Prime Time Newsletter Spring 2012

S P R I N G 2 0 1 2

Safeway steps up

PRIMETIMEGenerous support from Safeway makes a lasting impact for local seniors.Safeway’s marketing theme is “ingredients for life” and the grocery store chain has taken that to the next level by stepping up as the presenting sponsor for Loaves & Fishes Centers’ Spring Luncheon in Portland on May 3.

Safeway has long supported Loaves & Fishes Centers with cash donations from their stores and the Safeway Foundation. In 2008, when gas prices topped $4 a gallon, Safeway donated $10,000 to offset gas prices for our fleet of trucks. And over the past two years, the grocer has donated 68,000 containers of yogurt, allowing us to substitute yogurt for our regularly-scheduled dessert on 20 different days.

“The yogurt donation has saved us thousands of dollars,” said Food Service Director Tom Maier. “We’ve been able to use the six-ounce yogurts in place of our regular dessert at least once a month. It not only saves on food costs, but labor as well. And our seniors have really appreciated

Compassion for SeniorsLarry Smith recognized with

annual award. See pages 4 & 5.

receiving a fresh product they might not otherwise have.”

When Safeway agreed to become the presenting sponsor for the Spring Luncheon, they didn’t just

Continued on page 2

Maestro Recieves MealsConductor and his wife turn to

Loaves & Fishes Centers. See page 11.

Centers RemodeledThree Washington County centers

get a face-lift. See pages 6 & 7.

Page 2 FeedSeniors.org

hand over a check. A team of employees spent a day volunteering at the Elm Court Center in downtown Portland and Safeway employees will be on duty in their signature aprons on the day of the Luncheon at the Convention Center.

“We are proud to be the presenting sponsor of Loaves & Fishes Centers Spring Luncheon,” said Dan Floyd, Director of Public Affairs and Government Relations for Safeway. “Providing hunger

Safeway steps upContinued from page 1 relief is a priority for Safeway and

the Safeway Foundation. Partnering with Loaves & Fishes Centers gives us an excellent opportunity to promote hunger relief and the spirit of volunteerism.”

The Spring Luncheon is Loaves & Fishes Centers’ largest fundraising event of the year and is expected to raise nearly $500,000. If you would like to sponsor a table or are just interested in attending, please contact Marcie Kessel at [email protected] or phone 503.953.8114.

Type twitter.com/ LoavesFishesPDX

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and on our website,www.FeedSeniors.org

Safeway employees from the downtown store volunteered recently at the Elm Court Loaves & Fishes Center.

FeedSeniors.org Page 3

Best Tables in TownEnjoy a special dinner for six as part of our Best Tables in Town promotion. It’s a unique way to help feed seniors in your community. For details on how you can participate, contact Tearesa Hasselman at [email protected] or call 503.953.8132.

Restaurants that have hosted some of the Best Tables in Town include:

Andina

Caffe Mingo

Ciao Vito

Fratelli Ristorante

Gray’s at the Park

Higgins

Lauro Kitchen

Le Pigeon

Nel Centro

Paley’s Place

Pazzo Ristorante

Portland City Grill

Red Star Tavern & Roast House

Veritable Quandary

Vindalho

Wilf ’s

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Larry Smith receives Compassion for Seniors Award at Clark County Spring LuncheonLoaves & Fishes Centers presented its Compassion for Seniors Award to Larry Smith for his deep commitment to seniors in our community.Vancouver City Councilor Larry Smith has lived in Clark County for more than 20 years. But his email address “Vancouver Tiger” harkens back to his college days at Clemson University in South Carolina. If you listen closely, you can still hear the soft lilt of his southern roots when he talks about delivering Meals-On-Wheels. A strong advocate for seniors, Larry was the recipient of the Compassion for Seniors Award at the Clark County Spring Luncheon on April 12.

Larry spent more than 26 years as an Army officer and ended up serving his last two-year assignment in Vancouver. When he retired in 1991, he and his wife, Patti, had every intention of moving back to the East Coast, but their 10-year-old daughter convinced them to stay in Vancouver where she had made friends. Larry immediately applied his experience as a military officer to city governance and spent five years as the assistant city manager for Vancouver and another seven years as the director of Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation Department. That’s when he learned about the need for senior nutrition programs.

