Friends of Trees & Home Depot Aid Homebound Seniors with Leaf Pickup

By Julie Piper Finley

More than 30 volunteers from Friends of Trees and local Home Depot stores collected and bagged leaves from the yards of 32 homebound seniors in Northeast Portland served by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Loaves & Fishes Center this morning. Read Larry Bingham’s story in The Oregonian.

The project was the brainchild of Brighton West, program director for Friends of Trees. He had learned of a similar program in Wisconsin and enlisted the help of local Home Depot stores to assist. Volunteers from both organizations raked and bagged leaves in the yards of homebound seniors who requested the service. Leaves will be disposed of at no charge at Sunderland Recycling Facility, courtesy of the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

“The City is glad to support Loaves & Fishes Centers in its mission to help homebound seniors with leaf collection and disposal,” said Suzanne Kahn, the City’s Transportation Maintenance Operations Manager.

Each homeowner also received a bucket of household cleaning items donated by Home Depot.

“This is a great service for our seniors,” said Martin Luther King, Jr. Center Manager David Lomax. “Most are frail and no longer able to do heavy yard work. The volunteers from Friends of Trees and Home Depot are going above and beyond to help our seniors.”

–Finley is Director of Marketing & Communications for Loaves & Fishes Centers