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 12^th Avenue 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?”

Photo at right: CCC walkers were treated to root beer floats, courtesy of Standard TV & Appliance, at the end of the afternoon.

Photo above:

Walkers get ready for the event to begin.

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 at http://centralcityconcern.org/golden-west-intro.html.

Bing is a founding board member at CCC and believes in the power of transformation – people, buildings and communities. As former Chair of the City Planning Commission, he led the state’s largest citizen-driven planning effort to produce the Portland Downtown Plan, which encouraged density and reduced sprawl.

Bing continues to play an instrumental role in Portland’s downtown renaissance, stressing urban infill, reuse and redevelopment as important strategies for creating a new sense of community. He believes that Portlanders have a moral obligation to actively participate in the civic infrastructure which reflects our community values. It is this ongoing active ownership of civic values by our citizens which is recognized by the historic quote on the Skidmore Fountain: “Good citizens are the riches of the city.”

Today, he is a champion for energy audits in all of CCC’s buildings as well as an eloquent spokesperson on the life changing effects of CCC’s Homeless Action Fund. The Fund supports a vibrant volunteer program for previously homeless individuals who are not ready for the job market yet and intensive employment development services for those who are.

Bing believes that people have the capacity to transform into self-sufficient, contributing citizens. His contributions as a citizen of our fair city go far and wide. Please join us in honoring his work and dedication to the community. Click here to view event information; order tickets by sending us an email.