No Joke; it's almost April

The month hasn't even started but p:ear's dance card is getting pretty full! We've got a lot of awesome partnerships and events happening in April, so be sure to mark your calendar.

• April 7th: Arts and Draughts, a beer/music/food event from Widmer Brothers is donating a portion of ticket sales to p:ear. Celebrate the end of Prohibition amongst other 4/7 oddities. Get tickets here.
• April 16th: Get your photo taken with Samdriod (Portland's action-hero Mayor) at Stumptown Comic Fest. The real Sam Adams will be there from 3-4 pm on the 16th to help raise money for p:ear.
• April 27th, Moule mural unveiling and shopping night. Celebrate p:ear youth artists' window work at Moule (1225 NW Everett Street), and do some p:earblossoms outfit shopping at Moule which is donating 10% of the evening's sales to p:ear. The perfect "Alchemy" dress awaits...!
• All April, Besaw's (NW 23rd and Savier) is donating a portion from their sales to p:ear. I'll have the prosciutto scramble, please!

Thank you to all our community partners for your support of p:ear!

p:earblossoms table hosts needed!

p:ear is looking for a few good table hosts this year for p:earblossoms 2011 - ALCHEMY on May 14th! We invite you to recruit friends, family, colleagues and anyone else interested empowering homeless youth to come experience and celebrate p:ear's transformative work.

And we've made it even easier for table hosts to add and update guest information this year on the p:earblossoms ticket registration page.

Don't miss out! With limited seating this year at the Left Bank Annex, be sure to get your tickets for p:earblossoms soon!

Employer Matching

If you work for, or are retired from, a local company, your contribution to p:ear may have double the impact. Your employer may match your gift dollar for dollar. Some companies even double or triple the amount of your gift. 

Ask your human resources office for a Matching Gift form. Fill it out and mail the form to: p:ear, 338 NW 6th Ave, Portland, OR 97209

Here's a list of companies that match donations:

