A True Children’s Champion

In my job, I work with many people.  Of course there are my co-workers, people who give us money, foundation representatives and agency partners.  There are also our elected officials, whom I have mentioned on occasion in this blog.

On January 13th, I was thrilled to be in attendance at the Oregon Alliance of Children’s Programs‘ Children’s Champion Luncheon.  Every year, this organization (of which The Next Door is a member) recognizes officials who are champions for children.  This year, they recognized Oregon State Representative John Huffman from District 59 (The Dalles).  Rep Huffman is always available to talk to me about issues of concern.  He is genuinely interested and works hard for children and families.  Hooray for John Huffman!

Rep John Huffman and his well deserved award

Reps John Huffman and Nancy Nathanson, Children’s Champions

What is Tempeh?

Last week, the students at Klahre House had a hands-on lesson on how to make tempeh.  Many people have never even heard of  tempeh.  According to Wikipedia, tempeh “is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty.”

As a vegetarian, I have enjoyed tempeh for many years, but I never knew how to make it.  We were so pleased to have Seth Tibbott, CEO of Turtle Island Foods, based here in Hood River, come to show the students how to make it.  What a process!  From the Turtle Island Foods website, here’s a description of the long process:

It is made by cooking and dehulling grains and inoculating them with a culture of mold called Rhizopus oligosporus. The product is then incubated overnight at the tropical temperature of 88° F. During this time the beans and/or grains are covered with a thick, white mat of mycelia that binds them together into a solid cake. After this process is finished (about 24 hours) the tempeh is then steamed to make it ready to eat.

We are grateful to community volunteers like Seth, who take time to pass on their knowledge to our students.  The students were interested and showed it; they even learned how to say Rhizopus oligosporus. Here are some photos:

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More Holiday Celebrations

Mexicans of the Catholic faith really know how to celebrate the Christmas season!  They celebrate from December 25th through February 2nd.  On January 6th, they commemorate El Día De Reyes, the Epiphany; this is the day when three of the Kings: Melchor, Caspar, and Balthazar, representing Europe,  Arabia, and Africa, arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus.

For the past two years, The Next Door’s Nuestra Comunidad Sana, has been distributing gifts to local Latino families on this day.  This year over 90 people came to celebrate.  A local bakery, Mercado Guadalajara, donated Rosca de Reyes for the event, an oval sweetbread, decorated with candied fruit.  Traditionally, hidden inside this delicious Rosca, is a plastic figurine of the Baby Jesus. The Baby is hidden because it symbolizes the need to find a secure place where Jesus could be born. Each person cuts a slice of the Rosca.  The knife symbolizes the danger in which the Baby Jesus was in. One by one the guests carefully inspect their slice, hopping they didn’t get the figurine. Whomever gets the baby figurine shall be the host, and invite everyone present to a new celebration on February 2, Candelaria  or Candle mass day.  NCS’ Rosca did not have a hidden toy, but it sure was delicious!

Mexican Catholics celebrate El Dia de los Reyes every January 6th

Holiday Generosity

Santa at the Moose Lodge is always a hit with Little brothers and sisters

Every year when December comes along, I am so busy finishing up things and starting new ones, that I forget about the generosity of the community during the holidays.  Then, with the quantity of donations that start coming into The Next Door for the families which whom we work, the memories of 21 Decembers comes flooding back to me. 

I’ve been a social worker for 21 years now.  I think it was my first or second year in the field when I was tasked with opening, sorting and re-wrapping presents for kids in residential treatment.  I have vivid memories of sitting in a room alone with hundreds of presents and marvelling at how generous people are for kids they do not know.  This week, I marvel anew.  Here is a list of the toy, gift card and clothing donations that have come to The Next Door this holiday season for children and their families:

• Zumiez Clothing for all NDI programs
• The Moose Lodge in The Dalles for Big Brothers, Big Sisters
• Washington Federal Savings and Loan in The Dalles for Families First
• The Hood River Alliance Church for New Parent Services
• The Hood River Leos for New Parent Services
• Hood River Cinemas for New Parent Services
• Cutie Pie Consignment in Hood River for New Parent Services
• Walgreens in Hood River for Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Nora’s Table in Hood River for Big Brothers Big Sisters
• Calvary Baptist Church in The Dalles for Independent Living Program
• Mid Columbia Medical Center, Chaplain’s Fund for Independent Living Program
• The Dalles Country Club for Independent Living Program
• The Kiwanis Club of The Dalles for Independent Living Program
• Hawks Ridge Assisted Living for all NDI programs

These donations are worth more than $12,000!  Thank you, Hood River and The Dalles, for your incredible giving!

NDI Volunteer of the Year 2011

Don Benton, NDI's Volunteer of the Year for 2011

This December, I had the pleasure for the 6th straight year, to recognize and present a plaque to a special individual who has exemplified volunteerism for The Next Door.

If you missed the Hood River News article on it, here is what I asked them to print:

Don is a remarkable community asset. He is on so many Boards of Directors and is a volunteer for so many agencies and programs that I’ve lost count.  But at The Next Door, we know very well all that he has done and continues to do for us.  Don has been on the Big Brothers Big Sisters Advisory Board for the past three years, helping to guide and fundraise for that program.  He is also a devoted Big Brother for two years to a Little Brother who doesn’t live down the street from him, but in Appleton, WA.  Don shows real dedication to travel so far to spend time with his Little.  Don also supports New Parent Services, another Next Door program, because helping parents care for their children in the best way that they can is a passion of his.  And, Don and his wife, Bonnie, were major donors to The Next Door’s Capital Campaign.  Overall, we don’t know what we’d do without Don and his commitment to our community; he truly makes it a better place to live in.

