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Molly LeBlanc

We Need You this Thanksgiving!

Volunteering for Donate Dinner is a fun and rewarding experienceHow Can I Help?
We need 1,500 volunteers to greet customers and distribute Donate Dinner cards at participating grocery stores during the 5 days before Thanksgiving, Nov. 21 - 25, 2009. Shifts are 2 hours and are available from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

What Do I Do?
You simply greet customers with a smile, hand them a card and say, "Hi, I'm a volunteer for Loaves & Fishes Centers, the Meals-On-Wheels People. If you'd like to Donate Dinner for a senior, please tell the cashier when you check out. Thank you!" You are welcome to sign up for more than one shift...and bring a friend!

Donate Dinner is one of the largest volunteer events in the Portland metropolitan area. Last year, volunteers raised more than $230,000 to feed local seniors. Donations increase significantly when we have a volunteer present. Please join us! We served 1.4 million meals last year and the need continues to grow.



Thanksgiving Day Drivers & Servers Needed!
Thursday, November 26, 2009

Approximately 300 volunteers are needed to deliver hot turkey dinners with all the trimmings to homebound seniors on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009. Volunteers will deliver four to five meals between 10:30 a.m. and noon.

Meals can be picked up from five locations
( view map of locations):

- The Loaves & Fishes Resource Center in Multnomah Village
- The Cherry Blossom Loaves & Fishes Center in SE Portland
- The Doubletree Inn at Lloyd Center located one mile from downtown Portland
- The Forest Grove Senior Center in Forest Grove
- The Luepke Loaves & Fishes Center in Vancouver


To volunteer to be an on-site server, please call our Thanksgiving hotline at 503.953.8111

*A background check is required for all State of Oregon drivers.

Make a donation!

Loaves & Fishes Centers, the Meals-on-Wheels People

We. Are. #3!!!!

10 Safest Places to Live in the U.S.
A sense of security is one of the big reasons why people choose a home. Forbes magazine has created a list of the nation's safest places to live by examining four factors: workplace accidents, weather catastrophes, crime rates, and traffic accidents.

The result is this list of top 10 safest metropolitan areas:

  1. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, Minn.-Wisc.
  2. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisc.
  3. Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash.
  4. Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.
  5. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, Wash.
  6. Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, R.I.
  7. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
  8. New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.
  9. Cincinnati-Middletown, Ohio (tie)
  10. Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, Ohio/Denver-Aurora, Colo. (tie)


Source: Forbes.com, Zack O'Malley Greenburg (10/26/2009)

Keeping Our Fingers Crossed!!!

Homebuyer Credit Gets New Life


Key lawmakers in the Senate have tentatively agreed to extend the existing $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and also offer a new $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who have lived in their current residence for a consecutive five-year period in the past eight years.

Home buyers must be under contract by April 30, 2010, and close before July 1. House Democrats have expressed concern about the cost of the tax credit for the government, and allegations of abuse have resulted in an IRS probe of the program.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Corey Boles and John D. McKinnon (10/29/09)

© Copyright 2009 Information Inc.

Clackamas County September Statistics

Original search criteria: Prop Cat: RES County: Clackamas SD: 9/1/2009 - 9/30/2009 Stat: ACT, BMP, SLD
Sales Active Listings
Type Price Class 2
or fewer
3
Bdrms
4
or more
Condo
Units
Total
Units
Residential
Units
Condo
Units
UNDER 29,999 0 0 0 0 0 8 0
30,000 - 39,999 0 1 0 0 1 6 0
40,000 - 49,999 0 0 0 0 0 7 2
50,000 - 59,999 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
60,000 - 69,999 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
70,000 - 79,999 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
80,000 - 89,999 0 0 0 0 0 4 2
90,000 - 99,999 0 0 0 0 0 6 7
100,000 - 119,999 0 1 1 0 2 14 10
120,000 - 139,999 1 3 0 0 4 23 15
140,000 - 159,999 1 8 4 1 14 40 27
160,000 - 179,999 4 5 1 3 13 86 17
180,000 - 199,999 5 19 3 4 31 131 19
200,000 - 249,999 7 58 15 1 81 394 54
250,000 - 299,999 7 36 15 0 58 416 41
300,000 - 399,999 0 34 33 2 69 606 28
400,000 - 499,999 0 18 28 0 46 417 13
Over 500,000 1 7 38 3 49 914 28
Total 26 190 138 14 368 3,077 265
Median Price 205,000 250,450 387,388 193,000 279,938 369,900 229,900
Average Price 223,123 284,936 479,874 291,714 353,929 520,615 277,787
Total Dollar Volume Residential

