Wednesday, June 3

PORTLAND, OR — Volunteers from New Seasons Market’s Williams Store will lend a hand and help build a new trellis for the Garlington Wellness Garden in Northeast Portland this Wednesday, June 3, 2015 from 1 – 3 p.m.

The Garlington Wellness Garden, located in the back of the Garlington Center site at 3034 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, provides fresh fruits and vegetables to people at the mental health and wellness clinics — Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare’s Garlington Center and North by Northeast Community Health Center.

During the harvest months, food from the garden is shared weekly with people who may be facing chronic illness, financial hardship or in need of mental health services. Recipes, cooking tips and other information regularly accompany the fresh produce, inspiring new conversations between patients and providers about favorite dishes and tastes. It’s integrated wellness programming — literally from the ground up.

The garden, built in part by a 2011 grant from Northwest Health Foundation’s Kaiser Permanente Community Fund, has improved access to healthy foods in a community that has historically faced a disproportionate burden of poverty. Activities in the garden encourage people at both of the clinics to get outside and be active — a starting point for walking groups and other activities. This is the third time New Seasons Market employees from the Williams Store have helped lend a hand with creating a valued space for the Garlington Center community.

About the Clinics:

Cascadia’s Garlington Center serves more than 900 people, living in North and Northeast Portland and from as far away as Mount Hood to the Willamette Valley. The center provides outpatient multi-disciplinary, culturally responsive treatment services to people experiencing a mental illness and/or co-occurring disorder, including specialized culturally-specific services available for African Americans. Clinical teams provide a range of treatment services, including crisis intervention, brief treatment, individual and group therapy including specialized treatment for individuals with criminal history, psychotropic medication evaluation and treatment consultation, eviction prevention, housing placement and community referrals.

North by Northeast Community Health Center (NxNE) mission is to advance health equity and improve health outcomes in a medically under-served community by offering health screening and basic medical services at no cost. Priority is given to African Americans and low-income neighborhood residents. Since established in 2006, volunteers and staff have provided thousands of medical visits to those in need. NxNE focuses on the management of common chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and depression and prevention of costly and potentially devastating complications such as heart disease and cancer.