End of the year

Hello to all and here's hoping everyone had a safe and happy holiday!

Well, to say that this has been an interesting year would be quite an understatement. It has been full of ups and downs, but mostly ups. We started this group in the beginning of February and it has far exceeded our wildest dreams. We were able to, with the help of many, many volunteers, lend a hand to over 100 families and individuals! That's incredible! Absolutely amazing.

We originally started this to help all of the unemployed people in Portland. To get them out of the house, away from the job search and helping those in our communities that need a hand. We envisioned being able to help 5 or 10 people out. We never imagined that we would be able to help so many.

There are a few regrets. One of the biggest regrets I (Seth) have, is not being able to help more people out because of my battle with alcoholism and depression. There have been times throughout the year that I haven't fulfilled my obligations to my neighbors because of my struggles. For that, I deeply apologize. The new year holds much more promise and I feel that my struggles are quickly fading into my past.

On to happier items! We have been able to do some real good. Make some really positive impacts on people's lives. It has been an incredible journey and well worth the effort. We have made so many new friends because of this. We have met so many wonderful and giving people over the last 10 months. Because of all of you, our faith and hope in humanity has grown exponentially! Thank you.

Our goal for the new year is not only to continue helping those that we can, but also to bring neighbors and neighborhoods closer together. We would like to start hosting neighborhood get togethers and block parties. We would like to start tool and food exchange. We want to start a knowledge exchange by having monthly classes with things like gardening, canning, and cooking as the topics. We want to do anything that brings people closer together as friends and neighbors. The more we know each other, the better off we will all be.

So, please, help us reach out to even more people this year. Volunteer in your area. Get out and help a neighbor. Organize a neighborhood potluck (it's actually pretty easy). Make a point to get out into your neighborhood and introduce yourself to some neighbors you don't know.

Let's all pledge to make a difference in at least one other person's life this year.

All the best,
Seth and Michelle

Gorge Falls Fest

Every year, the weekend after Father's Day, Multnomah Falls puts on an event called the Gorge Falls Fest. Aaron P., the on site manager for the Forest Service and one of WGTTH's first volunteers, was kind enough to offer us a booth at the event.

Michelle and I were there both Saturday and Sunday from 9am until close. One other volunteer, Mel, came up for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon.

It was a busy weekend with thousands of people coming to the Falls. We talked with hundreds of people that were interested in what WGTTH is about. We handed out a lot of fliers and information about our group. We also handed out tons of the Portland Upside's newest issue.

People were really receptive and gave us a lot of positive feedback. Information about WGTTH is going everywhere from Florida to Italy! How cool is that? Others said that they have heard about us and were interested in becoming a volunteer.

Hopefully, we made a positive difference in some lives. Maybe some of these people will go back home and become even better neighbors than they are right now!

We are already looking forward to next year's event!

More Amazing People! Deb and Jeff

We received a call from a woman who had been following our blog for a while. Deb and her husband, Jeff, were in the process of moving and had some extra things they no longer needed. Instead of donating them to a local charity where they could receive a tax write off they offered them to us to help with projects. They believed in what we are doing and wanted to help us continue the good work. Jeff even dropped the items off at our house. They donated painting supplies, yard tools and other miscellaneous construction items that will definitely make continuing to do what we do easier in the future.

A heartfelt THANK YOU to Deb and Jeff!! We were overwhelmed with your generosity and it just shows us time and time again, how many good people there are in the world.
Thank you so much and we wish you the best on your next stage in life.

Busy week starting tomorrow 4/28!

Good morning to all!

This is going to be a really busy week and we could sure use some help. We have quite a few projects going on and we would love to get them all completed! We still need some neighbors to sign up for these projects and can't do all of this alone.

The first project we have going on is Project #24 that involves sheet rocking, mudding and taping and painting a small bedroom and bathroom This project is scheduled to happen on Wednesday the 29th. The next is Project #27 that is basically patching a few small holes and painting an office and hallway for a battered women's and children's shelter We are scheduled to be there on Thursday the 30th. The next on the list is to finish is Project #19. We still need to rototill, build a garden, lay a brick pathway, haul some debris away and to build an arbor. We are looking at going out all day Friday the 1st of May. Also on tap for this week is just the moving of some large potted plants, from inner SE to N Portland. Anyone with a truck or small pickup could get this one done.

If you can lend a hand with any of these projects, please email us at wevegottimetohelp@q.com and let us know which project(s) you are going to help with. Thank you!

