Volunteering

Ronald McDonald House, Portland

The Ronald McDonald House has two facilities in Portland where families who travel from all over Oregon and SW Washington to seek critical medical care for their children can live free of charge for the duration of their child's hospital stay. There are many opportunities to volunteer there and my preferred one was to cook and serve meals to their residents. The foundation provides the location, equipment, and recipes, and volunteers provide the ingredients, time and labor. You can read about their work and connect with them here:

Grace Center, Corvallis

The Grace Center for Adult Day Services in Corvallis serves 5 counties and provides memory care, post-rehab support, and services for older adults living with neurodegenerative diseases including dementia. The lady I spent most of my time with was largely non-verbal, but we were able to connect through our shared love of music, dancing, flowers, and paining our nails. You can read more about them and if you can, support their work below. They really do wonderful work and care about their patients.

Inspiring Girls Expeditions, Corvallis

They are an non-profit founded at the Oregon State University and seek to send high school youth on cost-free scientific expeditions around the world to explore natural sciences. To check out some of their amazing expeditions, support them, or to apply for an expedition (open in December for the following summer):