Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures Breakfast Focus on Education, Youth Investment
The 2019 Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures breakfast fundraiser for Looking Glass, held on Tuesday November 12th at Venue 252, highlighted the magnitude of programs and services Looking Glass offers while showcasing the variety of education programs offered and from keynote speaker LaMonte Morgan focusing the effort of the community to invest in youth as preventative work.
Annual Board Meeting Includes Multiple Honorees Recognized
At this year’s Looking Glass Annual Board Meeting, recognition was the theme with a Guiding Light award presented to Sid & Hank Voorhees for their years of auctioneering services provided at the annual dinner auction gala and a 35 years of service plaque given to a surprised and honored Marie Jackson, Looking Glass’ longtime CFO who is retiring at the end of the calendar year.
Socktoberfest Drive Secures 7,000+ Socks For Youth
On a chilly fall Eugene day in early October, New Roads Runaway & Homeless Youth Services Manager James Ewell posed for a photo opp taken by a Register-Guard reporter showing a sad and mostly empty bin of socks at the New Roads clothing closet which showed the current supply of socks offered to youth being at about 10 or so pairs. By the end of “Socktoberfest” the first ever month-long coordinated sock donation drive for Looking Glass, the challenge became finding storage for all the newly received socks - more than 7,000 pairs of socks were donated and they’re still coming in.
Staff Spotlight: Stepping Stone Program Supervisor, Scott Wilson
Scott Wilson is the Program Supervisor at the Stepping Stone Program, a residential program that provides long-term treatment to male juvenile offenders, ages 12-18, with a history of family conflict, chronic delinquency, substance abuse, and poor school performance. Scott left behind a career in finance before joining Looking Glass, saying that he was unhappy in his previous line of work and wanted to accomplish something meaningful.
Education with Looking Glass
At Looking Glass, we work to provide a variety of educational opportunities for teens that are homeless, have mental health issues, and for whom traditional education is inadequate to meet their needs. We have 3 alternative schools, therapists in 32 schools throughout Lane County, and offer educational services at each of our residential programs.
2nd Annual Paddle Battle Fundraiser a Smash Success
The 2nd annual Looking Glass Paddle Battle ping pong (or table tennis, if you take it seriously) tournament held Saturday, Sept 28th at the YMCA in Eugene was a huge success, raising north of $5,000 for Looking Glass programs and providing 50 participants the opportunity to help at-risk youth while having a lot of fun. In addition to trophies for each bracket winner (singles, doubles in both pro and amateur levels), raffle prizes were awarded and yummy grilled cheese sandwiches sustained the group throughout the day thanks to the Franz Grilled Cheese Machine.
Bilingual, Bi-cultural Counseling Services Available at Looking Glass - Servicios de Consejería/Terapia bilingües y biculturales disponibles en Looking Glass
Residential Program Kickball Tournament Brings Out Competitive Edge
The Looking Glass residential program retreat took on a different look this year with staff members at each program wearing different colors and large, bouncy balls flying (or wobbling) around a kickball diamond as a new tradition was “kicked” off with a kickball tournament for the ages. In the end, Stepping Stone Program took home the gold (probably plastic really) trophy but fun was had by all.
Looking Glass Goes to Oktoberfest
Members of Looking Glass staff and their family and friends volunteered to staff an ice cream booth, generously donated by Stepping Stone Program Supervisor Scott Wilson and his family, at this year’s Oktoberfest event in Mt. Angel. The event only allows non-profits to run the food booths and Scott’s family arranged for some German-themed modifications to be made on their booth as well as towing it up there and supplying the inventory at wholesale cost. The four day event (which draws annual crowds of over 300,000 people to the 3,500 person town) generated more than $11,000 for Looking Glass!
Frishkoff's Honored at Annual LG Staff Picnic
The annual Looking Glass staff picnic event, held on Wednesday, August 28th at Alton Baker Park, included a recognition and “Guiding Light” award given to Pat and Paul Frishkoff, longtime board members and supporters. The “Guiding Light” award is given to longtime supporters and true advocates for Looking Glass programs and staff and none were more deserving of this award than the Frishkoff’s.
Residential Programs Get Fit at the YMCA
Every day, Looking Glass residential treatment clients are taken to the Eugene YMCA to play basketball and use the exercise equipment as part of their healing and education on living a full, healthy life.
“The YMCA is a safe way to get the clients' energy out - in our residential facilities, clients got to where they are by making some bad choices usually when they do not have healthy alternatives to those lifestyles,” Explained Aaron Hinkley, a Program Supervisor for Pathways Boys and PRD programs.