NEHALEM NEWSPAGE

L’Arche Nehalem, 8501 SE Stephens, Portland, OR 97216

Office: 503-251-6901 Fax: 503-251-6952 E-mail: mail@larche-portland.org Web site: www.larche-portland.org

DECEMBER 2007

Our mission is to create a place to call home

for people with developmental disabilities and those who share life with them.

Catch The Christmas Spirit!

Spend some quality holiday time with the folks at L'Arche Nehalem volunteering at our annual Benefit Christmas Tree Sale. You'll spend one or more 3-hour shifts selling trees with and to some of the friendliest folks on earth! Refreshments and hand-warmers are provided!

Our tree lots are at two locations: in the Safeway parking lot at 82nd Ave and East Burnside, and in the Grocery Outlet parking lot at NE 44th and Hancock 2 blocks east of Sandy Blvd. Many slots are still available. To sign up, go to our home page www.larche-portland.org and click “Click Here To Volunteer.” You’ll find up-to-date shift calendars for both lots showing available slots. Then email trees@larche-portland.org or call 360-883-9171 to sign up for your shift. Thank You!

NEWS

Ì Ben Miller and Adam Richards will be ambassadors for L’Arche at the Sharing Our Hearts retreat December 7^th and 8^th. They will be accompanied by Tamara Yates and Meredith Zubel. Sharing Our Hearts has been a successful event in other cities for connecting college students with L’Arche communities, and this is the first year that the University of Portland is hosting one. Many thanks to Kristina Rinella, a former U of P live-in summer volunteer with us, not only for organizing this retreat but for her ongoing efforts to recruit student volunteers for Nehalem.

LIFE IN THE HOMES

H Robyn Dowell got her hair permed over the Thanksgiving holiday.

H Rodney Gabriel has picked up the brush and is painting again. He sells his artwork to lucky buyers.

H Marilyn Petruzzelli had a wonderful Person-Centered Planning meeting with her long-term supporters on November 16th. One outcome is that she strongly desires volunteer opportunities in the afternoons. Let us know if you have one that would suit her (she would be accompanied one-on-one).

H Adam Richards is in his element since the Tree Sale opened. He volunteers at the 82nd and Burnside tree lot almost every day. He loves it so much, that the day before the lot opened he said he wanted to go to bed early so tomorrow would come sooner!

H Ben Miller, Erin Wheeler, and Marilyn Petruzzelli visited Santa at Pioneer Square with Bennett Commerford, Tamara Yates, and Michael Jahanian.

MEETINGS

¤ Wed., Dec. 19, 7:00 a.m., Marsee Bakery: Executive Comm.

¤ Thurs., Dec. 20, 7:00 a.m., Marsee Bakery: Finance Comm.

CELEBRATIONS

^{Please join us if you can!}

e Wednesday, December 5^th, 7:00 p.m., Neahkahnie House: Advent Theme Prayer Night

e Wednesday, December 12^th, 7:00 p.m., Nehalem House: Joni Smith's Birthday

e Wednesday, December 19^th, 7:00 p.m., Neahkahnie House: Christmas Party

THANK YOU!

Y Thank you most heartily to the members of the Tree Sale Committee, who have taken most of the work of putting on this major fundraiser out of the L’Arche Nehalem administrative office!

Y Thank you to everyone who has already signed up to sell trees!

Y Thank you to all the people who have signed up for automatic monthly donations in the last couple of months! If you would like to do the same, just call the office (503-251-6901).

WISH LIST

ü Got an unused bicycle cluttering your garage? Get it out of your way and bring it to Nehalem, where it will be received with gratitude by Assistants who need to travel back and forth between the houses.

ü Got an unused car cluttering your garage? Our old assistant car is giving out and we need a used good condition car for assistant transportation. (Remember, you can take the market value of the car as a tax deduction!)

As I lived with Raphael and Philippe and found my joy in them, they learned they did not have to do any more than simply be themselves in order to be loved. This was a radical departure, a kind of rebirth for them; and for me too, because through my cultural background and education I was a man of competition, not of communion. Raphael and Philippe brought me on a road of conversion. Like all conversions, it is not yet complete.

Jean Vanier, Our Journey Home (thanks to L’Arche Canada)

Did you check out the new interactive Jean Vanier quote library on our home page?

Or sign up for an inspirational daily thought or weekly story from Jean Vanier's writings via email at www.larche.ca/en/home/eletters/

Getting a paper copy? Would you like to save us a stamp and receive the Nehalem Newspage electronically? Please drop us an email at doug@larche-portland.org or call us at 503-251-6901.

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