Walk Your Socks Off and Support Local Disadvantaged Families!

400 children…homeless. No address, no soft bed, and in most cases, no food. Oregon has the fifth highest number of homeless youth in the fifty states and North Clackamas School District has more than 400 kids who are living in a car, couch surfing, or living with multiple families in the same house.

These children return to school every day in the same clothes. It’s one of the many ways the staff are alerted that they may be homeless. Their ever changing environment brings with it a constant barrage of stressful and traumatic experiences that have a profound effect on their development and their ability to learn.

The Wichita Center for Family & Community tries to ease that burden by providing services, referrals, and information to individuals and families in North Clackamas School District.  This center, housed in the old Wichita Elementary School at 6031 SE King Road, Milwaukie, has several rooms stocked with food, clothing, hygiene supplies, and school supplies.  Families are encouraged to come and ‘shop’ for the things that they need.

How to Get Involved

Portland-area walkers who want to participate can join our Walk Your Socks Off event July 30 at Happy Valley Park, 13770 SE Ridgecrest Rd., Happy Valley from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

Not only do you get to support your own health by exercising in a park surrounded by acres of wetlands, but you can support the Wichita Center, which offers programs and community events for Clackamas students and their parents.

The Wichita Center provides a place where disadvantaged families can “shop” for food, clothes and hygiene products. It also organizes community events—such as the Walk Your Socks Off fundraiser—that help families stay active together while helping others and forming tighter bonds with their neighbors.

Ready to Walk Your Socks Off for families in our community in need? Come and Walk Your Socks Off, please remember to bring with you new packages of socks or underwear for a young child or adolescent and know that they will be wrapped in warmth this fall. Questions? Please call Jill Svensen-Cox 503.353.1204.

We’ll see you at Happy Valley Park!