PORTLAND, Ore. — We have started offering up a new segment each week during The Story called "Hey Help" – a chance to highlight nonprofits doing crucial work in Oregon and SW Washington.
Each week, we will present a new organization he'd like to highlight and asks you to consider a small donation to the group.
We will share the causes within this article every week. If you know of a cause that could benefit, please reach out to TheStory@KGW.com.
If you are not able to give but want to support the effort, please consider sharing this link with others who may feel encouraged to donate. Thank you all for your consideration and generosity!
The Salem Angels work with children and families in the foster care system to help create community and give families support when they need it most. Their volunteers create monthly "Love Boxes" with items like books, toys or snacks for kids, and gift cards or household items for parents.
Minds Matter Portland works with small groups of highly-motivated high school sophomores, juniors and seniors who have the desire to attend four-year schools but lack the funding. Mentors work with students every week throughout the school year, helping them prepare for the SATs, improve their writing skills and complete financial aid paperwork.
Each summer, students are sent to summer college programs throughout the country to help them get a taste of the college experience. The programs cost about $5,000 per student, and your donation goes directly to funding those programs.
The ARCHES Project is part of the Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency, which helps homeless individuals in Salem. During a historic heat wave this summer, their goal is to spread information about cooling centers and resources while also handing out Gatorade, water and other supplies to people living on the street.
Most public playgrounds aren't designed for everybody. Harper's Playground is a Portland-based organization that builds playgrounds that are accessible to people of all abilities. They create spaces that are physically, socially and emotionally inviting for kids of all abilities to enjoy.
NAYA is a family of numerous tribes and voices who are rooted in sustaining tradition and building cultural wealth. They provide culturally-specific programs and services that guide people in the direction of personal success and balance through cultural empowerment.
Our Giving Table is a Portland nonprofit that makes sure foster kids and other underserved children have meals to eat, especially during the summer months when kids aren't getting lunch or breakfast at school.
Because People Matter's main event is called Night Strike, which takes place weekly Thursday nights under the Burnside Bridge. Because People Matter - Night Strike also takes donations of food, clothing, and toiletries.
Community care fairs are a priority for Saints Love, creating a one-stop-shop of resources and supplies for the houseless population in the city. Kristle Delihanty, featured in KGW's documentary "One Day," focuses on mentorships and connecting homeless people with housing, jobs or volunteer/work positions. The organization, founded in 2017, says its team is filled with individuals who have experienced “homelessness, addiction, trauma and resource scarcity.”
PFLAG Southwest Washington is a chapter of PFLAG National, the oldest LGBTQ+ advocacy group in the nation. PFLAG works to advance support of LGBTQ+ people through support, education, and advocacy. Its mission is to build on a foundation of loving families united with LGBTQ people and allies who support one another, and to educate ourselves and our communities to speak up as advocates until all hearts and minds respect, value and affirm LGBTQ people.
Community Warehouse is like a food bank for furniture. Its mission is to connect essential furnishings to neighbors in need through unique community partnerships, creating stronger home foundations and brighter futures for all.
HOLLA was founded in 2013 to empower students of color in Portland with mentors of color and culturally responsive relationships. Their programs provide representation, equity and a wide range of supports for mentees and their families. Beneficiaries are connected to educational supports, mental health, athletics, food, clothing, housing and more.
Outsiders Inn is a nonprofit based in Vancouver, Wash. that helps run one of the city's new Safe Stay Communities. The organized villages help people experiencing homelessness to get off the streets and into stability. Outsiders Inn also offers outreach, meals and resources to help lift people out of homelessness.
Over the last 20 years, Native Action Network has ensured that Native women of all ages are equipped as leaders. They provide mentorship and access to networks and resources so they are empowered to make the decisive impact that they want to see in their Native communities.
The Free Clinic of Southwest Washington provides free basic health and dental care to uninsured patients and underserved communities in the region. One of their big goals is to keep people out of emergency rooms, which is where people without health insurance often go for care. The clinic relies completely on donations and grants.
Cultivate Initiatives started as a community engagement group in East Portland's Mill Park neighborhood in 2018 when a shelter for homeless veterans opened in the area. The group quickly grew, eventually opening up their own warming shelter supported by the county, and now runs workforce development programs for homeless individuals, as well as community health clinics. Soon, they'll help run one of Portland's Safe Rest Villages at the Menlo Park and Ride at SE 122nd Avenue and E Burnside.
Forest Grove Foundation aims to distribute food, clothing and life-saving supplies across Forest Grove and the surrounding areas including rural areas in Western Washington County. They also do on-the-ground outreach with homeless individuals on streets and inside encampments.
Since 1897, the Humane Society for SW Washington has cared for animals of Southwest Washington and surrounding areas. By working in collaboration with local veterinarians and animal rescue groups, the Humane Society and its partners in animal welfare look forward to a future where all companion animals will live in a loving home.
Through the work of our committed staff and volunteers, HSSW offers a variety of programs including pet adoptions, community education, pet behavior advice, spay/neuter assistance, low-cost programs for qualifying families and much more.