3Com Corporation
Abbott Laboratories Fund
ACE Foundation Matching Gift Program
ACE INA
Adobe Systems
ADP Inc., Corporate Contributions Committee
Aetna Foundation
AgriSense
Akzo Nobel
Alaska Tanker Company
Albertson's
Aldrich Kilbride & Tatone LLP
AllianceBernstein
Allstate Insurance Company
Altria Employee Involvement Program
American Express Co.
American Honda Motor Company, Inc.
Ameriprise Financial
AMSTED Industries
Analog Devices, Inc.
Anthro Corporation
Aon Foundation Matching Gift Program
Applied Materials
Archer-Daniels-Midland
Argonaut Group, Inc.
Arkema Group
Arkema, Inc.
Associated Chemists, Inc.
AT&T Foundation Matching Gifts Center
Autodesk, Inc.
Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
Avon Products
AXA Financial
Bank of America Foundation
Bank of the West *
Barclays Global Investors
Baxter International, Inc.
BCD Travel
BD
Becker Capital Management, Inc.
Bemis Co., Inc.
Benjamin Moore & Co. Matching Gift Department
Black & Decker Corp.
Blount International, Inc.
BNSF Railway
Boeing Gift Matching Program
BP Matching Fund Programs
Bressie Electric
Brooks Resources Corp.
Butler Manufacturing Co.
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Calpine
Capital Group Companies
Cardinal Health
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Caterpillar, Inc.
Charles Schwab and Company, Inc
Chevron Corporation
Chubb and Sons, Inc.
CIGNA Corporation
Circuit City Stores, Inc.
Climax Portable Machine Tools, Inc.
CNA Foundation Matching Gift Program
Coates Kokes
Coca-Cola Company
Columbia Sportswear Company
Cooper Industries
Corning, Inc.
Countrywide
Crown Pacific Inland Sales
Davidson Companies
Deluxe Corporation
Deutsche Bank Americas
Dow AgroSciences, LLC
Dow Corning Corp.
Duke Energy
Ease Software, Inc.
Eaton Corporation
Ecolab, Inc.
Elephant's Eye Antiques
Eli Lilly & Company Foundation
Equifax, Inc.
ExxonMobil Foundation
FIJI Water
First Data Corporation
First Horizon National Corporation
First Independent Bank
FLIR Systems, Inc.
FM Global
FMC Technologies, Inc.
Franklin Templeton Investments
Freddie Mac
Freedom Forum Matching Gifts
Gannett Company, Inc.
Gap, Inc
Garnter Matching Gift Program
Garth Rouse & Associates
Gartner Group
GATX Corporation
GE Foundation
Genentech
General Mills, Inc.
Genesee & Wyoming, Inc.
GlaxoSmithKline
GlaxoSmithKline Foundation
Goodrich Corporation
Google
Gramco Construction
Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company
H.J. Heinz Company
Hallock Modey, Inc.
Hanna Andersson
Hewlett Packard Employee Charitable Giving Program
Home Depot Matching Gifts
Homestead Capital
Hood River Distillers
Houghton Mifflin Co.
HSBC Bank USA, N.A.
HSBC-North America
Iberdrola Renewables
IBM International Foundation Matching Grants
Illinois Tool Works, Inc.
ING
Ink Systems, Inc.
Insurance Services Office, Inc.
Integrated Device Technology, Inc.
Intel
Intuit Inc.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
John Hancock Life Insurance Company
Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies
Johnson Controls Foundation
Kaplan, Inc.
Kennedy/Jenks Consultants
Key Knife, Inc.
KeyBank
Kinder Morgan
Kraft Foods
Laika
Land O'Lakes
LandAmerica Foundation
Lehman Brothers, Inc.
Levi Strauss & Co.
Liberty Mutual
Lincoln Financial Group
Logitech Inc.
Lubrizol Foundation
Lucent Technologies Foundation Matching Gifts
M Benefit Solutions
M Financial Group
M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust
Macy's, Inc.
Mallinckrodt, Inc.
Management Compensation Group/Dulworth, Inc.
Manulife Financial
Maritz, Inc.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.
May Department Stores
Maytag Corporation Foundation
Mazda (North America), Inc.
MBank
McAfee, Inc.
McDonald's Corp.
McGraw-Hill Companies
Medical Consultants Network Inc.
Mentor Graphics Foundation
Mercer Delta
Merck Company Foundation
Merit Oil Corporation
Merrill Lynch and Co Foundation
Microsoft Giving Campaign
Milgard Co.
Millipore Corporation
Minerals Technologies, Inc.
Minnesota Life Insurance Company
Mitsubishi International Corporation
Mobil Retirees
Monsanto Company
National Computer Systems
National Instruments
NCR Corporation
NetlQ Corporation
Nike Employee Matching Gifts Program
Nike, Inc.
North Pacific Group, Inc.
Northern Trust, Co.
Novellus Systems, Inc.
Olin Corporation
Ondeo Nalco
Oracle Corporation
Oregon Cutting Systems Group
Oregon Mutual and Western Protectors Insurance Companies
OVS/RP
Owens-Illinois, Inc.
Paccess
PacifiCorp
Palm Foundation
Paramount Farms
PBS Engineering + Environmental
Pella Corporation
PepsiCo
Pfizer, Inc.
Pitney Bowes, Inc.
Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc.
PNC Financial Services Group
POM Wonderful
Portfolio 21 Investments
Portland General Electric
PPG Industries Foundation
Professional Benefit Services
Prudential Insurance Company of America
Qualcomm, Inc.
Quest Diagnostics, Inc.
Radian Guaranty, Inc.
Radio Shack
Random Lengths
RBC Dain Rauscher, Inc.
Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon
REI
Rejuvenation, Inc.
Rockwell Collins
Roll International Corporation
Ruby Receptionists
S.D. Deacon Corporation
Saint-Gobain Corp.
Saint-Gobain Corporation Foundation
Sara Lee Corporation
SBC Foundation
Sedgwick, Inc.
Sempra Energy
Shaklee Corporation
Sony Corporation of America
SP Newsprint Co.
Spiegel, Inc.
Sprint Foundation
SRG Partnership
St. Paul Travelers
Standard Insurance
Stanley Works
Starbucks
Stockamp/Huron Consulting Services LLC
Stream International, Inc.
Subaru of America, Inc.
Sun Microsystems Foundation
Sussman Shank LLP
Suterra
Sutro Matching Gift Program
Symantec
Synopsys
Synthetech, Inc.
Tektronix Foundation
Teleflora
TENNANT
Texas Instruments, Inc.
Textron, Inc.
The AES Corporation
The Commerce Bank of Oregon
The Gillette Company
The Home Depot
The ODS Companies
The Standard*
The Statesman Journal
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Timber Press, Inc.
Time Warner, Inc.
Toro Company
Tyco Electronics
U.S. Bancorp
U.S. Borax, Inc.
U.S. Cellular
UBS
Unilever United States, Inc.
Union Bank of California
Union Pacific Corp.
Unisource
United Grain Corp.
United Parcel Service
United Technologies Corporation
UNUM Corporation
US Bancorp Foundation
US Borax
USG Corporation
Verizon Corporation
Vernier Software & Technology
Via Training, LLC
VTech Communications
W.W. Grainger, Inc.
Wachovia Foundation
Washington Mutual Foundation Matching Gifts
Waters Corporation
Welch Allyn Inc.
Western Communications, Inc.
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Williams Company
WorkSource, Inc.
 