Thank you, Don Benton, for everything.  We’re so pleased that you are our Volunteer of the Year for 2011!

 

 

Honoring Two Great Employees

We had a wonderful all-staff meeting last Wednesday.  I had been looking forward to it for a long time because I got to honor two very special employees. 

Derryll Dexter I’ve blogged about before.  She has worked at The Next Door for almost 24 years in a variety of positions.  Most recently she was Treatment Services Operations Manager.  As a manager, she wasn’t eligible for the Employee of the Month.  Then, in September, she retired from that position to help supervise our IT Department, which made her eligible for Employee of the Month.  A unanimous vote of managers selected her as Employee of the Month for December.  She couldn’t have been more surprised.

Larry James,  Treatment Services Director, celebrated his 10 year anniversary at The Next Door on July 23rd of this year.  The date came and went and I’m sure he thought we’d all forgotten about his milestone.  It was fun to watch his surprise at the staff meeting when he saw that we could never forget how much his spending ten years at the agency has meant to us.

A great photo shows it all.

Larry James and Derryll Dexter, more than employees, they represent the heart and soul of The Next Door

NALCAB Fellowship Graduate

Last week, I was lucky enough to attend the annual NALCAB (National Association of Latino Community Asset Builders) conference.  This is a great conference that I also attended two years ago.  NALCAB has helped our Nuestra Comunidad Sana (NCS) program to build its economic development and leadership development projects.  In fact, we just received a NALCAB grant to assist some local businesses with their needs.  Gabriel Muro, NCS Health Promoter, has already signed up some businesses for energy audits so they can find ways to cut down their energy consumption and their bills. The conference this year was held in Washington DC, so we got to go to Capitol Hill and tell US Representative Greg Walden what we’re up to.

But the best part of this conference was the fact that my co-worker, Claudia Montaño, graduated from her year-long Fellowship with NALCAB.  Along with eight others from across the nation, Claudia spent the year learning about nonprofit leadership, specifically for community development and asset building organizations.  It was a real pleasure to be there for her graduation.

Claudia Montaño (in red) receiving her NALCAB Fellowship Certificate of Completion

 

 

U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, gave the Keynote Speech at the NALCAB conference

Homemade Billboard

For ten years, The Next Door’s Latino Outreach program had a grant specifically to combat drug and alcohol abuse through prevention.  Basically, that means that we try to stop people (prevent people) from using alcohol and drugs, especially young people.  Even though that grant has ended, many of our programs still work hard on this issue.

We also partner with other groups and this great billboard shows off one of these great partnerships.  The Hood River Commission on Children and Families spearheaded this new billboard in Cascade Locks.  It was designed by local 6th graders involved in Cascade Locks Against Drugs (CLAD) and says “Stay Healthy–Stay Active.”

I think it’s a great example of how to groups can work together to help the community.  Research has shown that just as billboards are effective in convincing people to buy products, they are also effective in getting positive messages across.

Who wouldn't stop to read this small billboard? What a great design and even better message!

What is Bodyworks?

Participants from this Fall's Bodyworks pose on the last day of class

Every year for the past three years, Nuestra Comunidad Sana, a program of The Next Door, has been the lucky recipient of a grant from our Northwest Regional Office of Women’s Health to hold a class called Bodyworks.  This is an evidence-based 10-week curriculum to give parents, caregivers and adolescents (primarily girls) the tools and strategies:

• To improve eating and activity
• To aid adolescents in reaching and maintaining a healthy weight
• To help prevent obesity among adolescents by increasing awareness of healthy habits in the community
• To give parents and caregivers the knowledge, tools, and empowerment to make healthy choices for themselves and their families.

In October, there were 23 people in the class, including 13 girls between the ages of 9-17.  There are a great deal of questions asked of participants before and after the class series to find out if they have changed their views about eating and exercise and what they’ve learned.  An example of a question was whether they thought “eating healthy and regular exercise are important.”  At the beginning of class, 50% of them ‘totally agreed’ with the statement, while 33% ‘agreed’ and 16% ‘totally disagreed’.  By the end of the 10 weeks, 100% ‘totally agreed’ with the statement.

Here are some of the comments people made at the end of class:

“My daughter and I now go shopping together and we read the label before buying.  Never went shopping with my daughter before this class, she would go around the store and I did the shopping, now she is next to me reading the labels…we do not buy white bread any more.  It is wheat and it does taste good.”

“My daughter made a goal to watch less TV after school so she would have more time for homework, and to not watch TV while eating so she would eat better.  She is happy about this goal.”

“I learned that it’s possible to exercise – you don’t have to go outside.”

“My mother and I now cook together.  We pick recipes from the book and try it.”

At the end of the 10 week Bodyworks class, there is a celebration where all participants receive a small gift and share their stories

The comment I liked best was, “The most useful thing about this class was the Mother-Daughter bonding.” If we can help people learn how to be healthier at the same time as helping families become stronger, than that’s the ticket!

Race Cars and Generosity

About a month ago, I got one of those phone calls I love getting.  It was from Jon Davies, a fellow Rotarian and insurance salesman with a local company, Columbia River Insurance.  Jon was calling because he races cars in his off time and wanted to know if we’d be interested in having his team fundraise for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) during their next race.  Well, of course, the answer was an emphatic, “YES” from both myself and Kristin Reese, program manager of BBBS. 

What I love about these kinds of offers is not only that people are so generous to think of us, but also that we get to learn all about things we never would have known about.  In this case, endurance car racing.

Jon’s team is called Team MiataCage and they have a great website with more information about their upcoming race in early December, when they plan to race their two cars for 50 straight hours with only 6 drivers.  Huh?!  Visit their website to learn more about this fascinating sport.

Thanks to Jon and his team for their support–I can’t wait to hear about the race!