iabruary ML 2000 * J u t a a it^ i
Continued from Page 19
“Early on it was really difficult to deal with
so many people dying so quickly,” Bean admits.
When he started volunteering five years
ago, residents rarely lived more than a month.
"That was tough,” he says. But he kept
showing up to do “what needed to be done in
that moment.”
“It is a sobering thought how really fragile
life is,” Bean says, adding that volunteering
helps to keep his life in perspective.
“Everybody needs to, in some way or fash
ion, find some way to give back somewhere,”
he says. “Even if it is just being nice to the peo
ple next door.”
bureau’s diversity training on sexual minority
issues. And once a week Costa travels to rural
Yamhill County to deliver frozen meals to peo
ple living with HIV and AIDS.
Costa thinks one way to build a more uni
fied community is to have people in different
groups talk with each other. Working with so
many organizations over the years, Costa does
see the community changing.
“It’s exhilarating,” Costa says. “I actually see
change and see people actually collaborating
and getting along. It makes you feel good!”
IP
H am bleton P roject
P ride N orthwest
Organizes community forums and Portland’s
annual pride events.
Needs “ anyone who can help, we’ll find you
a job.”
Contact: (503) 295-9788,
www.gaypdx.com/pride
Offers networking and direct services to les
bians with cancer.
Needs direct service providers (lawn mowing,
housecleaning and more).
Contact: (503) 642-1007
Portland Women’s
Crisis Line
24-hour hot line offering support for women,
advocacy, transportation, support groups,
community education, a senior citizen cri
sis response team and a new support group
for gay and bi men abused by their part
ners.
Needs hot line counselors, safe home
providers, speakers bureau members and
more.
Contact: (503) 235-5333, 1-888-235-5333
L esbian G a y B i T rans
F il m F e st iv a l
Hosts annual film festival.
Needs volunteers for festival, corporate spon
sors, office space.
Contact: (503) 242-0818,
www.sensoryperceptions.org,
www.pdxgayfilm.com
I
G a y M e n ’ s
H ea lth N etwork
M aura King
i
g ^ |P o r three months of the year it
I
-could be a full-time job,” Maura
i King says about her volunteer
efforts helping produce the LG BT
Film Festival.
But she wouldn’t have it any other
way at this point.
“1 really believe in the event,” King
says adamantly. “It’s so satisfying to do
something and have it actually culmi
nate in something you can see.”
King does it all. She screens films,
orchestrates parties, recruits and works
with volunteers, writes press releases
and even drives around putting up fly
ers. She believes the film festival is
vital to life in Portland.
“There are very few opportunities
in the community for people to gather at an
event that isn’t in a bar," King explains.
f
H IV prevention and education programs and
events.
Needs helpers for Safe Sex Carnival in May.
Contact: (503) 203-8453
C itizens F oot P atrol
Police-trained and supported volunteers
patrolling targeted areas in downtown
Portland to report crimes and promote
safe streets.
Needs volunteers to join groups of six on the
beat once a month.
Contact: (503) 295-9785
Norm Costa
Becky Kennedy
fter Norm Costa retired, he decided it was
time to give back and get involved. And
he did. Today his resume of volunteer work
fills two pages.
“Our queer community is divided,” Costa
says, referring to the fragmentation of the com
munity into special interest groups. He wants
to help change that.
Costa is an organizer of the Gay Men’s
Health Network, recruits volunteers for the
Citizens Foot Patrol and is the outreach coordi-
ere’s the perfect example of someone who
had something to give and wanted to vol
unteer but didn’t know what to do.
“It was my time to give back and to do
something,” Kennedy says about a period when
she didn’t do volunteer work.
But she couldn’t find a project that interest
ed her or one for which she was qualified. Even
tually an invita
tion came to join
"Cancer is not a
the Hambleton
Project,
and
death sentence!
Kennedy realized
It is something you
being qualified
wasn’t an issue.
can survive and live
“ People are
willing to help
with and deal with
you out and kind
and still have a great
of guide you and
show you the way
life .... It's a kind o f
once you step in
and say, ‘Here I
feeling, if it ever
am and what
happened to me,
do you need
Kennedy says.
I wouldn't be alone."
Now
the
Hambleton Pro
— Becky Kennedy
ject’s direct ser
vices committee
chair, she coordi
nates practical assistance for lesbians who have
cancer and are at home in need of help.
The best aspect of her efforts is “seeing that
you really do make a difference in someone’s
life,” Kennedy says.
A
“The appreciation is amazing! Every time
you go over, they are just so grateful,” she
remarks about the clients she serves.
Kennedy’s volunteer work has also made
her feel more a part of the community. She says
she’s learned lessons from her work.
“Cancer is not a death sentence!” she says.
“It is something you can survive and live with
and deal with and still have a great life."
But the greater lesson is a more personal
one: “It’s a kind of feeling, if it ever happened
to me, I wouldn’t be alone,” she says softly.
H
The film festival provides a way for people
to come together and interact, she says, adding:
“People are happy that this fun event is going
on. It is a good time."
The recent college graduate believes in
combining personal passions with choices in
volunteering.
“It isn’t just about going out there and giv
ing your time away,” King says.
If passion is a part of the volunteer job, “you
have a higher chance of having it be reward
ing," she explains. “It is important for me to
believe in what I’m doing.”
"I've always been pretty sensitive to
what's going on with people and if
something is amiss. It's just something
I've known I've wanted to do
for a long time. " — Alicia Moore
Alicia Moore
P
ortland Women’s Crisis Line has a new
volunteer. While just one of many who
keep this vital service afloat, Alicia Moore
seems destined to make a difference in people’s
lives both at PW CL and everywhere she goes.
Her volunteer effort with the crisis line is only
a portion of the service she hopes she’ll bring
to her community.
“We are all struggling to find our own
path,” Moore says. She believes her life is
about helping others find their way while
searching for her own.
"I’ve always been pretty sensitive to what’s
going on with people and if something is
amiss,” Moore says. “It’s just something I’ve
known I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”
Moore stresses that her role is to offer sup
port and to refrain from telling callers what to
do.
“That would be taking their voice away,”
Moore says, “and they’ve already had people in
their lives take that voice away.”
Moore grew up in a city that she says was
very close-minded to part of who she is— a
bisexual woman.
“Eventually I moved and found a supportive
community and came into my own,” she says,
and the experience spurred her to try to give
that kind of support to other people.
“It’s phenomenal. It is one of the most pow
erful things there is,” she explains about having
someone listen without judgment.
“It’s really an important service," Moore
says of the hot line, while acknowledging there
are many important and supportive roles peo
ple can play.
“The important thing is ^Jiat we find our
community and the space that makes us feel
good about ourselves,” Mixire concludes.
Continued on Page 22