If you know of other companies that match donations, please email info@pearmentor.org and we'll add them to the list.  Thank you for your support!

p:earblossoms 2011: Alchemy

p:earblossoms 2011 - ALCHEMY

May 14, 2011  6:00-9:30pm

GoldBar After-Party (on-site) til 11:30pm

Left Bank Annex, 101 N Weidler St

Honorary Chair: Jeff Cogen, Multnomah County Chair

Paid Parking in the East Garage of the Rose Quarter

Join us for p:earblossoms 2011 - ALCHEMY, p:ear's 9th annual fundraiser, an inspiring evening to help raise the funds needed to work successfully with Portland’s increasing numbers of parentless and homeless youth.

Poison Waters, Chris Funk (The Decemberists), Johnna Wells, Holcombe Waller, Candace Bouchard (OBT), Meg Russel (TCP) and others will fill the evening with beauty and magic, leading us through our own metaphorical journey through the cavernous downstairs (filled with over 100 silent auction items, wines, abundant appetizers and the Transformation Bar!) to the journey upstairs, with a full dinner, performances, and 15 item Live Auction, where your hearts will open like your wallets in support of the vital programs at p:ear.

Only 400 seats, so buy your tickets early, and don’t forget the Golden Ticket Raffle, the $100 chance to win any Live Auction Item (including a handcrafted Gold and Ruby Pear Pendant, made especially for this event by Alchemy Jewelers, a luxurious trip to Cabo San Lucas,  an Adventure Alaska Package with Airfare, Party Packages for 30 or 80, and even a Royal Dandie Miniature Pot-Belly Pig! - more on the website soon)!

Q:  What is the catalyst for the healthy transformation of a youth into a sustainable young adult?
A: Someone who cares - YOU!

Get great deals and support p:ear with Cause On

Love getting great Portland deals through Groupon or Living Social? Check out Cause On which offers more great deals on local stuff and donates 15-20% from those deals to local non-profits! Sign-up, select "p:ear" as your shopping beneficiary, and start saving on yoga classes, wine deals, dry cleaning and pooch pampering!

First Thursday Part Two!

Traverses The Trim/Vojdani Gallery at p:ear presents:

Karl Ramentol & p:ear Youth Artists

Opening Reception: Thursday, April 7th, 6-9pm

On Display: March 3rd-March 31st, 2011 Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Friday 10-2pm, or by appointment

"Marianas", 60" X 72", oil on canvas, Karl Ramentol

Here for another month, Karl Ramentol exposes us to the layers of his paintings built from repetitious patterns and memories. While bold and strong from a distance, peering closer, details emerge created from the under layers. Similar to life, our current decisions and moments are built on our history of choices. Ramentol's paintings allow us to see a current moment in their life after depths of history. Don't miss part two of First Thursday to see the crisp lines and fluid gestures with live music and the coffee bar!

In the kitchen at p:ear

From one of our outstanding cooks, Sabra Grace, who spends Saturdays getting delicious food ready for p:ear youth. We couldn't do what we do at p:ear without the support of volunteers like Sabra!

Hi Joy, I'm happy and grateful to do it :) Honestly, I get as much, if not more out of this than the youth and volunteers who eat the meal that I make. I really enjoy cooking, and having carte blanche in P:ear's kitchen to make healthy, inexpensive, delicious meals while pretending that I'm a contestant on Iron Chef is so much fun for me! I wouldn't want to spend a Saturday any other way. I've wanted to volunteer and give back to P:ear since my first day as a student. Thank you for all that all of you do. The P:ear Ladies inspire me everyday, and I can never find adequate words to articulate how much I appreciate you and all that you do. With Warm Sincerity and Admiration, Sabra

March Madness Matching - Shop and Donate on Cafe Give

In honor of the NCAA women's basketball tournament, Portland-based Cafe Give will match each dollar spent shopping through their website! If you plan to do any online shopping this month, that means p:ear will receive double the dollar amount. Your donations will help support p:ear programs like our monthly recreation trips to Mt. Hood, the Oregon Coast, and the Santiam river.

