued his support and
involvement
throughout the years. His legacy will continue to be honored through our biennial
presentation of the Thomas
Stoel Award for Volunteer Commitment to Community. This past spring, Mr. Stoel
personally presented the award to Caroline McMurchie,
an MFS Steward.
Metropolitan Family
Service and Ride Connection Team up to Provide Transportation for
Mid-County Residents. Metropolitan Family Service and Ride
Connection are proud to announce a new shuttle service in the
mid-Multnomah County region for older adults and people with
disabilities.
More
August 2008
Civic
engagement gaining ground within human service agencies. Alliance members receive grants to fund advocacy efforts. In
July, 25 agencies were selected to receive grants to support their
civic engagement efforts.
More
July
2008
Children Pick Up Hoop Tips at Summer
Basketball Clinic
The clinic at Lynch View Elementary coincided with the federally funded free lunch program operated by Metropolitan Family Service, which provides summer programs for children through the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods or SUN program.
More
July 2008
Metropolitan Family Service to Establish After School Programs at
Four North Clackamas Elementary Schools. Metropolitan Family
Service has received an Oregon Department of Education 21st Century
Grant to provide after school programs at Clackamas, Lewelling,
Linwood and Oak Grove Elementary Schools in the North Clackamas
School District this fall. The programs – Child & Family Enrichment
(CAFE) - will be modeled after successful MFS after school programs
at Lot Whitcomb Elementary and Rowe Middle School in North
Clackamas. Each new CAFE site will serve 100 students per year. More
June 2008
Metropolitan Family Service Opens Community
Coordination Office in Gresham. Metropolitan Family Service held an open house for community partners on Friday, June 13, 2008, at its new office in Gresham. The event was an opportunity to introduce programs that Metropolitan Family Service provides in the Gresham and East Multnomah County area. More
Metropolitan Family Service Executive Director, Krista Larson (left), and Chief Operating Officer, Judy Strand (center) welcome Gresham Chief of Police, Carla Piluso (right) to an open house event at the new MFS office in Gresham.
May 2008
Experience Corps in the National Spotlight. On May 19, the presidential
campaign highlighted civic involvement work by Experience Corps and other local
social service groups at a public event at Woodlawn Elementary School in NE
Portland.
Former President Bill Clinton was joined by his daughter, Chelsea, to
meet with representatives of MFS and Experience Corps mentors.
The event was coordinated by America Forward, a coalition of
results-oriented nonprofits.
Spring
Recognition Event On May 8, 2008, MFS hosted our biennial reunion of
current and past board members, donors, and MFS friends. The 2008 Thomas
Stoel Award was presented to Carolyn McMurchie, one of our outstanding volunteers for
her volunteer commitment to the community.
Carolyn McMurchie (left) was honored for her volunteer service. She is
shown with Thomas Stoel, of Stoel Rives, LLP and Krista Larson, Executive
Director, Metropolitan Family Service.
April 2008
State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo announced today that seven partnerships have been named as recipients of the 2008 Outstanding Community/School Partnership Awards. Metropolitan Family Service, Stand for Children, and North Clackamas School District were honored for their work on the North Clackamas After School Task Force The task force is dedicated to providing academically enriching activities designed to give children the opportunity to learn and play in a safe environment after school. Through the work of the Task Force, two comprehensive programs have been launched featuring child and family enrichment, parent engagement and education, intergenerational mentoring/tutoring and kindergarten readiness. 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.
May 30, 2007
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
December 8, 2006
Reynolds gets help with PE classes
Twenty-two minutes a day. Two and a half hours a week. That’s all it takes to meet the U.S. Secretary of Education’s physical activity recommendation, but many children aren’t getting it.
November 29, 2006
During Thanksgiving week,
Metropolitan Family Service joined thousands of people and organizations across the United States to celebrate National Family Week.
September 21, 2006
Rowe students will get new after-school outlets
Students at Rowe Middle School in will have new ways to stay busy after school starting Oct. 2, thanks to a $135,000 grant to expand after-school programs.
August 3, 2006
The SUN Schools Program
This past spring I graduated from H.B. Lee Middle School. One of my favorite things to do there was to go to the Schools Uniting Neighborhoods program after school.
August 3, 2006
In East County, SUN Bridges Cultural Gaps
For nearly two days, students at H.B. Lee Middle School made rockets from plastic bottles. Now, it was time --after all they had learned about inertia and gravity -- to launch the rockets high into the sky next to the east Portland school.
June 2, 2006
Students flock to new SUN school at Lynch Wood
Lynch Wood 21st Century SUN Community school is the newest addition of MFS SUN schools in East County.