We also have a lot of other projects coming up and we need more help! If anyone has some time to give to your neighbors in need, we would really love to hear from you. Thank you all for everything that you have been doing for our communities and keep up the great work!!

The Extended Neighbor Network

From dictionary.com the definition of Neighbor:

1. a person who lives near another.
2. a person or thing that is near another.
3. one's fellow human being: to be generous toward one's less fortunate neighbors.
4. a person who shows kindliness or helpfulness toward his or her fellow humans: to be a neighbor to someone in distress.

From the first days of We've Got Time to Help Michelle and I have said, as loud and as clear as possible, that we will gather volunteers from all the different communities in Portland to help those in need. No matter what the need, if we gather enough volunteers, we can accomplish anything.

Great concept, wrong wording.

To get "volunteers" to help others is an antiquated way of thinking. Gathering "volunteers" was the old way of doing business. We were caught up in old habits. We now see the error of our ways.

Instead, (see numbers 3 and 4 above) we are all, and always have been, neighbors. It doesn't get any more clear or all-encompassing than "one's fellow human being". We feel ashamed for not seeing it before.

So, from now on, We've Got time to Help does not have "volunteers" that will help others in need. We have neighbors that are willing to cross the street or cross the river to help a fellow human being in need. We are all neighbors on this big, round rock and if we could all start to look at it that way, we think it might be just a little bit easier to help one another out in times of need.

We will now call We've Got Time to Help's group of "volunteers" (including ourselves) neighbors in the Extended Neighbor Network. How cool does that sound? We think that, if we can all look at it like we are just neighbors helping neighbors, not only will this be easier for people to offer assistance, but it might make it easier for one of our neighbors in need to reach out for help.

We're not helping a complete stranger, we're just helping a neighbor out that we haven't had the pleasure to meet yet. We're not volunteering, we are just giving a neighbor a hand.

Extreme Yard Makeover update

Well, yesterday was PHENOMENAL! We had over a dozen volunteers show up and take time to help someone they don't even know. It literally gave us chills. Things are changing. There is a new type of thinking and a new type of community emerging from these dark times. It is tremendous to see that change and lucky enough to be a part of it.

A huge thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers yesterday: Aaron, Mel, Meri, Mary, Brooke (and Captain Jack), Kelli, Abby, Julie, Dwane, Cindi, Lucas, Ryan, Louanne and Seth. Absolutely incredible!

It was a great day and we got so much work done. There is still more work to do and, hopefully, we can get some more people out there within the next week or so. We still need to rototill, lay bricks down around the flower beds and build an arbor for the large grapevine in the back. If there is anyone that would like to volunteer to build the arbor, that would be great!

Seth and Trevor are going over to the project this afternoon with a truck and a trailer to haul all of the debris away to the dump. Let's get another group together next week and finish this project up! Who's coming with us?

Here are some photos from yesterday. We will be taking more and posting them soon. Thanks again to everyone yesterday. You are all tremendous human beings!


4 trees had to come out along the back fence.


Cleanup after the trees came down.


Weeding, weeding, weeding!


This area of the yard...before


...after.


Digging out a new herb garden!

Overgrown rose bush...before

...after.

Some of the 12,000,000 bricks that needed to be separated into various piles.

Just a couple of the yard debris piles.

We can't thank you enough for all of your hard work!

Got Time to Change a Life?

We've Got Time to Help. We've Got Time to Help strengthen communities. We've Got Time to Help each other. We've Got Time to Help pay it forward. We've Got Time to Help others stand strong when they are at their weakest. We've Got Time to Help shine light even on the darkest of days. We've Got Time to Help total strangers. We've Got Time to Help change the way communities think. We've Got Time to Help promote social responsibility. We've Got Time to Help show our neighbors that we care. We've Got Time to Help change the world.

These are just a few of the phrases that we have used over the last couple of months. They are but a few of the reasons why we started We've Got Time to Help.

This is the first major call that we have made for volunteers. We have many, many projects and we could use some more volunteers to help us get them done. We get calls for help almost every day and only a portion of the projects actually make it to the blog. A lot of them are taken care of almost immediately.

Our next big project is, what we affectionately call, The Extreme Yard Makeover. We could definitely use some more people on this one. This is a great chance for everyone to get out and help a deserving family while meeting others in your community who are as committed as you are to Paying it Forward. Please give us a call at 503-953-6018 or email wevegottimetohelp@q.com to find out more details.