Just go to Cafe Give, register and select p:ear as your organization, and start shopping away at REI, Nordstrom, Sephora, Columbia, Overstock.com and more! P.S. They've got some deals and coupons on the site as well.

Want to see more benefits about getting girls into sports? Check out this NY Times article from February 2010.

Letter From Executive Director Beth Burns

p:ear youth working with the community on a mural

Dear p:ear supporters, p:ear is a community delicately and strongly fabricated and orchestrated by you, these kids, artists, bakers, students, moms, teachers, waiters, small business owners. It is a community of people that truly understand that we, all of us, can transform our lives, and, more importantly, can play a role in transforming the lives of others. We are interconnected.

Nine years ago, p:ear opened its doors, naïve and hopeful. I could never have predicted the grace and compassion of the p:ear community to so significantly transform a mere physical space into a place of change, courage, and beauty. Thank you. Over 2000 youth have come through our doors, and have been positively affected - over 50 kids per day right now!

To be young and homeless does not simply mean that you don’t have a house or a job. You don’t have people to share your life with, make decisions with, rejoice with, find redemption with, heal with, and become a healthy adult with. p:ear believes in these young people, and is there for them through GED graduations, weddings, births, incarcerations, and sometimes death.

We are busy! Youth homelessness in Portland rose by 25% last year and our numbers are hovering at over 50 kids a day. Daily the p:ear community is confronted with poverty, homelessness, suffering, neglect & abandonment, abuse, and the perils of being left alone to raise yourself. Imagine! And everyday we remain hopeful, because inside p:ear, change happens.

On May 14th, we will formally celebrate our 9th birthday at p:earblossoms. This year, the theme is "ALCHEMY" and we invite you to explore that journey of transformation with us. Please find out more information on our website.

Leaving the streets, leaving your own personal darkness, is not easy, nor systematic. It is a process of ups and downs and sideways - rising and stumbling. It is a kind of surrendering and openness that is so visceral, these youth radiate bravery, compassion, love and spirit beyond anything I knew existed before my work here.

Whether working on their GED, creating art, cooking, learning the art of the barista or unpacking their first apartment, these young people show up daily because they are valued. Don't miss this opportunity to shape a young person's life: please give generously and support these kids during the precarious journey into young adulthood - the journey of forgiving their pasts and creating their futures.

Please consider a gift for the p:ear 9 campaign in honor of our ninth year of work.

Thank you,

Beth Burns

Executive Director

Yakuza donates dinner proceeds to p:ear, March 10th

Celebrating 9 years of p:ear

Celebrate p:ear's ninth year with a 9-themed gift! Donate in the 9s and you could win a cupcake delivery from Cupcake Jones or p:earblossoms tickets! What did it take to start a non-profit? Assistant Director Joy Cartier's story about the creation of p:ear in Our Portland Story, edited by Melissa Delzio.

It was in the financial slump of 2001 and we were sitting outside at the Basserie Monmarte (now defunct or in perpetual renewal depending on who you talk to), three unemployed women, three glasses of wine and one big plan.

We had just lost our jobs along with thousands of other Oregonians. The Salvation Army Greenhouse, an agency providing services for homeless kids, was dying off in pieces and one of the first to go was the school where the three of us taught the G.E.D. We and our students had struggled with the tedium of fractions, the inconclusiveness of person and place and the irregularities of grammar – nothing compared to the struggles our students were facing outside the classroom every day. Now Greenhouse School was closed and it was a palpable loss, both for our students and us. How to mold what we were grieving and what we had learned into a new form? Could we raise a phoenix from those ashes? And just how many glasses of wine would that take? 

Turns out it took a lot. Beth Burns, Pippa Arend and I spent that summer trying to understand what had taken place for us on the corner of 8^th and Oak over a combined 12 years of working with homeless youth. We were trying to figure out what could and should go forward into a new program and what needed to be left in the past. What was missing? What was essential? We came up with a few things:

· Everyone deserves dignity and respect

· Relationships foster change, not programs

· We all have intellectual, emotional and physical needs. We want to meet the daily need.

