Apr 4 2013

Safe Routes to School free community event 10 am to 2 pm, Sat. 4/6

Join Portland Safe Routes to School for the 3rd Annual Safe Routes to School Spring Kick-off

Saturday April 6th
10am-2pm
Cesar Chavez School
5103 N Willis Blvd Portland, OR 97203

Celebrate walking and biking to school at the Safe Routes Spring Kick-off. This is a family-fun event that celebrates health, safety, and physical fitness.

There will be activities for parents, students, and younger children:

• Bike activities and walking games
• Walk and bike art projects
• Bike Rodeo
• Map reading and safe route planning activities
• Learn to ride a bike class
• Free bike repair
• Helmet fitting and giveaway
• Free healthy lunch
• Community bike ride (with bikes and helmets available to borrow)
• Raffle
• …and more, all for FREE!

For more information, email saferoutes@portlandoregon.gov, or call 503-823-1189!

Feb 15 2013

Free health fair — March 3rd @ St. Charles Church in NE Portland

You’re invited:

Photo of a young woman getting her blood pressure taken

Photo by Adelphi Lab Center, Flickr

Sunday, March 3rd, from 9 am to 2 pm
at St Charles Church, 5310 NE 42^nd — on 42nd, just south of Killingsworth.

A free health & screening fair is taking place in early March at St. Charles Church in NE Portland. Bring your children, parents & friends to chat with health practitioners about questions and concerns — and fun kids’ activities like a fire engine to explore & face painting.

To look forward to:

Free vaccines for ages 11 and up (Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hepatitis B, Pneumonia, Influenza)
Testing for diabetes, glaucoma, vision, hearing and blood pressure
Healthy living demonstrations with lots of new ideas for you and your family
Health education by experts
Referral information especially for people without health insurance
Free minor bike repairs
Bike helmets for only $5, fitted for you by professionals
Free acupuncture (it’s not painful!)
Fun activities include face painting, a city of Portland fire truck to explore, a visit from “The Nose”, relaxing massages and prizes.

Sponsored by the Northeast Neighborhood Nurses

For information contact:
Alice McCarthy, RN
503-282- 8828
armccarthy2001@yahoo.com

Jan 15 2013

Stay Fit for Free during the Winter

Asian woman doing exercise on gym floor with the help of a personal trainer.

Photo by familymwr, Flickr

Exercising for free during the winter can be a challenge. The following are some ideas about how to stay active!

Fitness DVDs from the library.

Exercise along with the experts using pilates, yoga, aerobics, or other fitness DVDs from the library.

Search the Multcolib.org website and put items you’d like to use “on hold” — select your branch for pickup, and when they are ready, you’ll get an email or phone call letting you know.

If space is limited, choose yoga or pilates — where you can do most things on the space of a mat.

Use phone apps.

For smart phone owners — a ton of free phone apps available in iPhone and Android app stores feature videos of how to do toning and other exercises, including yoga poses and pilates. Also check out podcasts like Podrunner, which feature music with a stong beat to energize your running.

Walk in the mall.

Take your child and the stroller down to Lloyd Center and walk around each floor — without stopping to shop.

Walk or run on a high school track.

On days when the weather is tolerable, go for a walk or run on the nearest public track. If the track is well enclosed, you can let your little one toddle after you (or take the stroller!).

General exercise tips.

Whatever you choose, be safe, drink enough water, and wear the right gear.
If you’re exercising outdoors, meet up with a friend — both to help you stay motivated, and to stay safe.
Remember to drink water throughout the day, not just while you’re exercising.
Clothes made out of manmade materials (not like cotton) will tend to keep you dryer and warmer.
Wear supportive shoes that were made for action.
And wear bright or fluorescent clothes to stay visible!

Dec 15 2012

Celebrate the holidays on a dime

Ways to celebrate the Holiday season affordably.

Here are some ideas for giving gifts that are valuable — but not expensive.

Consider holding a White Elephant party for family and friends. At a white elephant party, everyone brings something they already own — often something funny like an old piece of clothing that is really outdated, or a silly photograph. This is also a great way to “re-gift” something that you received in the past but that you’ve never used. The time you spend together laughing is really the best gift you’ll give or get this year!

Agree to do something together. Instead of wrapping a gift, share an invitation to go someplace special together. A walk in the park, a picnic, a ride around a neighborhood with Christmas lights. Decorate the invitation so it feels like a gift — you can even put it in a box or gift bag.

Hold a toy, clothes and/or book exchange for kids. Get together with friends and family to exchange kids’ clothing, toys and books. Limit the exchange to items that are “gently used,” and have some extra parents on hand to watch the kids in another room. Alternately visit the Garage Sale on NE Martin Luther King to find affordable second-hand gifts.

Create a personalized coupon or coupon book. Offer to watch a friend’s child, wash your mom’s car, paint your aunt’s nails, or give your niece a makeover.

Teach someone a new skill. Do you text? Use Facebook? Have an email account? Teach an older relative how to get started using modern communication! Show them how to create a profile, select a hard-to-guess password, and strike the right tone.

Make something. Draw a picture, write a letter, bake a mini-loaf of bread. melt old crayons and mold them into candles, or a create heart-felt card. Find art supplies dirt cheap at Scrap on NE Martin Luther King.

Nov 13 2012

Pancake Day – Sat., Nov. 17th from 11 to 1

Photo by EdenPictures, Flickr

This Saturday from 11 to 1 at Swapnplay, 7535 N. Chicago, St. Johns Village Project invites teen parents from North Portland high schools to eat pancakes and get to know other NoPo families.