You don't need any specific skills, just a willingness to get your hands dirty. Even if you can only spare an hour or two, it would be such a big help. It will be a lot of work but it will also be a lot of fun, and even more importantly...it will be worth it.

Believe me, we understand that it's hard. It's hard to volunteer to help someone with their yard when you don't have time to tend to your own. It's hard to help a total stranger when you have a world of troubles on your mind. It's hard to step out of your comfort zone and meet with a group of strangers. Please know that we completely understand.

We come home almost every day tired, sore and wondering if we are in over our heads. Then, we get up the next day and do it all again. If it wasn't worth it, we wouldn't do it. But we get up every day, with smiles on our faces (and Ibuprofen in hand), with a strong feeling of community, and the knowledge that we have, even in some small way, made a difference in someone's life.

Let me tell you, my friends, it doesn't get any better than that.

Business Fair - April 3rd,4th and 5th

As you may or may not know, We've Got Time to Help is going to be at the New Chances Vendor Fair at Jantzen Beach this Friday 5pm-9pm, Saturday from 9am-9pm and on Sunday from 9am-6pm.

We thought this might give us a chance, not only to meet some new volunteers, but to get the word out about our group and what we do. The more people that know about us, the more people we can help. This is a chance for us to not only tell people about what we do, but to try to explain why this world would be a lot better place if we all lived by "Pay It Forward".

Anyway, so if you like, come down and talk to us. We would love to meet some new friends!

See you there!

Extreme Yard Makeover

See our project page for the story that started it all at http://moreprojectinfo.blogspot.com/2009/03/project-19-extreme-yard-makeover.html

Well, one of the volunteers, Meri, was gracious enough to go out and survey and assess the yard we are working on. Let me tell you, Meri knows her stuff! Thanks, Meri!

What we need, is to get a big group together for a 2 day yard party, for cleanup and trimming, before we can get started on all of the building and planting. It should be a great time! Lots of fellow volunteers and some good, old fashioned work. We were hoping to schedule it for April 1st and 2nd (next Wed. and Thurs.). The sooner we can get plants/trees/shrubs in the ground, the better.

After the prep work has been done, then we can move onto the really fun stuff...planting! Like we said, this is a big job but it is going to be so worth it and this family is truly deserving!

What we need is a lot of volunteers (we were hoping for at least 12) that can volunteer for at least one of the 2 days (both days would be great!). Trucks would be a great help as we will probably make a yard debris run or two. This will be our first large scale work party and we would love to see everyone out there!

Please give Seth or Michelle a call at 503-953-6018 to sign up for this fun project. Thanks to all in advance!

Monthly Meet and Greet-March

It is time again for our monthly meet and greet. A time to meet one another, bring in new volunteers, share ideas and discuss how the last month of projects went.

We will be hosting an open house on March 18th from 11am-2pm. We are located in Northeast Portland. If you are interested, please call 503-953-6018 or email us at wevegottimetohelp@q.com for the address. Snacks and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided.

If you would like to attend but do not have transportation, please let us know and we will arrange transportation, if possible. If you know of anyone else that might be interested in attending, please bring them along with you!

All we need you to bring is your ideas on how we can help each of our communities.

Take care and see you soon!

Modern Color

First of all, thank you to all of the volunteers that showed up to help, especially on such short notice. Lynn, Aric and Jenn, Mel, Trevor, Seth and Michelle all showed up to help out a family business tear down their shop. Margena and Rodger from King's Embroidery also donated about a dozen shirts with We've Got Time to Help's new logo embroidered on them. Margena and Rodger worked late into the night on Friday, just to make sure that they could have our shirts ready for us. Thank so much to King's Embroidery!!

We wish we could have been there under different circumstances or for a happier occasion. But, unfortunately, Modern Color was one of the latest casualties in this economic downturn. They are a great group of people who deserved more than to have to shut their doors.

So, the volunteers started showing up around 9am and immediately got to work. Anything from talking loads of trash to the huge dumpster to dismantling equipment. Everyone was a great help! We didn't get all of it done, but we made a big dent. Seth is going back out there Monday, March 2nd (tomorrow), to help out some more. Anyone is more than welcome to give us a call at 503-953-6018 if you'd like to help out this week. There is more moving to be done and more breakdown of equipment that needs to happen. Just give us a call or email if you're interested.

