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Page A6
December 15, 1999
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Business
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A Portland-based human resources
consulting firm celebrated the holiday
season earlier this month by hosting
a work party to benefit the Oregon
Food Bank.
More than 70 Portland area business
leaders turned out for the lunchtime
work party sponsored by the MBL
Group, Inc. The party was held on
Dec. 7 at the Oregon Food Bank’s
statew ide distribution center in
Northeast Portland.
In addition to packing 8,000 pounds
o f onions for distribution to the needy
families, participants donated $3,500
in cash to the Oregon Food Bank.
In less than an hour, the volunteers
were able to pack nearly four tons of
onions into 5-pound sacks.
“After searching for the perfect gift
for our clients, we realized the best
gift o f all would be to provide an
Kwanzaa
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MBL Group's clients and friends show their holiday spirit after
packing nearly four tons o f onion at the Oregon Food B ank’s
Northeast Distribution Center earlier this month.
opportunity to help the community,
said Jim Morris, founding principal of
MBL Group “And when the RSVPs
began pouring in, we knew we did the
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The MBL Group, founded in 1992, is
a full-service supplier o f human
resource management services
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from page 1
we thought that for a lot of people
that would be perceived as a barrier,”
said Juzang. “ If it was too hard to
celebrate then you are missing an
opportunity to celebrate. Which was
another reason for the guide and we
wanted to be easy to pack up as an
heirloom and celebrate the next year.”
Marketing the kit and Kwanzaa to a
generation o f inner city youth
presented another set o f challenges.
While Kwanzaa is gaining popularity,
it is celeb rated m ostly by the
nationalist community and older
African Americans. MEE wanted to
change that to include more youth
participation.
“ It creates a lot o f challenges
because Kwanzaa has been seen as
not contemporary so therefore the
youth haven’t been driven to it. It’s
not in the youth culture,” he said. “So
we have to find a way to make it
appealing to youth, find ways to make
youth want to participate in Kwanzaa,
and try to reach out to adults who
help make decisions for youth to get
them to see the benefits of Kwanzaa
and use them in marketing the beliefs
o f Kwanzaa and the MEE Complete
Kwanzaa Kit .”
Having secured the components,
warehousing space, assembled the
kits, and shipping procedures the
next challenge was gaining access to
the market, getting exposure for the
product. They created their own radio
ads and a website specifically for the
Kwanzaa Kit. The Website allows for
E-commerce, the direct ordering of
the product over the Internet. MEE
has also linked with the other popular
African-American websites such as
Net Noir, Everything Black and
MSBET.com.
We don’t want to look at it as
something you only focus on during
the holiday season. We want it to be
a focus and mindset that people can
use throughout the whole course o f
the year,” saidJuzang.“Itw illbea 12-
month process every year looking at
it as a five-ten year plan. We want to
focus on America first, then South
America, the Caribbean, then Africa
then the world.”
MEE Productions is a one-of-a-kind
o rg a n iz a tio n that fo cu ses on
studying, motivating and positively
im p a c tin g urban tre n d se tte rs
meaning inner city African-American,
Latino and low income youth.
Founded in 1990, the company has
conducted communications research,
created media campaigns on a variety
o f issues for both private and public
sector clients, and won local and
national awards for their educational
videos on topics such as teen dating
violence, HIV-AIDS awareness and
prevention, teen m arijuana use/
prevention, and understanding and
communicating with the Hip Hop
culture.
For more information on the MEE
Kwanzaa Kit, call 1-877-MEE-PROD
or
v is it
the
w eb site:
www.MEEKwanzaaKit.com.
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Cost: $2.00 per hour, (State funded
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For more info call Doris:
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The Joyce Washington Memorial
Scholarship Fund Presents
Les Schwab/Blazer Alumni vs.
The Portland Observer's Cory Cougar’s
Charity Basketball Game
January 23, 2000 at 4 p.m.
Join the celebration and see the Portland Observer family
and friends take on the Portland Trailblazer’s Alumni
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Seattle Stud Welding - Kent WA
CleanPak Systems-Renton, WA
Harder Mechanical Contractors - Portland, OR
Western Concrete Pumping Company - Tigard, OR
C & J Rebar - Beaver Creek, OR
Western Partitions-Tigard, OR
Streimer Sheet Metal Works - Portland, OR
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L.H. Sowles Company- Billings, MT
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Seif Enhancement Center Inc.
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Johntae’s Imported Tobacco & Accessories
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If you are in need of this type of service, contact:
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M rs.C’s Wigs
707 NE Fremont
281-6515
ATisketATasket
1305 NE Fremont
7344-7344
Simply Cellular
3939 NE MLK Blvd. Suite 109
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