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July 17, 2013
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Fred Meyer
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S ports
C alendar
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photo by D onovan
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M .S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
McCoy Academy s Bobby Fouther (second from left) and Carmen Hawkins (second from right) join
volunteers at the non-profit’s new Saturday Market venture. McCoy, located at 3802 N.E. Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd., has served Portland as an alternative school and community resource center
for 25 years.
Fighting for Relevancy
McCoy
Academy steps
up in historic
King district
by D onovan
M . S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
For 25 years McCoy Academy
has been responsible for providing
community programs that range
from the arts to essential education
basics to college level courses, and
even in-depth financial advice. But
a sluggish influx of revenue in re­
cent years has dealt major blows to
the academy at 3802 N.E. Martin
Luther King Jr. Blvd.
The resource center known for
its outreach to African Americans
and others in the King Neighbor­
hood is not taking the hits lying
down though; with recent renova­
tions to their building and new at­
tempts at visibility, McCoy program
leaders are hoping to rekindle some
of the support they have had in
previous years.
McCoy is currently home to four
non-profits: Y oung Minds of Aware­
ness, which services special needs
people with life skills training;
Groundwork Portland, which brings
about sustainable, community-led
improvement of the physical envi-
continued
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HNMNN
Proud Father Needs a Transplant
C lassifieds
O pinion
pages 14-15
Portland family reaches out for gift of life donations
page 13
In 2011, Larry Gibson’s children
suddenly lost their mother. His chil­
dren don’t want to lose their father,
and his grandchildren don’t want to
lose their “big daddy!”
The Portland resident, proud fa­
ther and grandfather needs a life
saving transplant and his family is
trying to raise donations to make
that happen.
Gibson was bom in Belzoni, Miss.,
but raised in Portland. He was the
first-bom o f Maggie Gibson’s three
children. At the age of four, he had
a rare bone infection at which time
his parents were told he would never
walk again, but he did! When he was
12, he lost his father. Then at age 17,
he was elbowed in his left eye while
working which resulted in its surgi­
cal removal. None of these chal­
lenges kept him from moving on
with life, and raising a family.
In 2005, Gibson was diagnosed
with Chronic Obstruction Pulmo­
nary Disease which caused him to
retire from his career as a chef with
Bon Appetit at the University of
Portland. He was placed on oxygen
24 hours a day and endured many
hospitalizations, including seven
days spent on life support in 2007.
Doctors have determined that
Gibson’s only hope for a return to a
life of good health is a lung trans­
plant. He has been evaluated at the
University of Washington Medical
continued ' y f on page 5