November 16, 2011
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Fortiani» (Obseruer
Page 21
Highland Thanksgiving Tradition
Church
hosts annual
community feed
H ighland U nited C hurch o f C hrist will
open its doors for at least the 35th straight
y ear to offer a free T hanksgiving din n er to
the hom eless and the needy. T he event will
kick o ff a w eek-long celebration, concluding
w ith legendary gospel vocalist V anessa Bell
A rm strong live in concert.
The T hanksgiving feed will take place on
Saturday, N ov. 19 from noon to 3 p.m . at the
H ighland C hristian C enter, 7600 N.E. G lisan
St. C hurch volunteers w ill also drop o ff
hom e-cooked dinners to the sick and the
clothing, jew elry , hats, shoes, boots, sp e­
shut-in. Last year H ighland served over 800
cialty deserts, and beauty and healthcare
m eals. T he church also serves the hom eless
products. The concert will follow at 7:30 p.m.
by offering clothes, hats, gloves and shoes.
A rm stro n g ’s m usic is well know n. She is
V olunteer barbers give free haircuts.
a m ultiple G ram m y A w ard nom inee and Stel­
T he free concert in the cen te r’s F ello w ­
lar A w ard w inner w ho recorded her first
ship Hall will be held Friday, Nov. 25, starting
release, Peace Be Still, a gospel classic and
w ith a 6 p.m. reception and a m arket featuring
h er signature song. In 1987, she beat out stiff
an on-site restaurant, vendors w ith C hristian
com petition, including the likes o f A retha
N o one is exactly sure how long H ighland
has been putting on its C om m unity T hanks-
. giving Feed. It w as started by the late P astor
Sam Johnson Sr. and w ife, O pal som etim e in
the early 1970s, w hen the church w as located
on N ortheast N inth and G oing.
The pair originally started the feed to
serve soldiers w ho cam e hom e for the ho li­
days and had no place to go. But soon,
Pastor Johnson w as picking up people on
W est B urnside and bringing them to the
Franklin and Patti L aB elle, for the chance to
record the them e song fo r the popular telev i­
sion sitcom A m en.
A rm strong also had h er B roadw ay debut
the sam e year; captivating audiences in the
m usical D on't G et G od Started. She has
co n tin u ally exp an d ed h er horizons and her
audience, perform ing on B roadw ay and w ith
h er latest recording, T he Experience.
ch u rc h
Pastor Sam Johnson Sr.
to
eat
and his wife Opal started.
their fill of
the community Thanksgiv-
M o th e r
ing feed tradition.
O p a l’s
c o o k in g .
P a s to r
Johnson and M other O pal have since passed
on, but the tradition continues, serving hun­
dreds.
Today, Rev. Dr. W .G. Hardy Jr., H ighland’s
senior pastor, continues the tradition. The
church s outreach includes free counseling
through G ood S am aritan M inistries, youth
events and program s, p riso n er reentry p ro ­
gram s, and an on-site H ead Start school.
Gang-Related Death a Wake-Up Call
c o n tin u e d
fr o m fr o n t
also been a large number o f violent
crimes amongst youth that didn’t result
in a fatality.
According to Multnomah County
officials, the arrest rate for youth vio­
lence, which includes violent crime, in­
carceration and mortality due to vio­
lence in north and northeast Portland, is
higher than the national average.
Rob Ingram, the director o f Youth
Violence Prevention for the office o f
M ayor Sam Adams, said just because
the awareness o f the violence is higher
doesn’t mean there is necessarily more
violence. He said, however, people are
beginning to pay more attention, and
there are a lot o f reasons why.
"It isn’t just because there is more
violence, but also because there are
crease from 68 call outs in 2009 to 93 in
2010.
“W e will probably surpass what we
were at last year,” said Russ Como, an
officer with the city’s Gang Enforce­
formation related to the case so families
and loved ones can receive closure.
“There is an anti-snitching culture,”
he said. “A whole culture involving
gangs that makes things difficult to
investigate the crimes.”
