Good People: Sanctuary Faith Trails

Native people have always seen the horse as a symbol of spirituality, and as a tie to a time when their culture was intact. The Hispanic community has the Vaquero tradition that is part of their history and culture. The Caucasian community is steeped in the cowboy and ranching history. Each of the ethnic groups that live in Madras, Oregon have a pre-programmed hot button deep within them to gather around this animal and while doing so increase their tolerance for each other.

Horses, by their very nature, are social herd and prey animals. Observing and working with horses teaches people about trust and community. The unique ability of the horse to teach about ones place in the world creates the place where barriers of gender, ethnicity, and age are more easily set aside and a community can grow. Individuals find fellowship with others.

Sanctuary Faith Trails identifies and implements ways to build community and support for individuals so they can achieve their potential and give back. Their mission is based around the use of horses, ranch experiences, stewardship of the land and relationship building to affect positive change in the lives of children, teens and families.

Work programs, student advocacy and family support

They use their stable operations at Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert Resort to give people a place to work where they love what they do. We serve many youth and adults in this program. They advocate for students, track performance, set both academic and behavioral goals, and help with acquiring the basic necessities, skill sets and time to experience success. The average student who sets a contract improves their GPA by 1.8. Through coordination of their facilities, horses, instruction, transportation and food they give families a positive place to gather. When people meet in these settings they know that it will be a safe, good-hearted group. They meet around people’s passions and develop a community for support as well as celebration.

Intervention and development

The staff at Sanctuary Faith Trails helps people fill the gaps and get the aide they need to succeed. They help with everything from emergency transportation, food deliveries, basic need packages, distribution of clothing, referrals for and transportation to counseling and medical assistance, advice, prayer requests, mediation and counsel. Everything they do strives to build cells of community that web into support networks. Building relationships to support people in making good choices and honoring the Creator in their lives is a key facet of their mission.

Animals, the land and human potential

Through gatherings at SFT, people acquire skills to care for both the land and the animals that live and work on it. These skills make a strong impact on their abilities to make changes in themselves. By becoming closer to the land the people they serve open their hearts and minds to new possibilities.

For more information about Sanctuary Faith Trails visit HERE.

Images copyright Sanctuary Faith Trails, 2009.

Good People: Growing Gardens

Growing Gardens gets at the root of hunger right here in Portland, Oregon. The Portland Home Garden Project began in 1996. The organization's original focus was installing home gardens for low income households in Portland. The organization expanded its mission to build gardens in partnership with other organizations with the involvement of hundreds of community volunteers. The organization was renamed Growing Gardens in 1998. 

In 1999, Growing Gardens began offering workshops on topics such as basic gardening, composting, cooking and food preservation. An education and service-learning program for youth, called Youth Grow, began in 2000.

Organizing hundreds of volunteers, Growing Gardens builds organic, raised bed vegetable gardens in backyards, front yards, side yards and even on balconies. Supporting low income households for three years with seeds, plants, classes, mentors and more.  They offer Youth Grow after school garden clubs growing the next generation of veggie eaters and growers.  Through Learn & Grow workshops and work parties, they are teaching gardeners about growing, preparing and preserving healthful food while respecting the health of the environment.

Growing Gardens plants seeds for good food and healthy people by making sure low income people have the resources  they need to grow organic vegetables at home.  Through this work, community members meet over the backyard garden, through volunteering, by attending classes, and through sharing extra produce.

Portland Chickens!

A group of volunteers who seek to promote the joy of chickens and freedom to design and build small structures without permit requirements. The passion about Urban Chickens is for many reasons, here are a few: They bring us closer to the chain of life, they make great pets, fresh eggs, fertilizer for the garden, and they are Voracious Insect Eaters.

The Urban Chickens group has found a perfect match with non-profit Growing Gardens. Sign up for the Growing Gardens newsletter to receive information on Upcoming Portland Chicken Events.

For more info on Growing Gardens visit HERE.

Images copyright Growing Gardens & Jim Golden, 2009.

Good People: The Power House Project

The Power House was started by the Design 99 duo, Gina Reichert and Mitch Cope in March of 2008 with the purchase of one house and two empty lots totaling $4,900. These properties were purchased with the kind help of family members and friends.

What is a Power House?
The Power House intends to be a stimulator and not an end in itself as a singular art object. The house is a broadcaster of potential ideas and a place to plug those ideas into. It will be used as an interactive site, by Mitch, Gina and their neighbors. The Power House is meant to be a symbol for creativity, new beginnings and social interaction within a neighborhood.

upcycled free paint - renovation begins

The house is meant to act as a cultural catalyst and an opportunity for cultural exchanges through workshops and residencies. It will also provide lessons in wind, solar, and sustainable strategies by implementing these systems and introducing them to the community. Installations in the landscape will be the first outward sign that draws attention to the facility and its mission. The exterior skin of the house itself will also exhibit unique characteristics and 'green' materials and strategies appropriate for the Michigan climate. Power House will serve as a showroom both inside and out.

Why create a Power House?
The communities of Detroit have been hit hard economically for many years now. Prior to the foreclosure crisis the property values in Detroit had been extremely low, and they have hit an all time low due to the current real estate market. There has always been a need for low income housing, but often what is called low income is not really that affordable to purchase or sustain. The Power House is designed to prove that it is possible to take advantage of the housing crisis and produce super efficient, self-sustaining homes all for under $99,000. By taking advantage of today’s housing crisis, the Power House Project can help people to rethink their city's aged and decaying housing stock and bring the homes back to life.

neighbors help plant a community garden

Long Term Goals
As the foreclosure crisis hits all around them, with house after house going vacant and vandalized, they began to strategize ways of making positive changes. In 2008, Gina and Mitch purchased a bank foreclosed house in Detroit for $1900 (originally valued at $85,000), almost on a whim, simply to try and take control of their immediate surroundings which were quickly destabilizing due to a spike in foreclosures. Since the house had been scrapped- all its electrical, plumbing and heating systems stolen- the idea became to work with the house in a way that turned a negative value into a positive asset by reinventing the house as a Power House.

Positive Ideas + Interactive People = Healthier Neighborhoods
The Power house Project was designed to stimulate communication and action within an otherwise challenging but unique Detroit neighborhood by way of mining out the existing positive and productive aspects of the neighborhood. The Power House is designed to be a space where people can feel comfortable to share their ideas, knowledge and expertise about the fundamentals of neighborhood living, i.e., gardening, house work, new technologies, safety, and so on. The Power House is also designed as to be magnet for gathering whether they be neighborhood resources, energy, social change, story telling or simply a place to produce and view art and culture.

candidates for future power houses in the neighborhood

Future Power House Projects
Each Power House will be capable of creating enough energy for its own consumption and produce enough excess power for at least one neighboring home. This is feasible due to the extremely low cost of purchasing property in Detroit and the amount of available small single family vacant homes in Detroit. A certain percentage of each Power House would also function as neighborhood hubs by producing not only electricity but also a new point of identity, gathering place of creative exchange, thus a new type of neighborhood where undesirable homes become experimental factories for community action and power.

Currently they are in the process of bringing other artists in to help set up a small neighborhood radio station and sculpted landscape work.

Learn more about the Power House project and Duo 99 HERE.

Info and photos in this post credit to Design 99 and the Power House Project.