For a great cause

Today I spent my lunch hour (make it two hours) at a meeting of The Dougy Center board of directors. We met around a conference table in an insurance office in the Johns Landing area. And while the weather was unseasonably nasty -- you could see sheets of rain pounding the pavement on Southwest Macadam Avenue -- all of our spirits were raised during the financial and program reports.

First, the financials. Turns out the annual fundraising dinner on May 8 brought in nearly $530,000 from the auction and raffle, compared to $483,000 last year. These are gross figures only; we won't know the net proceeds until June, but it's a good bet they will come in at about $445,000 -- a figure equivalent to about one-third of the agency's budget. Those are great numbers in this economy, but they speak well to the reputation of The Dougy Center which, as I've written before, provides counseling services -- free of charge -- to grieving children and their families after the death of a family member.

Second, the program's reach. During April, 400 children, teenagers and young adults and their 271 family members were served in our 52 peer groups (26 for children and teens, 26 for adults) at three locations in the Portland metro area. These are the highest numbers ever, which attest to the ongoing need for these services in such critical moments. Astoundingly, there are currently more than 500 similar programs across the United States and internationally that are based on the Dougy Center model, including 189 so-called "network programs" that received direct training from the center's staff.

No doubt this year's fundraising efforts were helped by a special appeal based on the fact that a still-unsolved arson fire last year destroyed the headquarters building in Southeast Portland where the program staff was housed and peer groups regularly met. Since the fire, the staff has worked out of a smaller, adjoining building and the counseling groups have been held at a temporary, much smaller location in a hastily remodeled house at Northeast 20th and Sandy Boulevard. It's a credit to the volunteers and professional staff who facilitate these groups that they've been able to maintain the quality and quantity of services under the most difficult circumstances. And there's hope for the future, now that a recent settlement with our insurance company has allowed the board and staff to begin jointly planning for a new structure.

We are not deep-pocketed by any means, but Lori and I don't mind stretching ourselves once a year to help a great cause. Our friends, Colleen and Erin, joined us at the dinner two weekends ago at The Governor Hotel and we greatly appreciated their presence. Our modest haul from the silent auction: two bottles of wine, a new purse for Lori and, best of all, a framed 5 x 7 mirror made by one of the children who's gone through Dougy's grief counseling.

What better way to end this post than by quoting the Emily Dickinson poem so carefully inscribed in cursive by Madeleine:

Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
and never stops at all.

Photograph by Tucker Photography