On Thursday, September 3, several of our employees took part in joining hundreds of other volunteers helping in a day of litter clean up throughout downtown Portland.

Since the start of the pandemic and working from home, we missed going into our office and seeing coworkers on a daily basis. We have also missed the downtown Portland that we know and love, whose streets, stores and restaurants we frequented during our workdays.

The nonprofit SOLVE has been keeping Oregon clean and healthy since 1969 through organizing clean-up groups, planting native trees and leading year-round beach cleanups. SOLVE, along with Portland Business Alliance and Portland Lodging Alliance, organized over 500 volunteers who helped to clean up our city's streets amid the pandemic and protests.

Ferguson Wellman and West Bearing employees support the city’s clean-up efforts. From left to right, Dan Whitaker, Lisa Brown, Katie Graham, Chelsea Diamond, Naomi Stoffel, Sandy Fendall

Katie Graham, a client relationship associate with Ferguson Wellman remarked, "It was nice to clean up downtown with my colleagues and other volunteers. It felt good to see the community come together to make a small difference."

More details on the business community’s effort to support downtown Portland and other challenges our city faces can be found in this recent article from The Oregonian.