The owners of Modern Color also said that they are going to try and open up a smaller shop ASAP. They are hoping to be operational in their new location within a week or so. Please keep them in mind if you need any signs or banners or you know of someone who could use their service.

Thanks again to everyone for helping out on this! You are much more appreciated than words can say.

We've Got Time to fix a fence

Well, Michelle and Seth headed out to Troutdale this Saturday, looking forward to helping some neighbors in need. After arriving we saw quite a bit of damage and a large tree down. We spoke with the home owners and walked around the site. Luckily, a friend of theirs had taken down the part of the tree that was on the fence, so we didn't have to break out our chainsaw! Whew!

One lone volunteer, Randall, came out to help us in our endeavor! Thanks so much Randall! We couldn't have done it without you. Too big of a job for 2 people!

We walked around and formulated a plan and then just dug in (literally). We were a little apprehensive at first, but as we got going, it was a pretty straight forward job. We dug 8 new holes, all 2 feet deep and filled them with concrete. We then set the new posts and attached the support beams. It was a hard, dirty job, but after we finished, it was all worth it!

We didn't put up the actual fence slats. We are giving the concrete some time to set and besides, it was really, really, really (did I say really?) windy out there. If we had finished the fence with wet concrete, it would have come down again!


The first hole!


Part of the missing fence and you can see the huge downed tree on the right.


More of the missing fence. The missing part was basically a big "T". About 50 feet total needed to be repaired.


Seth, looking like he thinks it's a photo shoot! Get to work!

Some of the new fence posts set in concrete.

This is Randall. He was such a huge help! Thanks again, Randall!

The frame of the new fence. It took about 7 hours to get everything done.

It looked really good (if we do say so ourselves)!

We were absolutely beat after we were done. We could barely get back in the car afterwards. But you know what? We'd do it all again in a heartbeat!

Big Project this weekend, Sat the 21st!

UPDATE: If you find yourself with some extra time on your hands today, and you would like to come out and help us, please call 503-953-6018 as we will be on site and not near our email. Thanks to all!

We have had a big call for help from some neighbors who live in Troutdale. They lost 5 sections of fencing, a gate and had a tree fall onto some of the fence.

They are buying all of the materials this week, but they need some good old-fashioned labor. Lots of hands on this project for sure. The more the better, we think. It would be great to get a couple of people who have done some wood working and concrete along for the ride!

We also need a (at least one) person with a chainsaw(s). We need to move some of the tree so that we can fix the fence.

We are hoping that we can get at least 15 people out there this Saturday, come rain or shine!

Who's coming with us? Call Seth at 503-953-6018 for the address and directions.

Also, anyone that can offer rides to a couple of our volunteers, that would be great! We can take a couple, but we don't have a big vehicle. Thanks to all!!

Here's how you can be a part of this...

...just email us or call us (both our phone number and email address are on the right-hand side of this page and also at the bottom of the page). Let us know that you want to help. Let us know that you are ready to go out into our communities with other volunteers and start making a difference in the lives of those who need it. We will not accept payment from the people we help and we do not give money out. Most of us are unemployed and can't afford to give any of our money away. What we do give is time. Time and hard work. Time and dedication. Dedication to ourselves and our neighbors.

You can remain anonymous, or you can have your picture and name on our blog. You can help with every project or just one. You can choose to do physical labor or you could help with office/computer/phone work (we don't do fundraisers). You could volunteer to make food or drinks for project volunteers. We need everyone involved. No job is too small.

As for the projects themselves, again, no project is too small. We have helped people with simple things like fixing a leaky pipe under the kitchen sink or dropping off food to a needy family. We have some bigger projects, too. People who need major electrical and plumbing work done. Painting. Home repairs. Gutters installed. We will always do our best to help those who ask for it.
This is a horrible time economically for a lot of people. Too many people are being left behind while the economy worsens everyday. Jobs are being lost and lives are being harmed. We have all vowed to not let that happen anymore. Not on our watch. We will all do whatever we can, when we can, to make a positive and (hopefully) long lasting effect in people's lives.

Please join us. We (the volunteers) are having a get together this Wednesday the 11th of February and we would love to have as many volunteers come as possible. Most of the people coming are new to We've Got Time to Help and haven't been on a project yet. This will be a chance for most of us to share our ideas and experiences, to brainstorm about how we can best help those in need and to meet each other and see the excitement that we all share.

