| Take a break
Once a week, Yvonne Gottlieb and her mother, Rhona Wilmot, each get a much-needed break when Wilmot heads to St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Old Bridge for an afternoon of socializing with other seniors. For Gottlieb, it's an opportunity to attend to errands and lift some of the strain that comes with caring for her 86-year-old mother at home. For Wilmot, it's a brief return to independence and an activity-filled afternoon.
"This gives my mom her self-esteem back. When she comes home, she's happy and she's relaxed," says Gottlieb, an Old Bridge resident, who juggles work along with her roles as daughter, wife and mother of a 12-year-old son. At Interfaith Network of Care's respite program, Wilmot enjoys lunch, works on some crafts and socializes with the others in the group.
Competition for college aid grows
FREDERICK -- When Samelia Ekah graduates in June, she hopes to attend Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala. where she will be living with her aunt. "Hope" is the keyword, the Frederick High School senior said. What college she attends will depend on the financial aid package she receives, Ekah said. Ekah joins other college-bound students in search for financial aid. Published reports have described college aid as dwindling and more competitive. The search can be daunting, said Herman Davis, executive director of College Financial Aid Counseling & Educational Services based in Bethesda. Davis led a free financial aid workshop recently, sponsored by Farmers & Mechanics Bank. Colleges and universities are relying on merit-based aid to compete for the best students. But the big losers in this competition are those students least able to afford college, Donald E.
Project Examines Need for Youth Home
Unseen. Invisible. Underreported. These are just a few of the words Meghann Darne uses to describe the homeless youth problem in North Portland. To say the problem of homeless youth is invisible would be a joke to some; so-called "street kids" crowd the sidewalks downtown, begging for change and causing some in government to call for laws further restricting vagrancy.But the problem is much different in North and Northeast Portland, said Darne, a youth advocate at Portland OIC, an alternative school providing education, leadership and job training to at-risk youth ages 12 to 24."The exact number of homeless youth is unknown," she said. "Many don’t even qualify themselves as homeless."Darne, a foster parent herself, is working on the Housing Opportunities Matched with Education (or HOME) project to establish a youth homeless shelter in the North Portland area.
David Flores: Lanier's Martinez breaks cycle
Growing up in a crime-ridden neighborhood, Lanier assistant boys basketball coach Louis Martinez could have become another statistic in the vicious cycle of poverty, violence and poor education. Fortunately, his mother's firm hand and basketball saved him from a world of heartache. Martinez, 24, now lives in a relatively quiet Balcones Heights subdivision. But the echoes of gunfire at Alazan-Apache Courts, the West Side public-housing project where his family lived for 15 years, still haunt him. "One time somebody shot at our next-door neighbor's place," Martinez said. "It was tough because we shared the same porch." Martinez could have gone through life making excuses, blaming society for his problems and perpetuating the hopelessness of ignorance.
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