In the past year, Brown Hope has organized to ensure that communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and systemic racism have the opportunity for a more resilient future. They have responded to urgent community needs and served 4,000 Black, Brown, and Indigenous Portlanders through mutual aid, direct assistance, peer support, advocacy, and more. Our wild dream is that the seeds we plant will flourish into the fruits of justice, healing, and love– for every person, every community, and the entire world.
Clubhouses create a safe space where members living with mental health issues can step out of the shadows of social isolation and into the light of a healing community. Through meaningful relationships and volunteer work, our members have real opportunities to reintegrate into society by becoming gainfully employed, pursuing education, and being part of a supportive community.
Someone vandalized several restrooms at Coldwater Lake Recreation Area picnic site on Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument in October (see the press release here). Three toilets and one urinal were completely smashed. Sink fixtures and plumbing were also damaged. Your donation helps fund programs, services, and resources designed to enhance visitor experiences at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
The Story viewers helped raise more than $2,000 to help rebuild the bathroom at Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument!
Urban Gleaners distributes thousands of pounds of free food directly to kids and their families year-round. We provide local schools with onsite deliveries of fresh produce, dairy products, whole-grain breads, ready-to-eat meals, and treats, because all children deserve wholesome nutrition and some fun food to brighten their days. The food we deliver is healthy, nutrient rich, and fundamental to a growing child’s health and wellness.
The Story viewers helped raise $1,523.46 for Urban Gleaners!
POIC + RAHS provides culturally-specific workforce training and career placement services, manages five campuses of an accredited alternative high school and middle school, and offers a variety of community services from mentoring to parenting classes to gang outreach and violence reduction.
The Story viewers helped raise more than $300 for POIC!
Rahab’s Sisters creates community through radical hospitality with those marginalized by poverty, houselessness, sex work, violence and substance use. Our doors are open to anyone who identifies as a woman or gender nonconforming. Rahab’s Sisters offers stability, connection and acceptance to all who come.
The Story viewers helped raise more than $300 for Rahab's Sisters!
Native women are murdered at rates 10 times the national average, and some cases go completely unreported. Oregon-based MMIW USA works to spread the word on social media about missing and murdered indigenous women, while also offering support and guidance to their families.
Founded in 1999, Street Roots is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization in Portland, Oregon, that publishes a weekly social justice newspaper sold by people experiencing homelessness and poverty to earn an income. Each week, about 200 Street Roots vendors purchase copies of the newspaper for 25 cents each, then sell them on the streets of Portland for $1, keeping the profits. More than 800 vendors sell the newspaper during the course of a year.
The Story viewers helped raise $3,000 for Street Roots!
Girls Inc. PNW serves youth ages 6-18 across Portland, Seattle and SW Washington. Their research-based programming is delivered by trained professionals who focus on holistic youth development, supporting, mentoring, and guiding participants in an affirming, pro-girl environment. Here, youth learn to value their whole selves, discover and develop their inherent strengths, and receive the support they need to navigate the challenges they face.
The Story viewers helped raise $900 for Girls Inc!
With Love connects foster families in the Portland area with resources and donations like car seats, diapers, school supplies, clothing and more. Allie Roth founded the nonprofit from her home in 2013 after discovering one of her students had been moving between foster homes. With Love now provides 120 Portland foster families with resources each month.
The Story viewers helped raise $2,000 for With Love Oregon, along with plenty of clothing and material donations!
The Portland Fruit Tree Project has been harvesting donated fruit to vulnerable communities for the past 15 years and the non-profit is looking for donations and volunteers to help.
Milk Crate Kitchen supplies Portland area families in need with free meals. Michael Casper started the organization in April 2020 after being laid off from his job during the pandemic. He used his experience as a chef to help give families "a night of not having to cook." Milk Crate Kitchen started off feeding just a few families, but has now supplied almost 800 meals. Each meal feeds four people and costs less than $9 to make.
The Story viewers helped raise nearly $10,000 for Milk Crate Kitchen!
The Belmont Goats is a Portland non-profit formed in 2014 when the herd still lived in a partially residential pocket of Southeast Portland. The Belmont Goats provides urban public access to domestic goats within Portland and/or its surroundings. The 14 goats now live in University Park in North Portland, and have recently reopened to the public after a 17-month hiatus due to the pandemic. They're specifically raising funds to pay for the surgery of 7-year-old Atho, who underwent surgery for kidney stones at Oregon State University.
The Story viewers helped raise $1,857 for the Belmont Goats!
Mudbone Grown is a black-owned farm enterprise that promotes inter-generational community-based farming that creates measurable and sustainable environmental, social, cultural, and economic impacts in communities. MudBone Grown's work helps to develop and implement workplace-based educational experiences to help teens, young adults, and low-income communities develop marketable careers, education skills that help build and sustain community capacity and place them in local jobs. By doing this we can succeed in our five-year goal to enhance food security, reduce energy use, improve community health and well-being, and stabilize our communities.
