KATU honors Maybelle Community Singers with award

Maybelle Center poses for photo after receiving award
Dave Salesky from KATU (second from left) poses for a photo after presenting the award on April 3rd to representatives from Maybelle Community Singers.

On April 3rd, our community choir, Maybelle Community Singers, received a 2018 Newsmaker Award. Each year, Portland-area media newsrooms nominate a story that has inspired positive change in our community at a banquet sponsored by the Royal Rosarians.

KATU nominated their coverage of the Maybelle Community Singers/Oregon Symphony collaboration that highlighted issues of poverty and houselessness in our community. Thank you to our friends at KATU for recognizing the hard work and vision of our community choir. 

Together, we are demonstrating that the power of song can create positive social change.

By Jillianne Bandstra

Jillianne never grew out of the childhood “But, why?” stage. This insatiable curiosity led her to get two masters degrees (Adult Ed. & MBA). Jillianne can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon than listening to someone’s story and getting a glimpse of the unseen history that we all hold. She believes there is beauty and value in all our stories, even if they’re messy. Outside of her work as our Communications Manager, you’ll find her chasing middle-schoolers in her role as a Youth Director and stepping on Legos left by her two young boys.