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Dear NECC Community, Over 55,000 visits to the center 1,992 Swim lesson participants 184 Pounds of food, much appreciation to Cathy Zenger with Portland Food Project Hundreds of items of clothes donated to Blanchet House, thanks to our wonderful member Cynthia Wojack 8 pints of life-saving blood at our first blood drive with Bloodworks NW Enhanced program offerings through partnerships like that of the Portland Trail Blazers |
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| Our collective impact in action! |
| Your help has made it possible for us to enter 2026 in a strong financial position and avoid making cuts to our beloved staff or programming. But our work is not yet done. As an independent organization, we depend on membership and donations throughout the year to maintain our operating costs, maintenance needs, and fund our wide range of programs. Since our inception this community has supported our mission work with personal donations which has become a cornerstone of how we achieve our mission. It is clear to me how monumental a responsibility it is to steward these donations in a way that creates increased and lasting solvency. We would be humbled and honored if you would consider continuing to support our collective efforts by attending classes, inviting friends and family to join NECC, BottleDrop donations, or participating in the fundraising matches further down in this newsletter. |
| We also want to make special mention of our sponsors and business community whose partnership and contributions of all types help us keep our mission front and center: |
| Leupold & Stevens Foundation Nancy McMahon Bookkeeping Community for Positive Aging Trail Blazer Foundation Narwhal Law & Business Strategy Unitus Community Credit Union Anderson Construction Foundation Portland Children’s Levy Fund Energy Trust of Oregon Southern Glazer Wine & Spirits McMenamins Edgefield Pacific West Bank Grand Central Bakery Hydro-Temp Mechanical Oregon Community Foundation Social Impact Accounting Intel Foundation Portland Thorns PAE Engineers Oregon BottleDrop |
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| Portland Trail Blazers’ mascot, “Blaze,” attending the Youth Basketball League kickoff for the first time! |
| Thanks to each of you, future generations will continue to have access to all of these vital resources. Collective Power Two powerful examples of how our community has come together to strengthen NECC are through our BottleDrop and Monthly Donor programs. BottleDrop: To all of our BottleDrop donors, a big thank you for consistently dropping off your blue bag of cans and bottles! Since we began collecting BottleDrop deposits at the center, we have consistently raised roughly $500 every other month! Last year, in six months we raised $2,400. More than 15 times what we’ve collectively brought in years prior! For every dollar we raise through a blue bag deposit or a single can recycled in our BottleDrop bin, adds up and provides a steady stream of revenue that goes directly back into the center to support our programs, maintenance needs, and overall helps us build towards a sustainable future. Monthly Donors: To all of our Monthly Donors, we thank you! There are 70 NECC members who donated on a monthly basis last year, and currently, which brought in over $16,000 last year! Donations range from $5 dollars to $100 per month which provide a much needed resource for the center. That’s over $1,300 each month that helps to deepen our impact. We have a goal of increasing our monthly donor cohort to 100 members in 2026. Towards that end, our Board Treasurer, Gary Gibbs and his spouse, Kathy Niemi have offered up a challenge match. If 10 new monthly donors sign up in the month of March, they will donate $2,500. Any monthly donation that is of a meaningful amount to you is impactful to us. Collectively, we are powerful! Thank you, Gary and Kathy! |
| Keep the momentum going and help us start 2026 strong To help kick off 2026 on strong footing, our friends at Leupold & Stevens Foundation have generously offered a match of $15,000! Any donation, including monthly donations above, received in the next month will be matched up to $15,000. Thank you to our long-time supporters at Leupold & Stevens for their continued support since day one. You’re truly part of our roots and we are grateful for your partnership. |
 Celebrating together at NECC’s 20th Anniversary Celebration & Fundraiser! Finally, and most importantly, we thank each and every one of you once again for participating in programming, donating, coming together in times of joy and hardship, looking out for staff, and offering collaboration in so many different ways. We are eternally grateful to you all who make up the heart and soul of NECC. I would be remiss if I didn’t also express my deepest gratitude to all of our wonderful staff members, our multitude of NEV and NECC volunteers, our amazing past and current board members and especially, Andre Miller, Bri Slusser, Tay Stone, and Ian Barreto, who all contributed an outsized amount of time and energy to help ensure NECC has the foundation to provide essential community services for the next 100 years. Thank you for believing in our mission.Thank you for standing with us.Thank you for being our Valentine — not just this February, but every day. In solidarity & love and on behalf of the Board & Staff, |
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| Justin Pabalate Executive Director Northeast Community Center PS I realize not every piece of communication that we send will include all the different kinds of information each of us may want to know so please reach out to me directly if you have any lingering questions and I’ll be happy to schedule a one on one with you either in person or over the phone. |
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