· No one should go hungry

· Everyone has the right to a toothbrush

· Events don’t define people, attitudes do. Attitudes can change.

Back to the table in front of Brasserie Monmarte. The conversation may have gone something like this: 

Beth: Ok, we can run a kick-ass day program but we need somewhere to do it.

Joy: Where would we be if we could be anywhere we wanted?

Practically all together: There! 

(Pointing katty-corner to the long abandoned Cornellius Hotel, AKA Johnny Sole, AKA Rich’s Cigar Shop in previous incarnations). 

Beth: But the building’s for sale, we only want one floor, need to rent and no one has been in it since it flooded two years ago.

Joy: No one has been in it…

Pippa: I’ll call. Maybe they’ll be willing to rent. 

They were. 

Beth: We still need a name.

Joy: Something that reflects what we want to do. That addresses the whole person through education, art and recreation.

Pippa: (Starting to sketch in her notebook) Something modern and fresh that suggests hope. Well, not R.E.A.P.! How about P.E.A.R.

Joy: What does the P. stand for?

Beth: Project?

Pippa: Yeah, Project.

Beth: Ok, P.E.A.R. Project, Education, Art, Recreation, the whole person, the mind, heart and body. I like it.

Pippa: Only let’s make it lowercase and with a colon. Like this: p:ear

Did we have a business plan? Did we know the statistics connected with new ventures? Did we have financial partners? Were we even aware of the financial climate of the times? Well, sure, we’d just been laid off, right? What we did have was a vision, heart and each other. Apparently it was enough. 

p:ear has now been in existence for seven years now meeting the intellectual, emotional and physical needs of homeless kid. and has recently moved from its original location at 801 SW Alder to 338 NW 6^th to meet the need.

Meet Samdroid

From walking with p:ear youth and Doni the goat in the 2010 Starlight Parade to making an appearance in Portlandia, Portland Mayor Sam Adams gets around the city. If you've ever wondered how he gets it all done, the Alter Egos Society (and awesome p:ear supporters!) has revealed the mayor's secret identity as "Samdroid."

See Samdroid in action at the Stumptown Comcis Fest, April 16th at the Oregon Convention Center. The costumed Mayor will pose for pictures with fest attendees at the Alter Egos Society booth from 3-4pm to help raise money for p:ear!

New contest to determine Samdroid's secret weapons or catchphrase?

p:ear barista school open M-F, 8:30-12:00

Which one of these will best help Pippa get through Monday? A. the Thinker B. an americano from the p:ear barista school! C. an odd robot/stuffed animal watching over the (pink) sands of time passing away

The sun is making a cameo appearance in Portland this morning, and it's a reminder to get outside, walk around and have a cup of coffee over at the p:ear barista school on NW 6th and Flanders! pbs is open Monday through Friday, from 8:30 until noon.

Have a birthday coming up? Celebrate and help out p:ear

Sure, birthday cake, pony rides and clowns make a pretty awesome birthday. But p:ear board member Justin Oswald is celebrating in a slightly different way. For his March 22nd birthday, he's hoping to raise $3,100 for p:ear. Why pick p:ear instead of ponies? From Justin:

I chose p:ear because every kid deserves a place they can call home and a stable adult/mentor in their lives. I have been on the board there for over 6 years and am still impressed at the positive outcomes.

If you want to help Justin celebrate, click here to give. And if you want to make your birthday a gift to p:ear, then visit wishes.causes.com.

Welcome new p:ear partners, Caprial and John's Kitchen

p:ear's food and nutrition program is pleased to be partnering with Caprial and John's Kitchen, who will be cooking monthly for p:ear youth. We can't wait to see what gets cooked up in the p:ear kitchen!

p:ear's food program needs your help

p:ear's innovative food program is one of the cornerstone's of our philosophy about working with homeless and transitional youth. Through healthy cooking, p:ear's meals help youth learn how to take care of their bodies with balance and nutritious meals. The kitchen at p:ear is a place of conversation where young people can have the time to learn about food and nutrition in contrast to being in survival mode out on the streets. We rely on many volunteer cooks and local restaurants, farms and food producers to help provide daily hot meals for p:ear's youth. And to keep p:ear's food program running, p:ear needs your help! If you are interested in cooking or have a restaurant connection, please contact joy@pearmentor.org.

If you're interested in cooking at p:ear, volunteer training is this Saturday, March 5th! Email joy@pearmentor.org to sign-up.