Ingram said, however, the morecom-
munity members who speak out the
better.
“The discovery o f Julio’s body was
a reminder for some folks that while we
have to do everything we can for Afri­
can-American youth, there are other
things to continue working on,” he said.
"While the most public violence has
been black on black violence, it is not to
ment team. ‘ ‘And members ofgangs are
often as young as 10-years-old.”
According to the Office o f Youth
Violence Prevention, a survey revealed
that out o f 1,671 youth, 763or 46 percent
responded that they have been recruited
to jo in a g a n g .
Com o said he has witnessed a rise in
gang violence throughout the city, but
when someone so young is killed at the
hand o f violence it always comes as a
shock.
suggest they are the only group that
“W e have had a lot o f kids hurt by has our attention.”
guns thisyear,” he said. “It is alarming.”
According to Como, the gang en­
The highest level o f gang related forcement team works throughout the
homicides reached 13 in 1997, he said. year through youth and community
more people speaking out about it and “Currently to date we are approaching
outreach with strategies o f both pre­
making the issue more personal,” he double digits again, and that hasn’t
vention and intervention.
said. “I have heard folks say, ‘it was a happened since 1997.”
“W e also provide the enforcement
tragedy because he was so young,’ and
The week before his death, Marquez, piece, which is holding people account­
some have serious concerns with the under a different name, made posts to
able for when they do commit crimes,”
way his body was found. More and his Facebook page about his affiliation
he said.
more community members are getting with the Sureños Gang, bragging about
Y e a rs p r e c e d in g h is d e a th ,
involved, and from my world, this is a his love for gang violence and his expe­
M arquez was in and out o f ju v en ile
positive.”
rience as a juvenile on probation.
d e te n tio n fo r th e ft an d a ssa u lt
With the pervasiveness o f violent
Como said young gang mem ber’s charges. His current teachers said
crimes o f youth, and the homicide rate use o f social media often spurs violence
he w as w ell-liked, a m odel student
up, he said there needs to be as many tooccur. “W e see a lot o f conflicts come
and good at math.
people involved in this issue as pos­ from gang members posting videos or
“T he challenge is how to respond
sible. According to county records, trash talking other gangs on Facebook
to a tragedy like Ju lio ’s and still, at
arrests of 10 to 24-year-olds for violent or Y ouTube,” hesaid.“It goes back and
the sam e tim e, stay invested in the
crime, homicide, aggravated assault, forth, and then escalates into conflicts
fro n t e n d o f p re v e n tio n ,” said
andsimpleassaultare 2,398per 100,000 on the streets.”
Ingram.
p e o p le in 2 0 0 8 — 1.7 tim es the
“And they like to boast about i t ” he
"W e need to create a com m unity
countywide rate.
said. “They brag, and it makes them feel w here o ur young people feel they
According to the Gang Violence like they are apart of something bigger.”
belong as a part o f it, so they no
Reduction Team, which responds to all
Currently, there are no suspects in longer feel the need to create o r jo in
shootings and stabbings and serious Marquez’ death.
a group that could p o tentially get
assaults, gang-related violence has risen
Com o said he hopes individuals will them locked up o r m u rd ered ,” he
in the past six years, reporting an in-
contact the police bureau with any in- said.
photo by M indy C ooper /T he P ortland O bserver
Kayla Norberg, 24, who has worked for Home Depot for five-
years, helps clear the yard o f a homebound senior on North­
east 25th Avenue as part o f a Friends o f Trees public service
Leaf Harvest campaign.
Leaf Harvest for Homebound
R esidents and volunteers w ere
second annual Portland L eaf H ar-
seen scattered about n eighbor-
hood law ns last w eek and o v er the
w eekend as they collected and
b agged leaves from the yards o f
h o m eb o u n d seniors d u rin g the
vest.
T he local non-profit Friends o f
T rees, w hich is ded icated to bring-
co n tin u ed
on p a g e 22