May 10, 2006
Rylie's Among the Luck Ones MFS
celebrates our newest after-school
program at Lot
Whitcomb Elementary with a community open house. Funding for the program came from 21st Century Community Learning Center.
January 27, 2006
Whitcomb gives Students a Place to go
MFS expands to the North Clackamas District with a new after school program at Lot Whitcomb, where the attendance area has one of the highest rates of crime of any elementary school boundary in Clackamas County.
February 5, 2006
MFS Launches Ways to Work
A national program, operated locally by MFS,
began providing loans in spring of
2005 for repair, purchase, or
maintenance of a car for
transportation needs associated with
work and child care.
February 15, 2005
Health and Fitness
Fairs and Nutrition Classes
MFS is providing health outreach for
low-income families in Multnomah
County through health and fitness
fairs and nutrition classes.
March
17, 2005
MFS Arts Education
Classes Rock
MFS SUN offers music and art classes.
Participation in after-school art
classes have shown a significant
influence on academic achievement.
May
19, 2005
MFS SUN Expands to
Two New Schools
MFS SUN expanded school-based services
in spring of 2005 in two traditionally
underserved, low-income communities.
Afternoon and evening classes are now
available for students and family
members at Harold Oliver Primary and Glenfair
Elementary.
May 19, 2005
MFS Expands
School-based Services
MFS community school programs added
services to two new schools in April
2005.
Leveraging the funds from Multnomah
County's school-age policy
framework, MFS has secured two new
federal grants to operate after school
programs at Glenfair Elementary in the
Reynolds District and Harold Oliver
Primary in the Centennial district.
July
27, 2005
MFS SUN Summer
Camps Shine
MFS SUN Community Schools offered summer
classes for students in all SUN
schools. Dexter McCarty Middle
School created a mural as a part of
the summer activities.
August 15, 2005
MFS Class Helps
Latinos Manage diabetes
Providence Health System, United Way,
and private contributions enable
Providence and MFS to co-facilitate a
weekly diabetes class in Spanish for
Latinos.
October 27, 2005
Snapshot of a
Community
MFS kicked of National Family Week with
Family Portraits. National Family
Week celebrates families, their
connections to one another, and
their connections to communities.
November 24, 2005
Loans Put
Employees on Road to Work
National Ways to Work, operated locally
be MFS, helps employees with
affordable car loans for repair,
refinance, and purchase for work and
childcare transportation.
Loan Industry:
Exploitation runs rampant
In response to The Oregonian article,
"Quick cash leads to debt," Robert
McKean, past MFS Board Chair, responded
with a letter to the editor.
Creativity and Recycling Combine at MFS
SUN
At Dexter McCarty Middle School, SUN
offers a variety of interesting classes.
One class, a bike part recycling class
where kids make art from old bike parts
was featured in The Oregonian.
August 6, 2004
Krista Larson, MFS Executive
Director, Profiled
Krista Larson shares her business
philosophy and more in a Business
Journal profile.
December 2, 2004
MFS Experience Corps Adds New Schools
A national program, operated locally by
MFS, provides mentoring and tutoring for
elementary students. The program
expanded in 2004 when MFS received
additional funding from the City of
Portland's Children Investment Fund.
MFS Classic Wines Auction Celebrates
20th Year
Each year thousands of low-income individuals benefit from the support
MFS receives through the Classic Wines
Auction. In its 20th year in 2005, the
fifth largest charity wine auction in
America raised more than $10 million in
the past 20 years.
Fun in the SUN 3/04
Schools Uniting Neighborhoods adds
additional schools.
One day each year, volunteers say:
Smile! 10/03
More than 100 low-income families
who receive services from MFS had
family portraits taken by volunteer
photographers.
Resources help the helpers 1/03
The Portland Observer featured MFS caregivers.
Nimble Agency Carves Out a New Niche
8/02
The Alliance for Children and Families recognizes MFS and its innovative, results-oriented programs
in its quarterly magazine.
2005
Classic Wines Auction sets Record for Charities 3/05
2004 National Family Week and Family Portraits 9/04 2004 MFS Volunteer Recognition Event 8/04
2004 Tom Stoel Award Honors John von
Schlegell 4/04
MFS SUN Expansion Serves 1,500
Additional Children and Their
Families 3/04
2003 19th Annual MFS Classic Wines Auction Raises $1.2 million 3/03
Social Venture Partners Donates $40,000 to Metropolitan
Family Service 3/03
Faith in Action Grant Supports Services for Older Adults 3/03
Ron Yoder Award for Service Excellence 1/03
2002 National Family Week Media Advisory 10/02
MFS Receives Grant from Oregon Community Foundation 9/02
Thomas Stoel Award for Volunteer Commitment to Community 6/02
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