Leadership Tigard Class of 2019 Hosts Chelsea’s Closet Fundraiser for Service Project

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Chelseas Closet

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
April 18, 2019

Lauren Scott
Leadership Tigard Class of 2019
503-718-2595
laurens@tigard-or.gov

Tigard, Ore. – Tigard Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Tigard’s program goal is to inspire rising leaders to participate in the life of their community through education and experience in a broad range of activities.  This year’s Leadership Class, made up of local entrepreneurs, downtown business owners, government employees and residents, has chosen the Chelsea Hicks Foundation as their service project.

What: Chelsea’s Closet Fundraiser
Where: Beach Hut Deli (12436 SW Main St. Tigard, OR 97223)
When: 5-9pm
About: Serving up food and beverages with 20% of the proceeds from sales, and 100% of all backyard beers, raffle prizes and sponsorship dollars benefiting Chelsea’s Closet programs. The event will also feature raffle prizes (tickets for purchase) including a weekend trip to Palm Springs, bespoke eyewear designed by downtown business and Leadership Tigard participant EDA Frames (Frameabl), restaurant gift cards, and more. 

Tigard-based Chelsea’s Closet works to transform lives of children and families facing illness by including therapeutic dress-up and play with their hospital experience.

“After learning about the work Chelsea’s Closet was doing and hearing Allison’s story about her own daughter’s illness,” said Kris Barrett, Fairway Independent Mortgage Loan Officer and 2019 Leadership Tigard class member, “it became clear that this was a cause we wanted to support.”

After spending volunteer hours at the costume storage warehouse at Chelsea’s Closet, this year’s class decided to host a fundraiser in order to fund a needed computerized barcode inventory system. Making it easier for staff and volunteers to find specific costumes and accessories requested by hospitalized children.

“It was important to our Leadership Tigard Class that we not just volunteer for a day, but that we were able to make a lasting impact on this organization.” – Taylor Sarman, Chief of Staff for State Rep. Margaret Doherty and 2019 Leadership Tigard Class member. 

Tigard-based Chelsea’s Closet works to transform lives of children and families facing illness by including therapeutic dress-up and play with their hospital experience. They do this by offering children and their siblings the chance to select a costume and accessories from its mobile costume closet at OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital and Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel. Research shows that active therapeutic play can promote normal development and significantly reduce the psychological and physiological stress for children facing serious medical challenges.

“Because of my own daughter’s illness, I know first-hand the horrors of watching a child go through numerous rounds of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery only to see it dampen their spirits and change their body,” says Alison Hicks, Chelsea’s Closet Co-Founder and CEO. “Remembering that they are children before they are patients, Chelsea’s Closet empowers them to be anything they want to be – transforming them with costumes, play, and imagination into the Superhero or Princess to combat their disease.”

The Leadership Tigard Class of 2019 hopes that others will come out and support this cause at their fundraiser on Friday, April 26th from 5-9pm at Beach Hut Deli.

About Leadership Tigard

Leadership Tigard is a program of the Tigard Chamber of Commerce and educates rising leaders on the issues impacting business and their community and on the resources in the community, allowing one to become part of solutions as a more informed and engaged citizen. When you invest in Leadership Tigard you invest in the community and our future.

Chelsea’s Closet

Media Contact: Alison Hicks                   alison@chelseahicksfoundation.org

503-941-5229                                     www.chelseahicksfoundation.org

$2B Oregon Business Tax Plan Released

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state capitol


We know there is widespread anticipation and concern regarding the new $2 billion business tax being promoted by legislative leadership.

Last evening, the detailed plan was finally made public.

https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Downloads/ProposedAmendment/15752

At a high level, it is a 0.49% gross receipts tax with a 25% deduction for either business inputs or labor costs, whichever is greater. The tax applies to all business entities with gross sales in excess of $1 million.

Although this is a new 25-page tax bill that undoubtedly has many complexities, our understanding is that legislative leadership intends for the process to move quickly. There may be limited opportunity for input or to amend the bill.

In another area of concern, we also believe that the Governor/Governor’s office will be presenting her PERS pension reform package today at the noon hearing for Ways & Means Capital Construction subcommittee. We have reason to believe that a raid on SAIF resources and reserves will be a part of that discussion, but the particulars are not clear. We also anticipate their will be other fund “sweeps” to help buy down escalating PERS rates, particularly for schools.

Please stay tuned to our blog, facebook and email for other business impacting legislative updates.

