NAMI Washington County, Oregon

Capitalizing on crowd response to last year's appearance in the largest Forth of July Parade in Oregon, NAMI-Washington County will be elaborating on the the theme "The Famous Faces of Mental Illness" in this year's parade. Volunteers are still needed to help carry the banner, hand out candy and informational leaflets and to hold signs of "The Famous Faces of Mental Illness."

All persons participating in the parade on Fourth of July should wear blue pants or jeans and a white shirt. Hats will be provided. You may want to bring a water bottle.

The staging area where we will assemble before the parade is at Peter Boscow School. You must be there before 8 am, which will give us time to decorate the truck before the parade begins. Click here for more parade information.

The Washington County Partnership for Student Success Parent Advisory Council (PAC) is actively recruiting parents from Washington County school districts to take part in this initiative for more effective school support.

The Parent Advisory Council will work with educators and mental health providers to increase student success by strengthening family and community involvement.

If you would like the opportunity to be part of a ground-breaking initiative that meets once a month for approximately 2 hours, here is your chance!

Childcare services and fuel reimbursement are available upon request. For more information or to signup, contact Rebecca collet, NWRESD, at (503) 614-1473 or email rcollett@nwresd.k12.or.us.

How NAMI's Garden Grows!
Click here for pictures

Support for NAMI’s Garden Project Comes from All Over the Community

With a steering committee comprised of consumers and NAMI volunteers, the garden project has taken on a life of its own. Daily, volunteers show up to do the watering. Thursdays are the “work day” when everyone pitches in to do the weeding and plant new donations. The steering committee, chaired by Tom Green, Jr., meets twice a month to keep an eye on what needs to be done.

Donations to the project have included everything from potting soil to herbs and old tires to trellises and lumber. The list of donors includes Al’s Garden Center , Portland Nursery, and Farmington Gardens , all of whom have been major donors of everything from plants of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, to raspberries, grapes, wild strawberries and boysenberries. Gifts of herbs, flower seeds, marigolds, fushias, jasmine, and honeysuckle have kept our planters quite busy.

Many thanks to our individual donors which include Bernard Hayden, Elizabeth Wood s, Glenda Jones, Laura O’Neill, Sue Sutter, Liz Logan, Linda Polier, and Polly Yarnall. Their donations have included everything from hoses, pots, yard decorations, hand shovels, wood, bulb diggers and gloves to kneeling guards, trellis, and fencing.

Anyone wishing to make further donations
or become a garden volunteer should contact
Laura O’Neill
at the NAMI Center (503) 356-6835.