“In those days, Vancouver-Clark Parks oversaw SNAP (Senior Nutrition Assistance Program),” Larry said. “Gladys Shelton ran the program out of the Luepke Center and it was pretty self-sufficient.”

Two local ballot initiatives — one in 1999 and another in 2001 — greatly reduced the level of public revenue designated for SNAP and the program limped along for several years. Larry resigned his job to run for City Council in 2003, where he has served for nearly 10 years. During that time, Vancouver-Clark Parks sought proposals from other senior nutrition programs to take over SNAP, and Loaves & Fishes Centers assumed operation of the program in 2006.

“I participated in the City’s SNAP program at the Luepke Center serving meals as well as delivered Meals-On-Wheels and was invited to attend the Loaves & Fishes Centers Spring Luncheon in 2007,” Larry said. “I thought it was a great event and wondered if we could launch a similar luncheon in Clark County. Connie Jones and Steve Rosvold (Loaves & Fishes Centers Board members) pulled together a committee and we had our first Clark County Luncheon in 2008.”

Larry has been a driving force

behind the Spring Luncheon in Clark County, which has raised close to $500,000 in four years. “I believe we have an obligation to care for our seniors,” Larry said. “It demonstrates the character of a community. Some of the seniors I met at the Luepke Center when I first worked at Vancouver-Clark Parks are still coming in every week for lunch and the dances. Many of them have outlived their friends and Loaves & Fishes Centers not only provides them with a nutritious

Continued on page 5


From the Executive DirectorSeniors are struggling more than ever to meet their basic nutritional needs. Every year Loaves & Fishes Centers receives more than 2,000 requests for Meals-On-Wheels, mostly because of a senior’s inability to care for herself or because of a physical or emotional condition. This year our most significant growth is in our dining rooms. More than 16,000 more meals have been served in our centers in the first eight months of this year compared to last year. Strain on personal budgets is a key factor for the increase.

Alice, a senior attending one of our meal sites in Multnomah County, told me about her family life growing up during the Depression. She talked about the food that her mother was able to gather and about the meals that left her hungry. She said she never dreamed that she would ever

face the same worry as an older adult. Alice volunteers daily at a Loaves & Fishes Center helping to serve others who also worry about their next meal. She said “Loaves & Fishes has not only nourished me physically, but has lifted my soul. Every day I leave the center feeling satisfied in every way.”

Loaves & Fishes Centers is committed to the vision that no senior will go hungry or experience social isolation. Alice is one of our success stories. With shrinking government funds, the challenge of accomplishing our vision requires more planning and creativity along with more community support and involvement.

April is National Volunteer Appreciation Month and we take time to acknowledge the efforts for our more than 9,500 volunteers who contributed 360,861 hours

during the last year. Our volunteers provide leadership on our board and committees, deliver 650,000 meals and serve 400,000 in our dining rooms. We live in a caring community with individuals that actively seek solutions for today’s social challenges. It is the only way that Loaves & Fishes Centers has been able to continually serve all who come to our program requesting a meal.

Use Volved as your default search engine and Loaves & Fishes Centers earns money. Volved takes your search term, goes to Google to do the search and then brings back the search results Google has produced. Google pays Volved a small amount when Google makes money on your searches. Volved acts as an agent: it collects the money and distributes it to the various causes based on the number of active members for

Get Volvedeach cause. Other sites keep 50 percent or more of the money. Volved delivers more than 90 percent of the money it generates to each cause. It’s simple to use. Just go to www.volved.org, register as a user and select Loaves & Fishes Centers as your cause. Surf the net and earn money to feed seniors!

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meal, but social interaction. It’s what keeps them healthy and vital.”

Larry believes in leading by example. “If you ask people to volunteer or to donate, you need to lead the effort. I couldn’t spearhead the Luncheon if I wasn’t already involved. And the Luncheon would not succeed without the support of dedicated volunteers who are the backbone of our community.”

Congratulations to Larry Smith for receiving the 2012 Compassion for Seniors Award!


Three centers in Washington County get much-needed upgrades to better serve today's seniors.In the early 1980s cities in Washington County utilized Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) to construct senior centers. In those early years of Loaves & Fishes Centers, we partnered with the cities to incorporate senior nutrition into the planning. These centers have served their communities well and have aged in place along with the seniors.