The mission of Northwest Association for Blind Athletes (NWABA) is to provide life-changing opportunities through sports and physical activity to individuals who are blind and visually impaired. A group of students who were visually impaired formed the association in 2007 to ensure that people who are blind were participating in sports and physical activity. Today, NWABA is a rapidly expanding 501(c)(3) charitable organization that provides more than 1,900 children, youth, adults and military veterans with visual impairments tailored programming which improves self-confidence and self-esteem, promotes independence, creates an inclusive community of supporters, and builds the skills necessary to succeed in all areas of life including school and employment.
The Story viewers helped raise $157 for NWABA!
We need trees more than ever. Trees cool our planet, fight climate change, clean our air and water, provide habitat, and help make us healthy. And when planted the Friends of Trees way, with thousands of volunteers, trees grow community. Since 1989 Friends of Trees has planted 870,000+ trees and native shrubs in neighborhoods and natural areas; in a typical season 5,000+ volunteers help plant more than 40,000 trees and native shrubs in events that take place in six counties across two states. Our partnerships with schools help connect youth to the environment through hands-on field work and environmental education; community partnerships provide at-risk high school students and adults from underserved communities with paid internships that promote environmental education, leadership skill-building and workforce training.
The Story viewers helped raise $1,700 for Friends of Trees!
Blanchet House of Hospitality in downtown Portland is a refuge for people struggling to survive on the margins of our city. They offer homecooked meals, clothing, hygiene supplies, sack lunches, and life-saving shelter programs daily. They've been serving the poor for nearly 70 years. During this dangerous heatwave, Blanchet House is a hub for drinking water. They are helping to bring relief to people unable to escape the dangerous heat by handing out water and cold drinks, reusable water bottles, and ice. Volunteers will refill containers brought to their doors for humans and their pets. A donation to Blanchet House will support its critical services to people struggling to survive on the margins of our city with nowhere else to go.
RELATED: ‘Having hope is something I chose every day’: Portland man who was once homeless now helping others
One Tail at a Time is a all-breed, no-kill, foster-based companion animal rescue based in Portland. Their mission is to improve the lives of companion animals by providing humane, individualized care and a chance to know the comforts of a loving home through advocacy, education, and support of those in need.
In an effort to interrupt intergenerational cycles of criminal justice involvement in families, the Family Preservation Project addresses the distinct needs of children of incarcerated parents, incarcerated mothers, and families/caregivers. FPP provides regular and meaningful visits between mothers and children, caregiver and family support, hands-on mentoring, and works to help minimize post-incarceration barriers to thriving families and successful communities.
Research has shown that strong relationships between incarcerated mothers and their children and family are among the strongest predictors of success post-incarceration. SB 720 creates FPP in statute, requires regular evaluation and provides funding through 2029.
The Story viewers helped raise $1,886 for YWCA!
Santiam Service Integration Disaster Management provides critical support to survivors since the 2020 wildfires. Their team has been providing valuable services to the canyon communities for nearly five years. Within the last 9 months, they have refined their operations and have been crucial in getting households into long-term housing solutions and connected to local, state, and federal resources. They are the leaders in the Canyon providing disaster case management. Additionally, they have been a refuge for those traumatized by the wildfires and have helped survivors gain access to mental health and other available supports. Up to this point Santiam Hospital has been funding the majority of the recovery effort provided by Santiam Service Integration Disaster Management Team.
The Story viewers helped raise $5,071.15 for SIT!
Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metro (BGCP) plays a vital role in our community, empowering more than 6,400 youth each year to discover their full potential through impactful after-school and summer programs. Clubs are designed to support kids and teens as they develop the qualities, they need to achieve academic success, become responsible leaders, and live healthy lives. Today, the Clubs operate nine facilities located throughout the metropolitan area, including school-based programs in the North Clackamas School District. BGCP meets the critical needs of our diverse members by providing everyday necessities such as healthy meals and snacks, academic support, counseling services, field trips and employment opportunities. Clubs open doors of opportunity for young people to achieve their great future.
The Story viewers helped raise $680 for Boys & Girls Club!
We all deserve safety, stability, and well-being. Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare is ensuring access to whole health care -- integrated mental health and addictions services, primary care, and housing -- for our most vulnerable community members who are facing significant adversities. For more than 40 years, Cascadia has been the community health and housing safety net provider for Oregonians of all ages experiencing mental health and addiction challenges, trauma, poverty, and homelessness.
The Story viewers helped raise for $3,639 Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare!
Founded in 1969, SOLVE’s mission is to bring Oregonians together to improve our environment and build a legacy of stewardship. SOLVE restores and preserves Oregon’s environment by mobilizing the power of volunteers and partners with the generosity of donors. Across the state, SOLVE brings diverse communities together to improve the health and safety of our neighborhoods and natural areas including our coast, rivers, parks, and forests.
The Story viewers helped raise for $5,344.60 SOLVE!
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