Total Dollar Volume Condo

Total Home Sales Dollar Value

126,161,729

4,083,995

130,245,724

Time on Market of Units Sold
Days # Residential # Condo
0 - 30 115 2
31 - 60 65 1
61 - 90 57 3
91 - 120 32 1
121+ 85 7
Type of Financing of Units Sold
Financing # Residential # Condo
ASSMP 0 0
CASH 57 1
CONV 167 8
FHA 94 5
OTHER 23 0
VA 13 0

© RMLSTM 2009. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

What to do with the Pumpkins After Halloween??

What's Next for Mr. Jack-o-Lantern?

by Raquel Fagan

Every year, one billion pounds of pumpkins are produced in the U.S., including at least 100 million pounds in every state. Unlike many other aspects of your Halloween experience, pumpkins don't come in difficult-to-recycle packaging, which should make proper disposal easy as (pumpkin) pie.

Pumpkins are a unique holiday decoration because they are entirely natural, yet a majority of the "nature" gets thrown out once they're carved and Halloween is over. So, how can you make sure that the entire pumpkin is used and not put into a landfill? There are few simple solutions:

Pumpkin Seeds

A favorite fall snack, pumpkin seeds are almost always removed from pumpkins whether you are carving or cooking. To remove the seeds, cut the top of the pumpkin off and scoop out the insides. Then wash the seeds in a colander, to remove the flesh of the pumpkin that also got scooped out.

To bake: Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and lay the pumpkin seeds out in one layer. Sprinkle with any seasoning you might want (salt, cayenne pepper or garlic salt are quite tasty). Bake in a 350º oven for 10 to 20 minutes. Let cool, and enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie or Soup

From soup to seed to compost pile, pumpkins offer more then just decor.

From soup to seed to compost pile, pumpkins offer more then just decor.

If your pumpkin or jack-o-lantern is still in good (ie: "fresh") condition, making it into soup or pie is a great way to finish off your holiday with some additional treats! Either way you approach it, you will need to cook the pumpkin so the flesh gets soft and workable. You will also need to remove the peel. For more detailed instructions, visit RecipeTips.com.

Composting

If cooking isn't your coup of tea (or soup), the best way to dispose of your pumpkin is by composting. To provide a quick definition, "composting" is the decomposition of organic materials to produce nutrient-rich soil enhancer.

Both the pumpkin, as well as its seeds, can be composted. In fact, pumpkin seeds themselves are a strong source of nutrients, including zinc, iron and phosphorus. Compost piles rely on a mix of nitrogen-rich greens (which will include pumpkin components) and browns (leaves, paper and other carbon-rich materials). So, Halloween is the perfect time to compost, because you'll not only have leaves falling before winter, but your pumpkin to also add to the mix.

Next Year

Now that you've got your pumpkin breaking down in the compost, what's next? How about a pumpkin patch of your very own? Lots of communities have pumpkin growing contests in October. Use the nutrient rich compost you get over the next few months to grow your own garden, and come next summer, get your own pumpkin seeds in the ground and ready to grow.

Trey Granger contributed to this story.

Raquel Fagan

Raquel Fagan

Raquel Fagan is Executive Editor of Earth911.com.

More articles by Raquel

Other Ideas from Readers!

  1. i took the carved pumpkins and gave them to my chickens and rooster.they loved it.the smaller ones make wonderful pumpkin butter.ummuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmm

  2. We leave our pumpkins & gourds out in the backyard for the squirrels to eat throughout the winter.

  3. We also leave our pumpkins in our backyard for the wildlife. The deer love them. It's quite a sight to look out and see five does and a buck having dinner in the yard.

  4. Pumpkin is great food for your dogs