In the last few years Community Development Block Grants again have provided needed support to upgrade outdated, inaccessible buildings that do not meet the needs of today’s more fitness- and technology-minded senior. A new cohort of older adults has begun to take advantage of center programs featuring recreation, education, wellness and café-like dining.

Three years ago the City of Tigard received a grant to expand the Tigard Senior Center with a garden room and upper deck, a cozy library with a fireplace and a complete kitchen and dining makeover. The number of seniors dining at Tigard Loaves & Fishes jumped by 17 percent in the first year after the remodel. Other programing at the center has expanded to include exercise and continuing education classes.

Remodeled centers meet changing needs

Three other Washington County Loaves & Fishes Centers underwent significant improvements last summer with the help of CDBG funding. The Juanita Pohl Center in Tualatin expanded the dining room, added power-assist front doors, energy-efficient heating and ventilation, bicycle parking and an extension of the Tualatin River Greenway. The Marjorie Stewart Senior Center in Sherwood received funds for significant infrastructure improvements that included an interior facelift along with parking and accessibility improvements.

The biggest remodel took place at the North Plains Center. In the first of a three-phase project, the North Plains Center gained offices, new flooring, new restrooms, windows and a remodeled front porch and façade.

“The remodeled center gives the seniors a real sense of pride in their

senior center,” said North Plains Center Manager Margaret Wold. “We’ve seen a definite increase in the number of senior diners since we reopened, including younger seniors and seniors from out of the area. Once they visit, they come back!”

Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation District is continually remodeling the Elsie Stuhr Center in Beaverton, home to the Beaverton Loaves & Fishes Center, to keep up with the number of older adults participating in meals, exercise, dining, classes, tours, ballroom dancing and more. The Parks District planning has focused on offering opportunities for a healthy, active lifestyle for retiring boomers.

Loaves & Fishes Centers values these community partnerships that provide connections to senior nutrition and socialization.

New entrance of the North Plains Senior Center.


Love your lunch hour.

Deliver Meals-On-Wheels and make the difference in the life of a homebound senior.

It takes just 90 minutes.

FeedSeniors.org

Small change makes a big difference

It’s Milk Carton Coin Bank time! Check out an Alpenrose Milk Carton Coin Bank from your local Loaves & Fishes Center, fill it up with spare change and return. It’s a great way to get your book club, service organization, classroom or church group to help out. Hand out banks to everyone you know. Just be sure to return them to your neighborhood Loaves & Fishes Center by May 31. Each filled coin bank usually provides an entire week of meals!

Need to know the nearest center? Check out our 36 locations at www.feedseniors.org.


Joe Van Buren is at the Ambleside Loaves & Fishes Center in Gresham every day. If he’s not serving the daily soup, he’s helping to pack Meals-On-Wheels coolers or set tables or pour coffee. He’s the one who makes minor equipment repairs, delivers meals in a pinch and knows the name of almost everyone who comes into the center. He’ll talk your ear off if you let him, but there’s no one with a bigger heart. It just wouldn’t be the Ambleside Center without Joe.

It was the winter of 1975 when Joe was first tapped to volunteer. “I worked for the fire department and had a big truck in those days,” Joe said. “A friend called me up when we had a big snow and asked if I could help deliver Meals-On-Wheels. ‘Sure!’ I said and that’s how it started.”

Joe volunteered to deliver meals during inclement weather for the next 10 years until he retired. He spent 33 years with the fire department, first with District 10 and then with the City of Portland, as a fire apparatus superintendent. A widower since his late 30s, Joe was looking for a place to direct his energy in retirement and the Ambleside Center was a good fit. Community service is second nature to Joe, clearly demonstrated by his parents when he was growing up.

April is National Volunteer Appreciation Month: Hometown boy gives back

“My mom was a registered nurse and often traveled out to the berry fields in Gresham to provide basic health care to migrant workers in the 1940s,” he said. “During World War II, my dad opened up the outbuilding on our property so that our Japanese neighbors, who were sent to internment camps, could store their belongings. Their stuff was all there when they came back. My parents inspired both my brother and me to do good works.”

The Sunshine Division and St. Vincent de Paul have also benefitted from Joe’s philanthropy. But the seniors at the Ambleside Loaves & Fishes Center are what pull his heart strings. “You need to help

people,” Joe said. “I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor, so I can relate to everyone who comes in here. It seems like they need my help and there’s always someone to talk to and some task that needs doing. It’s become my second family.”

