MArch Newsletter
Hello Hello,
I hope this email finds you grounded and situated in community. Happy EXTENDED Black History Month, I was told we celebrating Black History YEAR and I am so here for that!!
I personally have been moving into this Edwardian calendar cycle slowly and with lots of grace for myself and those around me. It has been a minute since we sent out an EGC newsletter, please note silence has not meant lack of action or work happening.
We wrapped 2025 with our annual Holiday Extravaganza, it was our best one yet! We had our annual holiday break which was so needed in closing out 2025, we all really needed that time off and the reset that comes along with a break. We came back in early January and had our annual inservice week as a team planning for the year. We had a Board Retreat doubling down on both the planning of the year and planning of the trajectory of the org. I have been in an intense storytelling program and excited to be sharing more of what I worked on with all of you in the coming months. The world is melting, and lots of things feel bleak and yet there is no better time to be building better systems of care, better systems of community service, and better networks of activation within our community. I am honored to be at the helm of this work.
Just as a recap : We still feed over 400 families a week that is over 2K individuals. We still have a slew of regular programming from our Healthy Family Healthy Birth work, to Plan Jam and Black Elder Gardens, to our large event series. This part of the year is quieter for us in nature and then April hits and things get busy!!!!
Market Update from January 2026: Our first week back at the market was absolutely amazing. The smiles, energy, dancing, and abundance of love and support cultivates such a refreshing environment. I personally love the sharing of stories offered by community members that have now turned to be friends. We celebrate milestones together, discuss the heaviness of life, share recipes, and show care to one another. One community member described our first market back as a “family reunion” and I could not agree more. I am grateful for the market and the joy that it continues to offer. A memory note from Program Manager Maddy
I would like to add that Market has grown into such an incredible container of community connection, resource sharing, and joy. Our CSA Director Tamar does a really beautiful job curating this space weekly. From having an incredible variety of fresh seasonal produce, proteins, and pantry staples available, the happy hour table, various orgs tabling, OHSU doing health screenings, and all the extras from plants to having a DJ to having our Community Wellness Program table. It's truly a grounding space of connection and resources. I don’t personally get to go to Market weekly but everytime I do, even if it is for just 5 min my spirit is so full. I feel like the Market is such an incredible window into all of the work and programming that we do and there is sooo much more that we do at EGC than our wonderful weekly Market. Everytime that I am there I am reminded how important space + consistency is for community.
March Exhibit : We have never had a gala and under my leadership we never will, imo galas are not about the work or the people we serve and is a dated way to celebrate community work, it’s giving trickle down and we know that mess don’t work. In lue of that as we celebrate the last SIX years of vibrant consistent community care work we will be having an exhibit to showcase the work that we have been stewarding. In addition to showcasing what we have accomplished in the past six years we will be talking a bit about what is next, where we are going and what we need from all of you! Please stay tuned as we announce dates and details for this. I am personally very excited for this as we haven’t had lots of time or space to hold or celebrate what we have built and contribute to our community daily and this oddly enough feels like the season for this.
Vaccine Guide: an update from Community Wellness Director Lillian
Oregon’s School and Childcare Facilities Immunization Informational Guide: 2025-2026 School Year
Did You Know?
Oregon law requires that children in public/private schools, preschools, and childcare settings be up to date on required immunizations or have a medical or non-medical exemption.
In Oregon, school immunization requirements are unchanged for the 2025-2026 school year. School immunization requirements are made at the state level and are independent of federal recommendations. Oregon continues to recommend that children receive all vaccines recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
This guide has been developed to share important information about these requirements and where to find the most up-to-date information on these immunizations. Help us keep our communities safe by spreading this important information. This guide is in both English and Spanish to help spread this important information.
Public Link for the Vaccine Guide- English and Spanish: https://www.canva.com/design/DAG-PaqELYc/kiNRblpxa8lB4o55emo4tg/view?utm_content=DAG-PaqELYc&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h0f86d87fbe
Please check out our Healthy Families Health Birth IG page, our Community Wellness team has been dropping fantastic educational content that is helpful for families and we would love for you to check it out!
A reminder that we host a community calendar of our events on our website, also please follow us on IG : we will get back into the cadence of regular monthly newsletters, this month you might get three, don’t hate me. Our large-scale events kick off in April with our annual Earth Day Event, and the best way to stay in the loop about our events are this newsletter, our social media, and or looking on our website.
Call to donate : I need YOU to add THIS work as a line item in YOUR budget in the same way abolitionists risked everything to end chattel slavery in the 1800s. I need YOU to show up in solidarity with me like the youth did in the sixties fighting for human rights + peace.
We can’t quote Civil Rights icons and then divest in their modern contemporaries.
If you are not a monthly donor, I am BEGGING you to sign up as a monthly donor. If you are ALREADY a monthly donor, thank you, please with your words rally 3-5 humans that you personally know to match your monthly donation. This is critical for the survival of our work.
Our average monthly donation is $45 a month, whatever you can consistently put on this work MONTHLY is a blessing, please crash our website tuhday with all of you rushing to sign up as a monthly EGC contributor. That is an issue I would like to navigate. SIGN UP AS A MONTHLY DONOR!!!
Tax receipts for 2025 have went out, they went out January 13th, please check your spam folders if you haven’t seen yours.
Volunteer Orientation Coming Up
Saturday March 14th at 10:30am Sign up on our website, we use a software called POINT. Read up about the process if you would like to become a volunteer, we have a variety of ways to help + always look forward to growing our circle.
Thank you for being in community with us at EGC. We are looking forward to another incredible yar of community care, resource distribution, and building a system that cares for folks.
In joy on behalf of EGC,
AJ McCreary, EGC Executive Director