Church helps with school move

NEWS BRIEFS: CCC holding Latino Festival; county news

The Clackamas Review, Jul 7, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

robert crawford / clackamas review

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized a volunteer effort to help North Clackamas School District move into several new school buildings in Happy Valley, saving the district nearly $135,000.

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Some 500 volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came out to help the North Clackamas School District move furniture, supplies, books and library materials as it prepares to open three new schools.

“This is a huge undertaking that we’ve been thinking about all year,” said Scouters Mountain Elementary School Principal Karen Rush. “The number one problem has been the logistics; the part that was missing was the people and suddenly this gift of people came our way.”

Norma Larsen, director of public affairs for the church, said the week-long venture “went absolutely wonderfully, much better than we thought.”

Happy Valley Middle School, Verne A. Duncan Elementary and Scouters Mountain Elementary will open to students this September. A bond measure voters approved in November 2006 funded the new schools, built to relieve crowding.

The volunteers packed donated trucks with the supplies, though Larsen said “a lot of people, two at a time, just picked up tables and moved them.”

The volunteers also helped barcode books during the week.

Ron Stewart, assistant superintendent of operations, said the volunteer effort could save the district nearly $135,000.

Rush said that “allows us to put the money back into the classroom and not into the logistics of the move.”

College holding Latino Festival

Clackamas Community College will host Festival Latino, an opportunity for people from the Latino community to visit the college’s campus and learn about the Clackamas’ education and training programs, on Saturday, July 11.

The event is from noon to 4 p.m. in CCC’s Gregory Forum. Activities include guest speakers, face painting and activities for children, light refreshments, business and merchant displays, college tours, and salsa and folk dancing. The festival concludes with a soccer game at the college’s soccer field. All events are free and open to the public.

For information, please contact instructor Camilo Sanchez at 503-657-6958, ext. 2944 or camilos@clackamas.edu.