Meet PPF's Newest Members of the Team

Board members are critical to our success as a foundation. Over the last three months, PPF has had the honor of introducing four new board members to our team.  We are very appreciative and grateful for their time and guidance. Today would would like to introduce each of them.

Jorge Guzman
Founder - Executive Director, Vive Northwest

What is your neighborhood park? Director Park

What is your favorite thing to do in a park? I enjoy hiking or simply sitting down and enjoying the fresh and clean air. 

What inspired you to join the Portland Parks Foundation? My goal is to support the great work Portland Parks Foundation is already doing by providing a diverse and inclusive perspective.

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Cristin O'Brien
Sales Manger - West, Sorel Footwear

What is your neighborhood park? Forest Park (photo from snowy Christmas hike 2017)

What is your favorite thing to do in a park?  Hike, run, think, and de-stress!

What inspired you to join the Portland Parks Foundation?  Desire to contribute to the community & ensure that as the city of Portland grows that access, maintenance, improvement, and development of city parks in all communities continues to happen for future generations.

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Kathryn Beaumont
Retired Attorney, Portland City Attorney's Office

What is your neighborhood park? Irving Park

What is your favorite thing to do in a park?  My favorite things to do in a park are walk, ride my bike, and enjoy the plantings throughout the seasons (and imagine them growing in the garden of my dreams).  What makes me happiest is to see people of all ages engaged in all sorts of activities--recreational sports, picnics, family celebrations, relaxing, and enjoying the respite a green or natural space provides--in a park.

What inspired you to join the Portland Parks Foundation?  I joined the Portland Parks Foundation Board of Directors based on my deep appreciation for the role public parks play in Portland.  In my past work for the city, I helped support the Parks Bureau in creating and preserving needed parks and community centers. I saw first-hand how important they are in knitting neighborhoods together and providing places for all Portlanders to play, relax, enjoy nature, celebrate, and gather with others. By serving on the Foundation's board, I hope to help maintain these vital public spaces for all Portlanders to enjoy both now and in the future.

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Lee Novak
VP of Development - Western Region, Fore Property Company

What is your neighborhood park? Healy Heights is our neighborhood park, but we love roaming throughout the hills.

What is your favorite thing to do in a park? We like to hike and walk our dog on the trails in the hills. We also enjoy attending events in our great public places like the Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

What inspired you to join the Portland Parks Foundation? Portland’s parks give all of us wonderful places to engage with nature and one another. They make the City beautiful. While we are relatively new to Portland, we want to help preserve and enhance the things that make it special.  

Park Champions Exemplify the Power of People and Parks

Above: Park Champion Award presented to Yvonne Boisvert for amazing efforts at Peninsula Park Rose Garden, from PPF Board Member, Jules Bailey. Below: Linda Robinson receives Park Champion Award for tireless work on behalf of parks in East Portland.

We are thrilled to announce the Portland Parks Foundation Parks Champion Award winners. Their inspiring work exemplifies the power of people and parks to benefit Portland and our region. On September 24, as part of our 15th Anniversary celebration, we honored Yvonne Boisvert and Linda Robinson as our Parks Champions. Along with the award, a cash contribution of $1,500 was given to the parks-based community of their choice. The Parks Champion Award is an honor presented by Portland Parks Foundation to recognize an individual who has provided outstanding service to a park, community center, natural area, or community garden.

YVONNE BOISVERT
Did you know that the first public rose garden is actually in North Portland? Park Champion Yvonne Boisvert was a founding member of the Friends of Peninsula Park Rose Garden. One of Portland’s best kept secrets, the Peninsula Park Rose Garden is over 100 years old. Yvonne has worked tirelessly to preserve, enhance, teach about, and advocate for the garden over the years. She and her Friends co-founders worked with Portland Parks and Recreation to replant the entire garden - over 4,000 roses for the centennial celebration in 2013. She helped design new signage for the garden, and can often be seen there giving tours and teaching free rose classes. In 2015, she founded the Art in the Rose Garden summer art show and sale. This year’s event drew over 3,000 to the garden.

LINDA ROBINSON
On the other side of town in East Portland, Linda Robinson has spent decades as a tireless for parks across East Portland -- including Ventura Park, Gates Park, and Gateway Discovery Park. She also founded and leads the East Portland Parks Coalition to support current and future parks, open spaces, and green spaces projects in East Portland. One of Linda’s significant current projects is Gateway Green. Over the past decade, Linda has been spearheading the ambitious public-private project to develop the former site of Rocky Butte Jail into Gateway Green, a dynamic open space and recreational park for the region.

Congratulations to our winners Yvonne and Linda, and to our communities benefitting from their incredible contributions.

Nancy Hebb Freeman Grants

Nancy Hebb Freeman

This Fall the Portland Parks Foundation created a new small grant program, which will help local parks complete improvements and add new features such as fountains and playgrounds. The grant program is named after Nancy Hebb Freeman by a generous donation from the estate of Nancy Hebb Freeman who passed away in August 2015 and left a bequest to the Foundation. Nancy loved Portland’s parks, and she and her family wanted to continue that legacy.  To honor her memory, we wanted to share Nancy’s story and her relationship with Portland parks.

Nancy Hebb Freeman grew up on the east coast but fell in love with the West. Here, she met her partner Ray Siderius, who very kindly gave us the material to write this little bio. Both Nancy and Ray greatly enjoyed spending time in the outdoors, and went on frequent walks in Forest Park, Hoyt Arboretum, Macleay Park, Gabriel Park, and many other parks around Portland. Along the Wildwood Trail in Forest Park, they would make little bets on the mileage markers-- whoever guessed the number closest to the one on the mileage marker would have to buy the other a cup of coffee. For Nancy, Portland’s parks were a place to not only get some exercise, but to find peace of mind as well.

Portland’s parks also provided inspiration for one of Nancy’s greatest passions: art. Nancy studied art in college and found a passion for Pacific Northwest landscapes when she moved to Bellingham in 1990. She continued to draw inspiration from parks in and around Portland, and she greatly enjoyed painting from nature. Her partner Ray Siderius writes, “I think the time in nature was an essential part of Nancy’s spiritual life."

We are honored that Nancy left everyone a parks legacy and look forward to crafting a small granting program in the next year that serves those that love our parks the most - the volunteers that work every week to keep our parks beautiful.  You can carry on Nancy’s legacy of appreciation for Portland’s parks today by exploring one near you. Take a page from Nancy’s book and make bets with your friends and family on the mile markers in Forest Park! Or you could continue her love of art by taking a class at the Multnomah Arts Center, which is run by Portland Parks & Recreation and features outdoor classes as well. Nancy’s pressence brightened the lives of the people around her, and we’re grateful that her legacy continues to live on at the Portland Parks Foundation.