Joe, who is 80, has enough energy to be an inspiration to volunteers half his age. He was an avid rollerblader until just a few years ago. “I thought if I fell down at my age, I’d probably break something!” he said with a laugh. He’s quick to tell a story or a joke and gathers a large number of friends for coffee every morning at the center before going to work.

A devotee of classic cars and Continued on page 9


Devereaux Dion has joined Loaves & Fishes Center as Chief Development Officer. Dev is a development and marketing professional with more than 30 years of experience working with corporations and not-for-profit organizations to develop and implement marketing, business and development strategies. Dev holds a B.B.A. and an M.B.A. from the University of Massachusetts.

Prior to joining Loaves & Fishes Centers, Dev served as gift planning manager with Community Home Health & Hospice in Southwest Washington where he was responsible for planned giving and major gifts. Dev has also been a consultant for major companies worldwide and co-owner of the consulting firm Mantis, Inc.

Dev was President of the Rotary Club of Portland during its

Dev Dion joins development staff

Centennial year in 2009 – 2010. As a Portland Rotary member he served on the Club and Trust Boards. Dev’s volunteer work with Loaves & Fishes Centers began in 2006 delivering meals in downtown Portland. He has been active in the Donate Dinner fundraiser for several years, chairing the committee in 2007. For the past two years Dev has been a member of the Board of Directors and chair of the Enterprise Committee.

Define Your Legacy

Start planning your future. By making an estate plan today, you define your legacy for tomorrow. Whether you need to make a new plan or update an old one, Loaves & Fishes Centers can help. And, in the process we hope that you remember Loaves & Fishes Centers and our commitment to providing hot nutritious meals to seniors in our community.

If Loaves & Fishes Centers is already in your will, please let us know so that we can welcome you into The Jean Wade Society, a special group of individuals that has remembered Loaves & Fishes Centers in their estate plans.

To learn more about our estate planning services, get a free estate planning guide, or to update us on your plans, contact Dev Dion at 503.953.8133 or [email protected].

motorbikes, Joe has quite a collection of vehicles stored in the garage of the home where he has lived for more than 50 years, just blocks away from his childhood home. The jewel is a 1955 Hudson Metropolitan, a stumpy little car manufactured between 1954 and 1962 and hugely popular among collectors. But Gresham residents will recognize Joe for the sporty

motorcycle he drives around town in the summer months.

“Joe is one of the great ones,” said Ambleside Center Manager Carolyn Williams. “He has a great energy that keeps everyone else going. He can fix just about anything and is always willing to lend a hand. He is a large part of the foundation that makes Ambleside what it is!”

Thank you, Joe, for your long-term service to seniors in Gresham!

Continued from page 8

Hometown boy gives back


Valentine-A-Gram, an annual holiday event that allows people to send a Cinnabon gift box to their special someone on Valentine’s Day, raised $112,000 this year to provide hot meals to homebound seniors. Over the past 17 years, this event has brought in more than $975,000.

Valentine-A-Grams were delivered to 3,400 individuals and businesses throughout the Portland-Vancouver area on Feb. 14, 2012. All of the products for the gift boxes were donated so that 100 percent of the money raised goes to support the Meals-On-Wheels program. Hundreds of people who volunteer to deliver Valentine-A-Grams make the event possible each year.

Cinnabon and Jamba Juice owner Steve Foltz, who coordinates the event, said his support of the Valentine-A-Gram fundraiser has become a tradition that illustrates the importance of corporate giving. “All our Cinnabon and Jamba Juice employees feel very proud of the opportunity to support an organization as deserving as Loaves & Fishes Centers,” Foltz said.

This year’s event had a new twist — celebrity drivers. Valentine-A-Gram purchasers had the opportunity to bid for a local celebrity to deliver their gift box. Celebrities included Dave Dahl, Dave’s Killer Bread; Drew Carney, KGW News Channel 8; Kurt and Rob Widmer, Widmer Brothers Brewing; Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt; The Rose City

Valentine-A-Gram raises nearly $1 million

Rollers, and Bill Schonley and the Blazer Dancers.

