Street Roots • March 18-24, 2016
New s
Page 5
P H O T O B Y P H O T O B Y M A R C IE R IV E R A
Jim Serrill walks with a team o f Portland Timbers fans for the Blessing o f the Log on Feb. 18. They selected the log that
will be cut during home games every time the Timbers score.
T IM B E R JIM , f r o m p a g e 4
In the years since, Serrill has given back
unequivocally. Using his status with the
Timbers to leverage donations, he’s helped
raise tens of thousands of dollars for
Portland-area charities.
“Jim has a big effect He is so generous
and so loving and so positive,” said Cody
Goldberg.
Goldberg met Serrill six years ago when
he was trying to raise money to build a
playground where kids with disabilities, like
his daughter, Harper, could play.
Serrill caught wind of the effort and
contacted
Goldberg to see
he could help.
CUP BOUND AND CROWNED’ how “It’s
really hard
This recently released book by Prost
to put it in the
Amerika is a tribute to the Portland
right words,”
Timber s 2015 winning season. Available
Goldberg said.
at Powell's City of Books for $29.95, the
“He was a bull
in a china shop
forward was written by Timber Jim Serrill
24/7 in support of
and contains photos by Sireet Roots
our endeavor.”
photographer Diego Diaz.
Serrill sold
scarves with
proceeds going to Harper’s Playground at
every Timbers 'match, and with the help he
solicited from the Timbers Army, $86,000
was raised.
Today, the all-abilities playground in
North Portland’s Arbor Lodge Park is a
popular destination for kids with disabilities.
Goldberg and his wife have two more
inclusive playgrounds planned for other
Portland quadrants, and Serrill is still
championing their cause at fundraising
events.
He also created the Timbers Army CPR
program, which hosts free CPR training for
anyone who wants to learn,
Serrill said he’d often share the story of
h is d a u g h te ^ ^ a c c i^ ^ ^ .
The Red Sweater Project operates a school in Mungere, Tanzania.
B uilding the soil will be Jim Serrill’s focus when he travels to Africa to
help with the school’s garden, pictured above.
students.
him as any Timbers fan.
“He -will be out there working many hours
“Here’s people coming in to get a first-aid
b y h im s e lf u n t il p e o p l e c o m e u p w a n t i n g t o
card, and here’s this guy falling apart,” he
know what’s going on,” McClure said. “Then
said. “But I don’t mind being exposed.”
he teaches them.”
His friend; Montgomery, is a paramedic
Children living in the apartment buildings
who expanded and now runs the program;
nearby often take gardening lessons, from
Serrill asked him to help with it in 2012,
Serrill during the Summer.
and since then, more than 400 people have
This past growing season, Serrill
participated.
delivered 3,400 pounds of produce from the
“He says it and he lives it,” Montgomery
garden to Tualatin School House Food
said of Serrill’s “spread the love” mantra.
Pantry, providing food for more than 700
“Next to my father, he’s probably inspired
hungry families each month,
me more than any other male role model in
he said.
my life - in a very short time.”
"T im b e r lim has had a
“Timb er Jim has had a
Serrill’s raised money for cancer research
hnge im pact In onr com*
huge impact in our
too. In 2012, he sold wristbands, hosted
m unity," said the pantry's
community,” said the
Timber Jim’s Cancer Killer Auction and
program coordinator,
pantry’s
program
solicited donations through the Timbers
Tracy Smith. "N ot only is
coordinator, Tracy Smith.
Army to raise money for the Leukemia &
“Not only is he extremely
he extremely generons; he
Lymphoma Society.
generous; he also has a huge also has a huge heari to
It’s a cause close to his heart because
he’s had his own battle with prostate cancer heart to train, coach and
tra in , coach and Inspire
inspire others. You never see
since his diagnosis four years ago.
others.
him alone. He always has
He underwent seven weeks of radiation
TRACT S M IT H /
T U A i A T IN S C H O O L H O U S E F O O D
someone tagging along he’s
treatment, and ultimately, it forced him into
P A N T R Y C O O R D IN A T O R
invited to join his life
early, retirement.
journey of helping others.”
“It took all my strength. It fried
Even in late February,
everything,” he said. Eventually he had
robotic-assisted surgery at Oregon Health & signs of life poked through at the Hilltop
Community Garden, with collard greens and
Science University. .
rosemary in full swing.
Now, he said, the only thing missing is
“Most of the work in gardening is
his strength, but you wouldn’t know it by
preparing the soil, then you put the seed in,
the long hours he spends working in the
and God does the rest,” Serrill said.
community garden.
Soil will be his focus when he visits
The garden, located at the Tualatin
United Methodist Church, was Serrill’s idea. Tanzania this spring.
Ashley Holmer, of Lake Oswego, asked
Church member Larry McClure said Serrill
him to make the trip. She needed his help.
“drove by our church, saw the open space
She’s the founder and director of the Red
and walked into the church office and asked
Sweater Project, a nonprofit that operates a
why they hadn’t put a garden there,”
school in the Tanzanian village of Mungere.
Serrill, a lifelong Methodist, joined the
In rural Tanzania, the average family income
church’s congregation and got the ball
is about $200 per year, but the average
rolling.
secondary school costs $500 per year,
McClure never heard of Timber Jim.
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