Few weeks ago, I received an invitation from Parkrose Community Foundation to receive the Portland Immigrant Statue award, the celebration for which took place in a meeting of the City of Portland Council.
The invitation said, “We commissioned the Statue in 2011, and every year since, we’ve given an award to a worthy candidate. Your name will be engraved onto the granite wall onsite the Statue island. The statue is installed in Parkrose in the ‘triangle’ intersection of NE Sandy Boulevard and NE Killingsworth Street.”
The Portland Immigrant Statue is an everlasting symbol of Portland’s gratitude for the contributions of our citizens past, present and the future to our new home America. We are All Immigrants, and we all share in building our community.
The Portland Immigrant Statue started with an idea by a Parkrose resident whose family has deep roots in the soil of outer East Portland, Joe Rossi. It was sponsored by the Parkrose Community Foundation.
This award is the most valuable achievement for me because it means I am fulfilling my mission in life that I set for myself since I came as refugee to America in 2007. I engaged in serving the community because it was the real practice of two of the most important values for me, and those are giving and social justice.
I am honored to serve the community as an activist and as an employee of Catholic Charities’ Intercultural Counseling Center. It gives me the opportunity to carry out my own personal mission to provide hope, help, and healing for people and the community.