LCSNW’s 100 years of service to the greater Portland/Vancouver area were commemorated on September 24th with warm remembrances and an eye toward the work ahead.
A total of 165 guests joined together at the World Forestry Center for Many Cultures | One Community: A Centennial Celebration, an evening of music, stories, and gratitude.
Guests enjoyed a performance by Lisova Pisnya, watched a Portland centennial video, and honored Salah Ansary with the Centennial Award for his more than four decades of service to LCSNW. Salah is LCSNW’s Senior Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs.
“I accept this honor in gratitude for every beloved colleague, faith partner, community volunteer, and courageous newcomer who allowed me to share in their journey. You have taught me more than I can ever say,” Salah said.
“I am humbled that my 42 years of service and counting have become part of this agency’s first century in the Portland area,” he added, “and I pray that its next century will be filled with the same courage, compassion, and unwavering belief in our shared humanity.”
LCSNW’s story in Portland began in 1926, when a group of Lutheran women incorporated as the Lutheran Women’s League. They organized around unmet needs and a shared belief that every neighbor deserves care, dignity, and hope.
As an agency, LCSNW celebrated its centennial in 2021, 100 years after the founding of the Lutheran Compass Mission in Tacoma.
At the Sept. 24 Portland event, the crowd also heard recorded remarks from Oregon Senate Majority Leader Kayse Jama, a former staff member at LCSNW.
The response was remarkable, bringing in more than $70,000 to strengthen LCSNW services in the Portland/Vancouver area. Thanks to all who attended, gave, volunteered, or helped plan and carry out the evening.
Special thanks to our Grand Benefactor Sponsor, Ferguson Wellman Capital Management; Visionary Sponsor, International Tactical Security, P.C.; Partner Sponsors, Goodwill Industries of the Columbia Willamette and Heritage NW Group; and Good Neighbor Sponsor, Ukrainian Federal Credit Union.
Thanks, as well, to all our in-kind sponsors who helped make the evening special.