David Aldridge Named 2019 Tigard’s First Citizen

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Aldridge

David Aldridge has been named as the 2019 recipient of the Tigard’s First Citizen award.   This award recognizes someone who has made in-depth, long-term volunteer contributions to the Tigard community over the years. The winner is active, involved, interested and enthusiastic about making Tigard a nice place to live and work. This individual excels in any area of unpaid endeavor of education, social services, youth work, and community improvement of public services. This award is given in the spirit of all volunteers who remain unknown. The recipient joins the ranks of those previously honored in continually striving to improve the Tigard Area. 

David Aldridge’s contributions to the Tigard community have covered a wide range of activities and organizations including the Good Neighbor Center, Tigard CERT, St. Anthony Severe Weather Shelter, the American Red Cross, Coffee Creek Women’s Correctional Facility, the Pumper Car, church, and general community service. All of these areas of volunteerism have a common theme of helping those in greatest need.  He has selflessly given thousands of hours of service across our community.

This includes 20 years as a weekly overnight host at the Good Neighbor Center Family Homeless Shelter in Tigard, sleeping on a couch 1 night each week to ensure the safety and security of Good Neighbor Center families, and enabling the agency to run cost effectively.  In addition to his service in this aspect, David is currently serving and has been on the Board of Directors for the Good Neighbor Center for the last 6 years. 

Keeping his focus on the community of Tigard, David has been a member of the Tigard Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) for over 10 years, helping his community and neighbors be better prepared in the event of a serious natural or other local disaster. CERT is entirely volunteer run and is a program of the City of Tigard. 

David also serves as a volunteer staffer for Saint Anthony’s “severe weather shelter” for the homeless, often helping to stay overnight (and more) as a volunteer host. Though not a member of the Catholic Church himself, he believes in what St. Anthony’s is doing and has given countless hours over last 5 years in support of their work on many occasions.

Continuing in his spirit of giving and service, David is also personally a member of the “Ten+ Gallons Given Club” with the Red Cross where he’s donated over 12 gallons of blood/platelets.  This equates to over 96 pints of blood!

Although this next service takes place in our neighboring community of Tualatin, Oregon, David for many years has served at the Coffee Creek Women’s Correctional Facility on a weekly basis, overseeing an addiction recovery in-service program for the female inmates. Coffee Creek is the only Women’s Correctional facility in the state so it services all communities.  This is an unpaid community service position requiring him to be at the prison three times each week. He has been providing this service for several years now and is the only volunteer that shows up rain or shine, even in the snow, week-in-and-week-out and on holidays.

David also gives a great deal of church and general community service through JustServe.org and more, visiting the elderly in the area, assisting with addiction recovery programs and meetings, emergency preparedness, community education, and more. He has a greeter and supporter at the City of Tigard Community Preparedness Fair since the beginning.

David helped raise a significant amount of  funding to support a local Tigard company, Columbia Inland, manufacturer of The Pumper Car, an FDA approved medical physical therapy device enabling patients of all ages, but especially special needs children, who suffer from autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and many other maladies, to be able to exercise and improve their coordination and conditioning in some extraordinary ways.

Last but not least, David was awarded the Tigard Shining Stars “From the Heart” Volunteer of the Year award in 2013.

As you can see David  has engaged at a broad level across the Tigard community on behalf of the community.  It is obvious he cares deeply about the place that he lives and its vulnerable community members.  In all his roles he is always selflessly looking out for the betterment of the community at large.

Please join us in congratulating David on his award and thanking him for his service to our Tigard community.  His award will be formally presented with other Tigard volunteer and business awards at Tigard’s 2019 Shining Stars Community Awards Gala being held on Friday, May 3rd, from 5:30-9 p.m. at Embassy Suites – Washington Square, our event location host.  With a theme of travel, this elegant themed event includes a silent auction, dinner, dessert dash, awards and more. Tickets are $60 per person. Get ready to travel the world and join us to celebrate Tigard!

For further details about the Tigard Shining Stars Community Awards Gala, please contact the Tigard Chamber of Commerce at 503-639-1656 or at Jessica@tigardchamber.org, or go to our website at www.Tigardchamber.org.

$5B+ In New Taxes in Biennium Possible

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Week 11 Oregon State Legislative Update – Brought to you through our membership in OSCC.

We want to reiterate four major tax hikes  are being pushed by legislative leaders which total over $5B in a biennium. As of now, all four proposals are serious and viable. Please get familiar with and distribute this infographic. It is the story of the 2019 Oregon legislature.