Sponsors for this year’s event included Cinnabon, Jamba Juice, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Sun Orchard

Premium Juices, Food Services of America, Stevens Printing, Sharing Spree, Shari’s Café & Pie, Old Spaghetti Factory, Kaady Kar Wash, Cinetopia, Northwest Natural and Kellogg’s.

Take your mom out for brunch at MacTarnahan’s Taproom on Mother’s Day and help feed seniors at the same time! MacTarnahan’s Taproom will donate half the proceeds from its special Mother’s Day Brunch (between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.) on Sunday, May 13, to Loaves & Fishes Centers. Enjoy a fantastic brunch buffet for $16 or the special a la carte options. Flowers and free pint glasses for all Moms. MacTarnahan’s Taproom is located

Celebrate Mom‘s Day with Mac‘s and help feed seniors

just a few miles from downtown Portland in the industrial Northwest area where there is plenty of parking. Reservations are recommended. Call 503.228.5269 or visit www.macsbeer.com.

Cinnabon employees converged on Loaves & Fishes Centers Central Kitchen on February 13 to bake and frost thousands of Cinnabons for Valentine-A-Gram.


Meals-On-Wheels help seniors in a variety of situations. For some, the meals help out during recovery from surgery, for some it’s their only access to nutritious food, and for others they are part of end-of-life care. And for still others, the meals come after an accident makes cooking impossible. That was the case for Edith and Stefan Minde. While working on a yard project last summer, Edith stepped on a nail and punctured her foot.

“I was completely off my feet and Stefan’s ability to cook is close to zero,” Edith said. “He served potatoes one night for dinner and they were black on the outside and raw in the middle — that did it. I called my neighborhood Loaves & Fishes Center the next day and when the center manager heard my tale, she laughed and said they could help us out.” The first meal was delivered the next day.

Not long after the Mindes began receiving meals, an electrical shortage burned down the kitchen. “Thank heavens for Meals-On-Wheels,” Edith said. “With my injury and a burned-out kitchen, I don’t know what we would have done for meals.”

Edith and Stefan met in Germany when they were 18. Edith and her family were refugees from the former Czechoslovakia and Stefan had fled his native Leipzig in East Germany after the rebellion against the communist regime had

Maestro and wife receive meals

failed. A graduate of the renowned Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, Stefan began his career at the Opera at Frankfurt am Main and continued in Wiesbaden and Trier/Moselle. A six-week engagement as guest conductor at the Berkshire Festival in Tanglewood, Mass. in 1968 led to an engagement at the San Francisco Opera and then an offer to serve as general director and conductor for the Portland Opera. He left the Opera in 1984 and traveled throughout the world as a guest conductor. Maestro Minde founded the Sinfonia Concertante Orchestra, a professional chamber orchestra, in 1990.

A talented musician in her own right, Edith studied at the Musikhochschule in Nuremburg,

Germany, and is the founder and conductor of Der Liederkreis of Portland, a small choir that performs songs in German. Their next concert is set for April 27 at the First Congregational Church in Portland.

“Meals-On-Wheels help us so very much,” Edith said. “Between us we have so many doctors’ appointments and my everyday cooking is not so great — and close to impossible with the kitchen still out of commission. And we have not only food, we have friends! Everyone who comes to the house stops for a short little conversation. We call them our five-minute friends.

“Meals-On-Wheels are so much more than food — and we are so very grateful for the program.”

Edith and Stefan Minde, well-known musicians and conductors, receive Meals-On-Wheels at their home in Southeast Portland.

Cinnabon employees converged on Loaves & Fishes Centers Central Kitchen on February 13 to bake and frost thousands of Cinnabons for Valentine-A-Gram.

NON PROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDPORTLAND OR

PERMIT NO. 1087P.O Box 19477Portland, OR 97280-0477

Tel: 503.953.8136 www.FeedSeniors.org Julie Piper Finley, ABC, editor [email protected]

Reserve your seat at our table. Find out how Meals-On-Wheels is making a difference in our community.

Thursday, May 3, 2012 Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE MLK, Jr. Blvd.

Spring LuncheonThis is a non-ticketed fundraising event. A donation appeal will be made during the luncheon. For reservations call 503.953.8114. Sponsored tables are available for $1,500 and above. FeedSeniors.org

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Prime Time Newsletter Spring 2012