On Sunday, I co-hosted a bake sale to raise money for MoveOn.org's efforts to put progressive candidates in office. Wait, what did you think I meant? Something else?
My friend Ren and I decided that the best way to spend a (hopefully) sunny Sunday here in Portland, Oregon was to co-host a bake sale at Ren and her hubby Andy's house near 34th and Division, which is a pretty busy intersection. We signed up at MoveOn.org. We baked. We watched as a group of kind souls we didn't know signed up at our event website to help us out. And when the big day came - wow. What an unbelievable time. What an outpouring of love from the community! We raised $700.00 dollars!!!
It all started Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning when random people who had seen our event details online starting driving by Ren's house with trays of baked goods. A lot of our friends had also donated cookies, brownies, cupcakes, and even delicious vegan fig bars! A great, politically themed coffee house (the Bipartisan Cafe) donated pies. They are at 76th and Stark, in my neighborhood. Please check them out. Yum. We set up a tent, we made signs. It was raining, but then the sun came out and it was a beautiful day.
Little girls came by with their parents and their home-made signs and sold lemonade! They called it "Obama-nade!" The drew on the sidewalk with chalk. We played music on the porch and sat in the sun. Some of us (volunteers not customers) drank sangria. A few of us drank too much sangria! Uh yeah, that would be me.
One of our fearless volunteers, Gerald, even put on a blue wig and feather boa and stood on busy 39th Ave. with a sign! He wins the best effort award, for sure. And so does Dina, who spent nearly all afternoon talking to customers and banking the donations. Not only did all of the volunteers get to know each other, we got to know the community as well. It really felt great.
Pictures of the bake sale are below. I am truly in awe of this great town and the sheer power of hope. Remarkable!
Prior to the bake sale, I had already had a pretty eventful day. First, I got up at the crack of dawn to be an extra in one of U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley's tv ads. I have never done anything like that before and it was a ton of fun! You may see me in the ad, I am the short, curly haired Jewish girl wearing a brown sweater. I don't know when it will air or if my "part" will be cut. I didn't have a speaking part or anything. Anyway, the best part of this for me was getting a chance to talk to Mr. Merkley - I had not met him before and he is down to earth and seems like a real good guy. He's funny. Progressive. I voted for Steve Novick in the primary, but once Merkley won, I was committed to doing what I could to get Gordon Smith gone. Now, it is not only that I want Smith out, I am absolutely sure that I want Merkley in. Go Jeff! I am volunteering my Wednesday evenings for the campaign and the staff is really great too.
Also, in the good karma (or world's biggest sucker) category, I found two stray 4 week old pooties in my yard early Sunday morning. They had spent all night crying in the cold and rain, apparently being weaned too early by their mother, who is feral, and who my elderly neighbor, in all her wisdom, keeps feeding. I couldn't just leave the poor babies out there. Worse case, they would starve. Best case, they would grow up to have many more strays, who would starve, etc. So, after I spent a small fortune, the two little boys now have a clean bill of health from the vet, have been de-wormed, treated for fleas, tested negative for feline AIDS and leukemia, and I am fostering them while I find them a home. I already have two pooties and can't take in any more, so if you know of anyone in Portland who is looking for one or two adorable little boy kittens, please let me know! No shelter will take them because they are too young, and the no kill shelters have waiting lists that are very long. It would break my heart if they were put to sleep. Pootie pic attached too. And BTW, I offered to help my neighbor round up the other feral cats in the neighborhood. They all hang out in my yard anyway. I will call the feral cat association this week and find out what can be done for the poor wild pooties.
Whew - what a weekend!