Health Care Tax (HB 2269), aka Employer Assessment Tax ($500M). This proposal would give the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) the authority to determine what every large employer (defined as 50+ employees who work an average of 8/hrs per week) should be spending on health care for employees and authorizes the agency to levy a tax on every employer that does not meet the agency’s minimum health care spending requirements. Agency leaders testified that the bill is designed to raise $500 million per biennium in new taxes.

OSCC strongly opposes this bill and joined other business associations in written testimony. OSCC was not allowed to testify in person. The bill now resides in the House Revenue Committee.

Paid Family Leave (HB 2005) – $1.5B. Legislative leaders have now introduced this bill as the newest and most refined effort to pass a paid family and medical leave system. Bottom line: the bill gives the Employment Department the authority to levy up to a 1% payroll tax on employers and a 1% income tax on employees to implement a 26-week per year paid family leave program. The bill would apply to all employers with at least one employee, guarantees employees position upon return and non-payroll benefits must be paid while on leave. The bill raises about $1.5 billion in new taxes every biennium to fund this new state-run bureaucracy and insurance program.  See our letter to legislators on a similar bill that we sent recently.

Cap & Trade (HB 2020) ($1.1B). The newest re-write of HB 2020, the ‘Cap & Trade’ bill, did nothing to alleviate cost concerns for manufacturers or everyday Oregonians. The new version of the bill would immediately add 16 cents per gallon in fuel costs and an immediate 30% increase in natural gas costs for residential, commercial and industrial customers. Large manufacturers will see similar and immediate cost increases for electricity. All told, we are analyzing this bill as a $1.1 billion increase in costs for Oregonians each biennium. The vast majority of direct costs will be borne by manufacturers. HB 2020 will result in an immediate 30% increase in natural gas costs and a 16-cent per gallon gas price hike.

Business Tax Increase ($2B). It’s becoming clearer that leadership will lean toward selecting a Commercial Activity Tax, which is a pure gross receipts tax, as the basis for implementing a new business tax on business to add more than $2 billion in revenue each biennium into the state’s K-12 system. Most models of this tax, start at businesses with $1M or more in receipts (gross revenue), not income.  Those lower would have a flat rate applied.  There is a small direct offset to resident with reduced state income tax rates. At this point, it does not appear that PERS reform or any other government cost savings will accompany this tax proposal.

A growing coalition of business organizations, including OSCC, are now going on record as opposing a new gross receipts tax. Read their letter here

What is the total biennial cost to the all the tax increases that are now on the table? $5.67 billion.

This equates to about $1,417/resident in Oregon and when compared to the total budget of $23.8B, is a 24% increase on the total budget. 

Email me if you are concerned about any of this legislation at debi@tigardchamber.org

Edge One Media Named 2019 Tigard Chamber Business of the Year

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Edge One Media 1

Edge One Media, Owned by Nicholas De Salvo and Megan De Salvo, partners in business and in life, has been selected as the 2019 Tigard Chamber Business of the Year.  This award recognizes a chamber business that has made in-depth contributions to the Tigard community through their business. The winner is active, involved, interested, and enthusiastic about continuing to make Tigard a destination of choice for local business. Nominee must be a chamber member in good standing.

In a quote from Nicholas, “My Grandfather used to tell me, “Community service is the rent you pay for living in the world.”  If you asked Megan (my loving wife and incredible business partner), she would tell you that her passion for giving is deeply rooted in her childhood memories as well.  So, when Megan and I started looking to grow our business together, one of our core values was giving back to our community. Megan volunteered on every committee she was invited to and I set about supporting her efforts with the digital and creative work our company could offer.”

You can see this rings true about this company and this couple based on their level of community impact.

An 8-year Chamber Member and in business since 2003, Edge One Media has made its impact felt within the Tigard Community and beyond.  In addition to running their business both with heart, humor and high ethics, over the years, Edge One Media has supported the Tigard community and Pacific Northwest area (particularly non-profits) through a broad range of activities, events, programs and volunteerism.  These include, but are not limited to:

  • Key Volunteers with Tigard Tualatin Relay for Life over the last 8 years.  Megan has participated in Tigard/Tualatin Relay for Life for the last 8 years and Nicholas for the last 6 years.  Seven of those years, Megan was the Co-Chair for the event. Under her tenure, the event grew from a handful of Committee Members, 14 Teams and $28,000 Raised to 17 Committee Members, 33 Teams and just under $100,000 raised.  Nationwide, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has seen a decrease in participation in these events, while the Tigard/Tualatin Relay for Life continues to see growth adding Sherwood to their event this year. Due to the teaming of Megan and Nicholas and Committee Member Angie Linderman (also a Chamber Member), the Tigard Tualatin Relay for Life was recognized last year with a National Award for Best Marketing out of all RFL Events. Because of these accomplishments Megan has been asked to be a member of the ACS Area Team Leadership.

