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Lifeguard Recruitment
Portland Parks and Recreation is
looking for a few good lifeguards and
swim instructors to “work the water”
this summer. The Parks’ Aquatics Divi
sion will hold a “ Lifeguard/Swim In
structor Recruitment Day” for people
interested in summer employment at
North and Northeast Portland pools on
Saturday, April 25 from 3 PM to 5 PM
at the Matt Dishman Community Cen
ter Pool at 77 NE. Knott. Call 823-
5130.
Taking The Lead
Technical Assistance for Community
Services (TACS) and Black United Fund
o f Oregon are presenting a conference
called “Taking The Lead: Board Lead
ership Conference for North/Northeast
Nonprofits,” will be held on Saturday,
May 16 at M cM ennam ins Kennedy
School, and will provide Boards o f Di
rectors with dynamic leadership skills
to strengthen their community-based or
ganizations. Call 239-4001.
Education Summit
Martin Gonzalez, candidate for State
Representative in Portland’s 18th Dis
trict, today announced a community
summit on the crisis in education facing
the Portland public schools system. The
Summit, scheduled for April 16 will be
at the King Neighborhood Facility and
will feature a panel o f community lead
ers on education issues. The summit is
at 7 PM.
Solidarity With NIKE
On April 18, local activists will hold
a dem onstration to mark an Interna
tional Day o f Solidarity with NIKE Pro
duction Workers. Activists and support
ers will gather at 11:30 AM at the Park
Blocks in downtow n Portland, and
march along side o f giant, hand-crafted
puppets to the downtown NIKE TOWN
at noon. Call 291-9422.
Spring Symposium
I
The Ninth Annual Northwest Spring
Symposium will be held Thursday, May
7 and Friday, May 8 at the Oregon
Convention Center in Portland. Spon
sored by the Institute for Nonprofit
M anagement at Portland State Univer
sity, the two-day event is recognized
nationally as one o f the few confer
ences that brings together people from
nonprofit organizations, government
agencies, foundations and businesses
for education, training and the develop
ment o f community partnerships. Call
797-2667.
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The Lion,
The Witch,
and the
Wardrobe
rammy award winning O r
egon C h ild ren ’s Theatre
(OCT) presents The Lion,
The Witch, and the Wardrobe April
26 & May 3 at Portland Civic A udi
torium.
D
O regon C h ild re n ’s T h eatre is
bringing back this all-tim e favorite
in celebration o f its 10 year anniver
sary season.
R eturning to the lead roles are
A nthony A rm strong, as Aslan, the
G reat Lion, and Vana O ’Brien as
the W hite W itch. Hank C artw right
p la y s F en ru s U lf, H ead o f the
W itch’s Secret Police.
Children in the cast include Emily
Falkenstein as Susan, Bryce W escott
as Peter, Cody Hill as Edm und, and
Katie W ilkes as Lucy.
Ebony Fashion Fair
Coming To Portland
"The Jazz Age Of
Fashions"
Ebony Fashion Fair, the
world’s largest traveling
fashion show, celebrates
it’s 40th anniversary with
the ’’Rose City” with the
extraordinary
Jazz Age Of Fashions!
See Details on page AS.
Adopt A Child
Holt International C hildren’s Ser-.
vices, the country’s oldest and largest|
inter country adoption agency, is look
ing for families interested in adopting a
child from overseas. Holt’s Eugene of
fice will host a free Adoption Informa
tion Meeting in Portland on Saturday,
May 2. The meeting will be from 10
AM - Noon in Conference Room 4 on
the 2nd floor o f Providence St. Vincent
Hospital & Medical Center, 9205 SW
Barnes Rd.
Eye Care
“Eye Care: The Eyes Have It!” is a
free lecture for the general public at 9
AM till Noon on Saturday, May 2 at the
OHSU Old Library Auditorium. In a
series o f short talks, internationally
known clinicians and researchers at the
Casey Eye Institute will discuss new
advances in eye care, technology, and
research that will affect the vision of
millions o f Americans.
