Central City Concern hosted the Third Annual Veterans’ Picnic Celebration in Washington Park on Saturday, June 26th that attracted 50 Veterans from six different branches of the military. The picnic is sponsored by CCC friend, WWII & Korean War Veteran Hal Saltzman.  Many of the Vets in attendance are served by CCC housing and services.  Music was provided by The Shwing Daddies and the featured speaker was Eddie Black, a Desert Storm & Iraq War veteran who speaks throughout the area on post traumatic stress disorder. The Veterans in attendance represented 176 years of combined service.

Central City Concern also produces an annual Veterans Stand Down event where Vets gather for employment and social service assistance.

Nearly 40 Central City Concern staff and clients gathered on a rainy, chilly Sunday afternoon for the 8th annual NAMI Northwest Walk. NAMI – National Alliance on Mental Illness – is a nonprofit organization providing self-help, support and advocacy for consumers, families, and friends of people with mental illness. Central City Concern has participated in the fundraising walk yearly. The event raised more than $150,000 for NAMI.

Shauna Hahn, a staffer in Central City Concern’s 12thAvenue Recovery Center has participated in the walk since 2006. “The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill began with a much smaller grassroots group called AMI or the Alliance for the Mentally Ill. “Ami” is also the French word for friend. There is so much accomplished by this rhetoric. There is more affection, more equality, and more devotion. If we believe that dignity is found where there is a meaningful life, why wouldn’t we engage in the pursuit of this dignity for our friends?”

Black History Month. Six historic panels that CCC installed last year on the Golden West building will be on display in the Portland Building lobby  through February 28. The panels detail Portland’s African American vibrant history and contributions to the City during the early 1900s. To view the exhibit, enter the Portland Building, 1120 SW 5th.

The permanent exhibit can be viewed at the Golden West at Broadway and NW Everett. CCC has many images, information and audio from the display on our website too athttp://centralcityconcern.org/golden-west-intro.html.