‘Take Care of Oregon Days’ deadline nears

Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Feb.14 was Oregon’s 150th birthday and kicked off a year of activities to commemorate statehood. What do you give to a state that has everything? How about community service?

Oregonians interested in serving their communities in honor of Oregon’s Sesquicentennial have until Feb. 28 to register projects at www.oregon150.org. Organizers hope 500 enthusiastic volunteers will step up to plan activities that will involve 20,000 people in May.

“Any service activity that ‘takes care of Oregon’ qualifies,” said Aili Schreiner, project manager for Oregon 150. “There are so many ways to give back to our state.”

He said that chances are most Oregonians are already involved in service projects that can be registered as “Take Care of Oregon” projects. These include collecting groceries for a food bank, walking dogs for an animal shelter, planting trees in a watershed are all possible undertakings.

Once registered, project coordinators will receive a planning guide and the name of a program coordinator who will help if questions come up during planning. Coordinators may also request small grants of up to $100 to help cover project expenses.

Marketplace