Leap of Kindness Day only happens every 4 years on February 29th. The idea is to get people in our community to use the extra day we get in a Leap Year to do something kind for someone else.

Leap of Kindness Day was created in 2016 by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. We have chosen to jump on board with them, as well as hundreds of other chambers across america, to inspire the Seaside/Gearhart areas to participate. 

We would love to see people take part in this celebration of kindness. You can cook breakfast or deliver lunch for first responders, deliver flowers or socks to residents in local retirement homes. Your business can collect clothes, food and money for a wide range of local charities. Not a part of an organization? No Problem! You can act individually by sending a thank you card to someone who means a lot to you.

Your Seaside Chamber has reached out to some local Non Profit organizations to create a list of their needs so you can have some ideas of what you could do this Friday!!

Laundry Love:        
16 oz. coffee cups
small paper/plastic bowls
Laundry detergent
softener sheets
Folger or other types of ground coffee
facial wipes
tooth paste
deodorant
Small containers of cat or dog food
hand wash
large cans of chili
individual wrapped candy
 
As always, they would love any interest by folks to help by serving the 2nd Saturday of every month.
Please feel free to call Shirley, 541-580-6734 or Carl, 503 - 580-8325 for more information.

Seaside Elks
Seaside Elks was instituted in 1948.  We are 72 years old.  Our building was completed in 1954 and we are still at 324 Avenue A. Though struggling financially, we have a dedicated team. The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks just celebrated its 152^nd year.  (February 16, 1868 to February 16, 2020.)
As we are dedicated to assisting the community, our dues and miscellaneous income is not enough to pay our bills for operation, including costs of membership dues in local groups promoting Seaside including Seaside Service Club Council, SDDA and Chamber of Commerce. We depend on our members to donate cash to fund our charity accounts (Local Scholarship, Holiday Helpers Thanksgiving Food Basket Program,  Food4KidsSeaside, Cub Pack 540, Hoop Shoot, Youth activities including Essay Contest and Eye Injury Prevention Contest, The Elks Children’s Eye Clinic in Portland and Meadowood Speech Camp near Pendleton).  Our members volunteer at the local food bank.  Food4KidsSeaside was started by our lodge and two members serve on its Board. One of our members serves on the Board at our local American Legion and one serves on the Board of Sunset Empire Park and Recreation.  Our members believe in being part of the community.
We donate our entire space to the Jason Goodding Annual Cornhole Tournament. We host the Bloodmobile every other month. We host the Seaside Cornhole League.
We have hosted the Oregon State Elks Convention every year (except 2019 & 2020 due to Convention Center remodel and scheduling).  The State Elks will be back in Seaside starting in April 2021 and they would like to make Seaside the permanent event site.  We now have contracts with the Convention Center through 2025.  (The Elks State convention attracts about 800 Elks to Seaside.)
To continue operation, we need some Random Acts of Kindness such as:
Local contractors donating labor and costs to repair our building. (Roof repair, clean and replace siding, indoor floor repair and painting.) We also need repair and cleaning of theater style chairs in our lodge room.
Local cash donations to our charitable projects.
Donation of folding tables (rectangular, lightweight, 8 and 6 feet long)
Electric/digital type outdoor sign to replace the one in our east lot which is failing.
Volunteer janitorial service. Donations of large black trash bags, note pads, cellophane tape.
Local persons to become members so that we can increase our assistance to the community.

The Sunset Empire Park & Recreation District
We work to provide high quality recreation programs and facilities for our District residents and guests. We are grateful to receive support from our district residents and many, many wonderful community partners to deliver some amazing programs.
The Park & Rec District and the Sunset Park & Rec Foundation would be interested in the following opportunities:

• Volunteers! Both SEPRD and the Foundation have a strong need for volunteers to get involved in our programs. Upcoming events where volunteerism is crucial would be Sip & Savor (occurring on Sunday, March 15) or the Annual Egg Hunt (occurring on Saturday, April 11).
• We would love to have positive reviews left on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sunsetempireparkandrecreationdistrict/ about how we served you and serve our community.
• Financial Donations are always wonderful and donations made our to our Foundation are fully tax-deductible. More information can be found on our website: https://www.sunsetempire.com/foundation

 
We are always looking for volunteers to consider serving on our Foundation Board, SEPRD Budget Committee and occasionally we have openings on the SEPRD Board. These are more time intensive volunteer positions and often quite thankless, but we couldn’t operate the district without those wonderful volunteers.


Seaside Rotary Club
Rotary always needs volunteers. We do three major Holiday programs, and other service projects throughout the year including two highway cleanups per year. You do not have to be a Rotarian to volunteer.


Assistance League the Columbia Pacific
1. We need donated warehouse space to house our "Cinderella's Closet" prom dresses and accessories. The space could be a heated (if possible) 20 X 40 or larger space. A 2 year commitment please.
2. We always need members to help with our various programs: Operation School Bell which dresses the needy children of Clatsop county Kindergarten through High School. Duffel Bag program which supports children entering the Foster care system, The Home and Chef Tour and more.
3. We LOVE new members!  Being a member of Assistance League is such a rewarding experience. There are so many ways to serve the children and our community. www.assistanceleaguecp.org
4. If members of the chamber would like to sponsor a student with new clothing the cost would be $150.00. That includes: Coat, sweatshirt/hoodie, pants, shirts, socks, underwear and shoes. We dress the students in the Fall and Spring.
5. Our next major fundraising event is the Golf Ball drop held mothers day weekend at the Astoria Golf Course. We need sponsors and prizes for this event. 
 
For more information you can contact Karen Radditz.

Clatsop CASA
CASA Is looking for new volunteers to be Child Advocates. 

Not available to help these organizations?
NOT A WORRY!!
You can do something as simple as buying a friend a cup of coffee, or calling a family member youhaven't spoken to in months. It doesn't take but a smile to change someone's day from bad to great. ll you have to go is try!

So Join us this Friday, February 29th and do a random act of kindness!!!