2022: A SUPER Summer at FriendsPDX

Anyone who has lived in the Portland, Oregon region of the world we all know a secret that summers are gold. Summer is here and hopefully; rainy days get left behind along with at-home quarantining. It’s time to hit the hiking trails, grab a fishing pole, pitch a tent, frequent open green spaces, and visit the beach— well you get the idea summer is here in the great Pacific Northwest!

Mentors and mentees equally love school-free sunny days to adventure into the great outdoors in and around the Portland hub. As a Mentor, my youth and I generated a collective list of those activities that we’re eager to jump into or try out as these warmer sunnier days approach.

We are always amazed by all the hard work our program team puts in to making sure our youth have a full season jam-packed with laughter, new experiences, and lifelong memories! This was the first real, full-motion kind of summer since 2019! Our Friends certainly made sure to make the most of it. We are so grateful for all those who led events and to everyone who participated in supporting the hard work of their peers!

Here is the list of just some of the amazing activities that the youth we walk alongside were able to participate in:

• FriendsPDX Graduation!
• Pizza picnic party
• FriendsPDX Fest
• Karaoke afternoon blitz
• Outdoor and indoor rock climbing with Post 58
• Woodruff Sawyer’s Footgolf Tournament
• Chess
• Female-identifying soccer game
• All-youth soccer game
• PRIDE Celebration!
• Gaming hangout
• Female-identifying gaming hang out
• Portland Art Museum exploration
• Gymnastics clinic
• Juneteenth Celebration
• Camp keychains and friendship bracelet making
• Rafting with LEAP
• Visiting the Portland International Raceway
• Fishing, fishing, and more fishing with Get Hooked!
• Stand-up paddle boarding with Adventures Without Limits
• Acai bowl making
• Swimming
• Berry picking and jam making
• Multiple beach trips!
• FriendsPDX's First Annual Craft Bazaar
• Capture the flag
• OMSI outing
• Alaska Airlines Aviation Day
• Hair braiding
• College tours with our adolescent youth
• So. Many. Hikes!
• Roller skating
• Bowling and laser tag
• Canoeing with the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership
• Basketball camp
• 100 club
• Woodburn Fiesta Mexicana
• STEM activities
• Teen Space

And let’s not forget our amazing partnership organizations like Camp Collins overnight camp, water rafting with our partner Adventures Without Limits and LEAP, outdoor wilderness camps through Trackers Earth, Tryon Creek Nature Camps, Youth Music Project, Portland Metro Arts, Rose City Rowing, sports through Baxter, and everything in between. Of course, this list isn’t even everything our Friends and the youth we serve got up to as there were plenty of individual, 1:1 mentoring outings too. Nevertheless, we want to highlight all the awesome fun we had together.

We share about some of these outings at length in their own blog posts, so be sure to click on the links above to learn more about these opportunities and how they engaged youth and allowed for further relationship building and core asset development.

Summers around FriendsPDX is about getting outside, getting sweaty, getting dirty, and elevating the core asset of grit. The beauty of summer is the uninterrupted extended outings for youth to try new activities, dig deeper into their spark(s), and simply put: create unforgettable experiences.

Shared by Friend Rock Rathgeb and Sierra Gonzalez, Partnerships and Youth Engagement Team Lead