By Micha Wolf | Contributing Writer

‘Tis the season to be jolly: decorating your home at this time of year is a long-standing tradition in our neighborhood. Unfortunately, these decorations also increase the chance of a home fire. According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), almost one third of home fires during the holiday season are caused by electrical problems. Although Christmas tree fires are not common; when they do occur, they are more likely to be serious.

Most families have at least one Christmas tree decorating their home during the month of December. Read below for some useful tips for a safe holiday.

Safety Guidelines for Christmas Trees

• When picking a tree, choose a tree with fresh green needles that do not fall to the ground when touched.
• Before placing the tree in the stand, cut at least two inches from the base of the trunk.
• Place your tree at least three feet away from heat sources like fireplaces, radiators, space heaters, candles and heat vents. Also, make sure that your tree does not block exits.
• Water your Christmas tree every day. A dry Christmas tree can burn very hot and very fast.
• Get rid of your tree after Christmas or when it is dry.

Safety Guidelines for Lights and Candles

In many homes, trees are just one part of the decoration. Many families string electric lights on the outside of their home and light stairwells or furniture with lights. Candles are used for Christmas, Hanukkah, and other winter festivities.

• Before you put up holiday lights, inspect them thoroughly. Throw away any strands with frayed or pinched wires.
• Read manufacturer’s instructions for the number of light strands to connect.
• Keep candles at least 12 inches away from anything that burns. Make sure they are in stable holders and place them where they cannot be knocked down easily.
• Consider using battery-operated flameless candles, which can look, smell and feel like real candles.

Source: USFA.FEMA.gov

Micha Wolf ha s retired from teaching primary school, loves being in nature and believes in building community through engagement.

By Kathy Crabtree | Contributing Writer

A recent 4-2 vote by the Portland Public School Board went to Albina Sports Program to move forward with their plan to build a new sports complex. The sports complex would be located on the former Whitaker Middle school site in Fernhill Park’s southern border, off of NE 42nd and Killingsworth. Several other proposals had been discussed including a community center, featured in both February and March issues of Concordia News.

Albina Sports Program, a local nonprofit, was established in 1965 by Phil Walden, a coach and teacher who worked to support diversity in sports and the athletic endeavors of the community.

Among the 3000-plus alumni involved in Albina Sports’ programs are 225 All-Americans; a title given to outstanding U.S. athletes competing at the collegiate and secondary school levels. The new sports complex would support the organization’s mission by providing multiple amenities to improve athletic skills including an indoor running track, a soccer field, basketball and volleyball courts, four baseball fields, a 400-meter track, and a one-mile cross-country running path.

Gary Hollands is the current executive director of Albina Sports Program. Though Hollands abstained from the vote, he also sits on the school board. Critics of the decision are concerned about this conflict of interest and the fact that the plan is estimated at costing $175 million.

The three-level plan includes a lower parking garage, retail spaces for new businesses and a walkable streetscape along NE 42nd Avenue. It focuses on the southside main entrance to the complex accessed through a one-way road – Phil Walden Lane, honoring Walden’s leadership and mentorship. Skylights would provide natural light and a green roof would collect and filter rainwater for the use of the building’s plumbing system. Solar panels would produce a portion of electrical needs.

Architect John Carhart states the goal is to “create a place for kids to become immersed in sports so that they can learn the things that will benefit them later in life: teamwork, cooperation, and leadership.”

Kathy is a recent transplant from the Midwest and, as she reports in CNews, things are a lot different here.

By Kathy Crabtree | Contributing Writer

In rural areas, it’s common to see numerous stacked white boxes lining meadows and fields sitting back from the highways. These are beehives, owned by beekeepers. However, residents would be surprised to learn that Concordia has a few hives of its own. One such hive is owned by an intrepid 8-year-old Buckman Elementary School pupil named Mable Bagerski. For the last two years, Bagerski has been helping her mom, Libby, and her father, Adam, care for and harvest the family honey to sell to the community.

During the summer and early fall, the Bagerski family sets up a beehive box called an apiary. A hive starts with 10,000–20,000 worker bees and one queen bee. While the worker bees collect nectar from flowers, the queen births new honey bees, which adds 20,000– 30,000 additional workers a year. Stored in hives, the nectar breaks down into simple sugars. Using special equipment, the Bagerskis then extract the honey from honeycomb, a hexagon-shaped beeswax storage structure created by the bees.

“I help open the hives and hold the frames while wearing my bee suit outfit,” Bagerski says, while sitting in the trailer her family uses to sell their honey. She also fills jars with honey and makes labels. Bagerski says the funnest part is her and her dad working together to harvest the honey because he makes her laugh, like by “pointing out that the queen bee has a bigger butt than the other bees.”

“The hardest part is staying calm around the bees when harvesting and trying not to ‘squash’ the queen,” says Bagerski, who does admit to being stung once. When questioned why she decided to work with stinging insects, she responds, “I thought it would be cool to look at them up close.”

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), honey bees pollinate 130 types of fruit, nuts and vegetables in the U.S. each year, totalling about $15 billion worth of crops. The Oregon Department of Agriculture requires every person who owns, or oversees, five or more colonies of bees to register their hives each year.

Data from the Economic Research Institute says that the average hive produces an average of 30–60 pounds of honey annually, and that a strong healthy colony could produce up to 100 pounds. Most natural honey sells for $5 -$10 a pound. An average honey bee produces ½ teaspoon of honey a year, and it is common for a healthy hive to have 50,000 bees in residence, so annual income for a beekeeper would average $300–$600 a year per hive.

The greatest takeaway lesson Bagerski’s learned from beekeeping is “how bees help us survive. It is important for us to protect the bees and keep providing a safe place for them.” If you’re not afraid of getting stung, Bagerski recommends that anyone interested in harvesting their own honey become a beekeeper. “Not only do you get free honey for yourself, but you can make money, too.”