    Nicholas has also given his time to the American Cancer Society’s Tigard / Tualatin Relay for Life as the Luminaria Ceremony Chair and has the large task of compiling images into a video for their Luminaria Ceremony held at dusk each year during the event. He has spent hundreds of hours designing these videos and each year it gets more difficult to see friends and family and others loved ones go from the Survivor section to In Memory. His Luminaria Ceremonies have gotten a lot of attention including TV press for the event, people share their experience from our ceremony with others, and for many it is how they first get introduced to the event. He has already had press for this year’s event in July. Due to his involvement and passion he was asked to be a key volunteer with ACS as part of the Area Team Leadership and helped lead the “How to tell your ACS Story” session at this year’s Relay for Life Summit in Salem, Oregon.

  • Sponsorship and support of a broad range of community events:
    • Tigard Farmers Market Music Sponsor 2016-2017 Seasons and Friend of the Market
    • Tigard Chamber Bowl-o-Rama Sponsor Yearly
    • Tigard Shining Stars Community Awards Gala Sponsor/Auction Donor Yearly
    • Early supporter of Downtown Tigard events (Street Fair, Tree Lighting, Trick or Treat Main Street) through Graphic Design and Marketing Collateral.

  • Sponsor/Donor for key Non-Profits
    • Non-Profit Great Website Giveaway as part of Edge One Media’s 15 Year Anniversary Celebration.  This benefited Tigard Chamber member Project Homeless Connect who delivers needed support services to our homeless friends in both Tigard and throughout Washington County.  Their new website is highly navigable, feature rich and helps tell their story.
    • Reduced rates to other non-profit raffle participants in the Non-Profit Website Giveaway for website updates / creation- This has directly benefited the Tigard Downtown Alliance who is about ready to launch its new website.
    • Free Design Services / Social Media and Pay Per Click Ad Assistance over the past 8 years which has benefited Non-Profits such as but not limited to, Tigard Playschool, Family Promise of Tualatin Valley, Love INC, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation, Gung Ho Ministries, Washington County Project Homeless Connect, Struble Foundation, Music for the Heart, and the American Cancer Society.
    • They always offer special discounts for Non-Profits on all services they provide.

  • Volunteerism within the Tigard Community 
    • Megan – Board Member Tigard Chamber (5 yrs), Ambassador Committee (5 yrs), Marketing Committee Chair (3 yrs), Candidate Endorsement Committee, Relay for Life Co-Chair (6 yrs), Relay for Life Marketing Chair (1 yr), Class of 2018 Leadership Tigard graduate, Young Professionals of Tigard (3 yrs), Tigard Play School (2 yrs), Collaborative Business Builders (2 yrs), BNI Oregon (4 yrs), and countless business and Non-Profit startups.
    • Nicholas – Creative talent behind Tigard Chamber Rebrand and Support for Events, Donation of Design and Creative work for Downtown Tigard events (3yrs), time and talent to Love INC of Tigard, Tualatin, and Sherwood (4 yrs), Tigard / Tualatin Relay for Life Luminaria Chair (6 yrs), Tigard Play School (5 yrs), Collaborative Business Builders (1 year), and countless business and Non-Profit startups.

Other Awards

  • Portland Business Journal Corporate Philanthropy Awards recipient 2017 and 2018
  • Tigard Chamber Volunteer of the Year (Nicholas 2016, Megan 2015 and 2014)
  • Tigard Chamber Ambassador of the Year (Megan 2013)

As you can see, Nicholas and Megan have made their impact felt on our community.  Please join us in congratulating Edge One Media and Megan and Nicholas De Salvo on this well-deserved award.  This award will be formally presented with other Tigard volunteer and business awards at Tigard’s 2019 Shining Stars Community Awards Celebration, which will be held on Friday, May 3rd from 5:30pm-9 pm at Embassy Suites – Washington Square, event location host. With a theme of “Travel” this elegant-themed event includes dinner, silent auction, dessert dash, awards, and more. Tickets are only $60/person.  So dress your best and come join us to celebrate Tigard!

For further details about Shining Stars, please contact the Tigard Chamber of Commerce at 503-639-1656 or at jessica@tigardchamber.org  or go to our webpage at www.tigardchamber.org