If you want to attend, volunteer, or get involved, please contact Amy, amy [at] st. johnsvillage.org. Register for Pancake Day at http://pancakedays.eventbrite.com

Nov 12 2012

Coping with Stress during the Winter Months

Parenting is stressful no matter who you are. Being a parent means giving, giving, giving — love, attention, resources,

By joeytklein, Flickr.

time. It’s very easy to forget to take care of yourself.

During the holidays, stress can get worse. It’s surprising — “the happiest time of the year” is not always happy.

Seeing family and friends can make you unhappy if they aren’t kind to you. Buying your children Christmas gifts is hard if you don’t have much money. The sun — which helps us stay in a good mood — goes away, and the dark, rainy days can be depressing, day after day.

How can you cope with stress during the winter months?

Keep a journal or diary. Take notes each day about what caused you stress, how you felt, how you acted when you were stressed out, and what you did to make yourself feel better.
Identify the situations or people that stress you out, then avoid them (or accept them!) if you can.
Avoid drugs, alcohol & sweets — which make your life more difficult in the long-term.
Get sleep and exercise. It’s amazing how much better you feel when you get enough sleep and make a regular time to walk, run, dance, or do yoga!

Your stress affects your child. Your child is learning from you every day. If you respond to your child, another person, or a situation using a sharp tone or even violence, your child will learn to do the same. But if you learn to cope with stress in good ways, they will learn that too.

Oct 24 2012

St. Johns Farmers Market supports NoPo young moms

This fall, a group of young moms from POIC’s Rosemary Anderson High School and POIC’s Transitions Program have gotten a taste of the local farmers market.

SJFM has a community partners program, chaired by Nancy Harkrider, that’s reached out to the young parents of Rosemary Anderson High School and Pathfinder Academy. Nancy and others have organized:

a field trip to a farm on Sauvey Island
a tour of the market
a cooking class hosted by Village Market at New Columbia, and
an applesauce class offered through the local North Portland Preserve & Serve, and hosted by Swapnplay.

The wildly successful events have drawn altogether a dozen or so young parents and their children, and have been tasty, fun, and educational.

Working with young parents gives the community partners program a chance to influence three generations at once — the young parents and their kids, as well as potentially the “major” parents — and if healthy habits stick, future generations, too.

St. Johns Farmers Market is an independent farmers market (not part of the markets that operates the downtown or North Portland markets) with a board mainly of St. Johns residents.

I really hope the partnership continues and grows! I’d really love to see a community garden that young parents and their kids can work on together.

Aug 25 2012

St. Johns Farmers Market reaches out to young parents

Coming soon! St. Johns Farmers Market is looking to partner with us and North Portland high schools to bring young parents and their kids to the farmers market, and to get involved with eating fresh, local & tasty produce.

Check back soon for more info! We hope to get some joint activities together in September and October, before the Market wraps up for the winter.

Feb 29 2012

Teens “with child” in Clackamas Co. find help + unconditional love at Madonna’s Center

Today I had the great honor of driving to Milwaukie to meet with Valerie Aschbacher, the Board President of Madonna’s Center.

Madonna’s Center is a nonprofit devoted to meeting the essential needs of Clackamas County teen parents and their children (up to age 5).

Valerie sat with me for two hours to chat about the history and ambitions of the organization and its varied service to the courageous youth who have chosen to have, keep, and raise their infants.

Their offices are two rooms in a business center — one room looks like an office with desks, computers, and a conference table. The other room is home base for the twice weekly Visitation Volunteers who respond to the services and supplies requests of teen parents. Everything from diapers and diaper rash cream to parenting books and baby blankets.

Valerie said when the organization started (in the 2004-2005 time frame; it’s official launch was Sept. 8, 2005) everything was run out of people’s homes, garages, basements. “That’s how we’re doing it!” I said. I was so inspired to see how the organization had grown.

While I was visiting, I overheard Valerie chatting with a teen parent who called in to ask for help potty training her toddler. “We do have books on potty training, and we also know that 14-months is too early to begin potty training.”

I loved Valerie’s confident and reassuring tone, and if I loved it, I can only imagine how fabulous the teen mom felt on the other end of the line. Valerie offered to meet the young mom at Payless to buy boots with her. When I left, Valerie was waiting to hear from another young mom who needed a ride to college.

Friday, March 16, from 1-3 pm, Madonna’s Center is holding a free teen parent resource fair in Milwaukie. You can see more info and RSVP here!

And I invited Valerie to our upcoming playgroups, so maybe in April or May you will meet her in person!

Feb 3 2012

Upcoming playgroups — will you join in the fun?

From Flickr's Magderly

Recently Meghann Darne at Rosemary Anderson High School and I have determined the spring schedule for playgroups. We hope you can join us.

Whether you’re an adult or teen parent, please RSVP by emailing me at amy [at] stjohnsvillage.org and I will send you more details! Your little ones are welcome and we’ll have snacks for all.

We’ll meet at Swapnplay, at the side entrance of the Red Sea Church. The address of the Red Sea Church is 7535 N. Chicago, but the Swapnplay entrance is around to the right side — on N. Leonard.

The spring playgroups will take place from 10:30 to 11:30 am on the following Saturday mornings:

Feb. 25
March 17
April 21
May 19

Won’t you join in the fun?

St. Johns Village Project

Building a community of teen, transitioning + adult parents