Kathryn Crabtree is a retired Nursing Educator and author of books that celebrate women of a certain age- invisible to many, who use their deductive reasoning to solve mysteries. The bad guys never see them coming.

The University of Oregon Family Study and Children’s Library (2800 NE Liberty St.) is open now, and notably; open to the public six days a week.

In my nearly five years as a stay-athome mom in Concordia, I’ve longed for more walkable places to take my young kids, especially during the rainy months. I’ve longed for a place where I can meet other parents and not have to spend money or shop. For me, this library is a dream come true.

Tucked away on the second floor of the Library and Learning building, the room isn’t huge but it’s well laid-out, has great natural light and is stocked with more than 4,000 children’s books; many of which were inherited from the former Concordia University.

My two-year-old twins and I have made three trips to the library since it opened in late September. We look at books and roll around on the cozy floor. They love both the child-sized furniture and the oversized stuffed animals. On the first visit, they went especially bonkers for a never-touched copy of Richard Scarry’s Best Little Golden Books Ever!, a lovely book set of vintage stories complete with gilded edges.

We borrowed the set and it didn’t take long for my toddlers to destroy it. But it was out of deep love: one twin, Salene, napped daily with it under her chest and every adult caretaker in our family read the book The Gingerbread Man at least 7 times to her sister, Willa. Unfortunately by the time we returned it, the naptime snafu had led to some ripped out pages. But the kindest library assistant, Lauren Anderson, assured us that it was just fine.

“Books are made to be loved and used,” she said, when I explained what had happened. Although the library hasn’t been too busy on the days we’ve been there, Anderson says traffic’s been picking up. Two to three neighbors visit per day to sign up for their library cards.

Library cards are free and available to anyone in the state over 16 and they can be obtained on the second floor in the main library. Bring your driver’s license or ID.

Perhaps what I love most about the Children’s Library is that it’s not just for kids – it’s a place for grownups too. U of O’s informational materials say they want students who have children to use it as a place to study together. It’s a wonderful idea and one that’s smartly facilitated by the design of the space–there’s lots of soft carpeted open floors, big comfy chairs and wall-lined desks. A huge whiteboard fills one wall, begging for adult collaboration, and it’s also adorned with two dozen rubber magnets perfect for preschoolers and older kids.

The U of O Children’s Library is open Monday–Friday from 9 am – 6 pm, and Saturday from 1 pm – 6 pm. If you’re feeling as inspired as I am by this new public resource, meet my twins and me at the Children’s Library Monday mornings at 10:30 am. Let’s learn and grow together.

Leigh Shelton loves getting to know her Concordia neighbors and exploring ways we can better support each other. Reach out and say hi at leighshelton@gmail. com.

By Ike Harris | Contributing Writer

When the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners sold Wapato Jail (14355 N Lake Bybee Ct.) for $5 million in 2018, they had no idea that it would be used for, among other things, a Christian ministry. But that’s exactly where I have been holding our in-person meetings twice monthly for the better part of a year.

Even as a child, I felt the call to be a minister. Growing up, my mother took me to a Baptist church in Pearl, Mississippi. We walked through the tall grass and sometimes there would be snakes but we would persevere until we got to church. I loved the preachers. When I was about 12, they took us out to a muddy pond to baptize us. The experience made me feel special, like I was under a divine umbrella.

Although choosing to become a minister was intentional, choosing to do it in Portland was not. After high school, I won a football scholarship to Alcorn State University, but ended up leaving college to move to California to live with my aunt. Then, my mother asked me to join the U.S. Navy, where I spent 3 1/2 years learning to be a signalman, helping ship captains communicate. I traveled to many ports and at the end of my tenure, my ship came to Portland to be serviced. Not knowing what to do next with my life, I reenlisted in the service for 6 months while I stayed in Portland to figure it out.

I had not attended religious services since high school but right in the midst of that deep valley of decision, I noticed one day that someone had left a New Testament on my ship, so I picked it up and began reading it. The Spirit of the Lord came upon me and I was born again right there. I had found my calling and what to do with my life; I knew I had been given the gift of preaching.

Before I found the bible that day, I had been spending time at Peter’s Habit, a nightclub formerly owned by independent candidate for governor Frank Peters. There, I had met a young woman named Pam. After picking up that bible, I went downtown and bought myself a new suit, I went right back to the club to see Pam and, in 1976, we got married. We moved to Concordia in 1979. Pam and I now have three children, five grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and; we just found out, one more grandchild on the way. I spent 22 years as a post office carrier in Concordia and I currently drive the Faubion school bus.

Pam’s mother was a preacher at the then-named All Nations Church (2902 NE Rodney St.) now called Mt. Gillard Missionary Baptist Church, where we first belonged as congregants. In the book of Acts, when Jesus goes back to Heaven, he tells his disciples to go to an “upper room” and wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. That’s why, in 1997, when I started my own ministry, I named it Upper Room. At each of our meetings, we have an opening prayer, sing a song or two, and then we read and I preach and teach scripture. Just like when you serve up a good meal, preaching well takes a little while. I like to get into the “meat” of the word.

Pam and I have grown to love Portland and would like to invite Concordia residents to join us as we learn from the gospel. The bible has helped me immensely and I truly believe it has something in it for everyone. We hold an Upper Room Ministry meeting every Sunday on Zoom at 10 am and in-person meetings twice a month on Sunday afternoons at the former Wapato Jail. If you would like to attend either, call or text me directly at (503) 901-0623. Call anytime for prayer. Thank you.

Ike is a retired letter carrier who believes that the greatest treasure on Earth is not silver or gold but people.