Giving Back This Holiday Season

The Disability Law Section Executive Committee wishes you all a happy holiday season! As the year wraps up, we wanted to share some opportunities to give back to the community.

MONETARY DONATIONS

Throughout 2020, we have received a few requests for donations from organizations whose missions we support but their missions are not directly in line with our section’s mission. Our section annually donates to the Campaign for Equal Justice, and we have donated in the past to help fund events/causes directly related to disability law and/or serving the disability community. For causes whose missions are not directly in line with ours, we have not donated but wanted to pass on their requests in case you are interested in personally donating to their cause:

Classroom Law Project: Their impact, reported on their site: “Classroom Law Project empowers teachers and students around Oregon with quality civic education programs. Last year we reached over 1,200 teachers and 97,000 students.” classroomlaw.org/donate/

Oregon Minority Lawyer’s Association (OMLA): Their impact, from their site: “OMLA sponsors numerous activities and programs” such as “Networking and Social events,” awarding “Bar Exam Preparation Scholarships,” preparing “Amicus Curiae briefs filed on issues such as Interpreters in the Courtroom and same sex marriages” and more. You can mail a donation to OMLA at Attn: Adam Gamboa,1235 SE Morrison St., Suite 150, Portland, OR 97214.

Lawyers for Literacy (a campaign fundraising for Start Making A Reader Today (SMART)): SMART “brings volunteers into classrooms to read one-on-one with PreK through 3rd grade students,” and they will “give away 140,000 books to kids across Oregon and link those to a digital library of read-aloud videos so kids can practice along.” https://smartreading.org/get-involved/donate/

Other Causes:

STATEWIDE/MULTIPLE CITIES

Volunteer with or donate to Every Child, an organization that benefits foster children in most counties in the state: https://everychildoregon.org/volunteer/

Volunteer with or donate to Special Olympics Of Oregon: soor.org/make-an-impact/volunteer/

Volunteer with or donate to Easterseals: easterseals.com/oregon/get-involved/volunteer/

PORTLAND

Oregon Food Bank: you can donate to Oregon Lawyers Against Hunger: https://give.oregonfoodbank.org/campaign/olah-2020/c304936 or volunteer: https://www.oregonfoodbank.org/get-involved/volunteer-2/

Find a local cause in Portland to volunteer with: handsonportland.org/calendar

Help houseless youth by donating goods, or providing food or baked goods, or more: https://www.pearmentor.org/covid/

Donate clothing, care kits, prepare meals, and more to help houseless Portlanders: https://blanchethouse.org/volunteer/

EUGENE

Volunteer or donate to help reduce hunger in Lane County: foodforlanecounty.org/volunteer/

MARION/POLK COUNTY

Volunteer or donate to reduce hunger in Marion and Polk County: https://marionpolkfoodshare.org/volunteer/

BEND

Volunteer or donate to reduce hunger in Bend: https://hdffa.org/get-involved/