Not affiliated with any group other than Humanity.

Tomorrow morning

Well, tomorrow morning (Saturday the 7th) is when we are making a delivery of household items to the family in need. We are very excited. If you plan to join us or you have other items to donate to this family, please let us know. We will be leaving our house (email for address) at about 8:30 am. If you can make it, we would love to have you!

As far as we know, the family is unaware of our efforts.

We have a sofa/love seat, dining table (no chairs, though), a coffee table, a stroller, food and some clothing for the family. All of these items were donated by people who just want to help. You guys and gals are great!

A BIG thank you to all that have donated time and items to this wonderful cause! Please join us.

On the radio this Friday!

Earlier this week, we were contacted by the KBOO radio station (FM 90.7) and asked if we could be interviewed on their Friday Night radio show. Of course, we shouted a resounding “Yes!” What an opportunity to get the word out about We’ve Got Time to Help. The show will start at 6pm on Friday the 6th and will be an interview/call-in lasting an hour.

If you are available, please tune into the show. Or even better, call into the show and ask any questions that you might have. Hopefully, this will garner us new opportunities to get the word out. Thank you to KBOO and to Bridget Sullivan (the Event Producer) for this chance to speak to so many people!

You can find links to the show at http://kboo.fm/node/11938 and at http://kboobreadandroses.blogspot.com/

Please take a few minutes to listen to the show and PLEASE tell us what you think! We would love to hear from you! You can also listen to it here: http://kboo.fm/node/12082

Also, please see the post below for an opportunity to help a family this Saturday! Thank you for your time.

Seth and Michelle

We've Got Time

Hello to everyone! My name is Seth and my (long time) girlfriend is Michelle. We are a couple in our mid-30s and we live in NE Portland (Gateway Area). So, if you read the sidebar, you kind of get an idea of what we're about. We are not trying to organize the world. We are just trying to help others with nothing expected in return. This alone will give us an overall feeling that we did something that matters. Just getting out of our homes, away from the job searching for as little as an hour or two a week improves our outlook.

The thing that will join us together is desire to help. Nothing is too big or too small.

Why does it take a disaster to draw people out to help? Do we need a snow storm? Do we need a Hurricane Katrina? Why are we not able to do this on a daily or weekly basis? Every possible career path has been affected by the current economic times. There is no profession that has been unscathed. We are doctors, plumbers, electricians, cooks, homemakers, woodworkers, roofers, dentists, students and every other profession that you could fathom.

Let’s get this started. No matter how small it may appear it makes a difference in another person’s life. You do not have to join us in any of our projects or ideas. Thank you for visiting this blog. If you don’t want to join us in our endeavor to make our communities back into Communities this is fine. Maybe you would like to spend your time helping out your neighbor or volunteer at your child’s school. Every thing you do, every little step you take helping others can bring great personal rewards.

You may think you have no skills that would be useful. Bah humbug!! It could be helping the retired neighbor take in their groceries from their car. It could be someone to organize and maintain a phone list of others that are willing to help. Maybe you have a chainsaw in the garage that you can’t personally use but if a tree falls on someone else’s home you can lend it to another who can help cut the tree up. Everything large and small makes a difference. Maybe you speak more than one language and can translate for another who wants to help.

You could be an unemployed roofer or a person who has had their roof replaced in the past and has an extra bundle or two of shingles lying around the house. Put those two together and you just helped someone who had a roof that was leaking. This is a grass roots cause. There will be no monetary payment. Knowing you can and are helping others in your low time will show you that you are worthwhile and do have something to give this world and to your community.

We are just as new to this as some of the people visiting this site. We have done some volunteer work in the past but it was very minimal. We’ve Got Time to Help now, so we are going to give it our best.

Anyone and everyone has something to offer. Race, color, religion, sexual orientation, politics etc. etc. None of that matters here. People helping people is all that matters.

Thanks for stopping by. We are going to host a get together/meet and greet at our home on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 from 11 am-3pm. All potential volunteers are welcome to stop by, introduce themselves and let us know about any special skills or equipment that you have that we can use to make our community better. You don't need to bring anything (except a positive attitude!) and we will be making lunch for everyone. This will be very informal and will just give us a chance to plan our first "outing".

Please let us know that you stopped by or send us an email at wevegottimetohelp@q.com and let us know if you can make it to the gathering (it would be great to know in advance so we know how much food to make). Thanks again and we hope to see a lot of you on the 11th!