Volunteers Needed
Family Center, a program for women
and children surviving domestic vio
lence and homelessness, has opportuni
ties for compassionate women to assist
in all shelter program areas. 36 hours of
training provided. In order to partici
pate in our next training which will
begin in June 1998 or to request further
information, call 232-6562. Women
who speak Spanish and have interpret
ing skills are greatly needed.
Oliver Lapidus' elegant dark brown halter dress is
embroidered with pearls on pointed hemline
accented with white silk tassels.
Magnificent black & ecru animal print gown designed by Louis
Feraud has ruffles around the periphery and is worn over exotic
hand painted hosiery.
K id s S h o u ld n ’t; H a v e T o W a i t
Oregon steps up adoption efforts to place more children
in less time with permanent families by 2000. Kay Toran
is the director of the State Office for Services to
Children and Families.
B y K ay T oran
“God, i f you ’re listening, 1 really want a
family."
•14-year-old Oregon foster child
hether the letter begins with
Dear God or Dear Santa, the
wish for a family tops these
children’s lists.
More than a thousand children in Oregon
are waiting to be adopted.
That’s too many who wait, and for some
it’s too long. By 2000, the State Office for
Services to Children and Families’ goal is to
reduce the number of those waiting and the
length of time they wait.
Research tells us that permanency for a
child means high school graduation, stable
employment and the skills to prevent teen
pregnancy, illegal drug use and trouble with
the law.
A loving family nurtures the child and the
child’s hopes and dreams for the future. For
W
one young adopted boy, the dream was to
own a restaurant where families would come
and enjoy good food in a friendly, comfort
able atmosphere. He would be a good boss,
he dreamed, and the people who worked for
him would strive to be the best in everything
they do.
That boy was Dave Thomas, founder of
Wendy’s, one of the fastest-growing quick
service food empires in North America. Dave
never knew his birth parents. He was adopted
when he was six weeks old.
In 1990, he became a national spokes
man for the White House Initiative on
adoption, called “Adoption W orks ...
For E veryone.” Since then, Dave has
been a national adoption advocate, work
ing to raise awareness for the tens o f
thousands o f children who need perm a
nent homes and loving families.
In 1992, Dave established the Dave Tho
mas Foundation for Adoption, a not-for-profit
foundation focused on raising public aware
ness about adoption, helping reduce the red
tape from the process and making adoption
more affordable. To note, adoption through
the state is free.
This year, SCF joined with W endy’s
and O regon’s 12 to launch the Kids C an't
W ait” public service cam paign to en
courage single and m arried people o f all
ages, backgrounds and incom es to con
sider adoption. These public service
announcem ents run w eekly on KPTV
Channel 12 and feature Dave and testi
monials from parents who have adopted
The cam paign, coupled with SC F’s
current efforts to place children in per
manent homes, are key to reaching our
adoption goals by 2000.
There has been an encouraging 9 per
cent decrease in the num ber o f waiting
children since February 1997. This is
attributed to two factors: additional SCF
adoption staff and the SCF program
O peration Jum pstart.
The 1997 Legislature allocated ad d i
tional SCF adoption staff whose assig n
ment is to increase the num ber o f perm a
nent placem ents, reduce the length o f
time children wait and expand the pool
o f fam ilies who are studied and pre
pared to adopt. Through their efforts,
the num ber o f w aiting children should
continue to decline.
O peration Jum pstart. which went into
effect in early 1997, has concentrated
on w orking with ch ild ren ’s caretaker
relatives and foster care providers and
identifying them as adoptive resources.
SCF is com m itted to m aintaining per
manent bonds with children and their
caretakers and children and their rela
tives w henever it is in the best interest
o f the child.
During the last four m onths o f 1997,
77 percent o f all approved final place
ments were with relatives, foster par
ents or other kin.
For the next two years and beyond, SCF
will be working to make children's wishes for
a family come true. But we won’t be doing it
alone.
N ovelist Graham Greene said, “There
is always one moment in childhood when
the door opens and lets the future in."
The future is now for O reg o n ’s waiting
children. For m ore inform ation about
adopting a child through SCF, please
call 1-8OO-331-O5O3.