Worthy Causes

Portlanders doing good

The Portland Tribune, Jul 29, 2010, Updated Jul 29, 2010

Courtesy of Susanne Cavicchi

Most of the proceeds from the sale of this hand-painted brown pelican tile will go to four relief agencies on the Gulf Coast.

One Portland business is using art to help the restoration and cleanup of the Gulf Coast after the BP oil spill.

Southeast Portland-based Pratt & Larson – a 30-year-old manufacturer of custom-made ceramic tiles – this month began selling commemorative handmade, hand-painted 6-inch by 9-inch tiles with the iconic image of the oil-drenched brown pelican, for $50 apiece.

The company will donate 70 percent of the proceeds to four relief agencies working on the Gulf Coast.

Susanne Cavicchi, marketing coordinator for the effort, said the idea came to her when she thought about what she could do to help, even from afar.

“We’re all equally devastated by the news and being inundated with the images of the wildlife struggling down there,” she says. “It inspired me to create something beautiful that we could sell, to try to help support some of these groups down there.

The proceeds will go to the Louisiana Gulf Response Organization, the umbrella group for four nonprofit environmental and wildlife organizations working together on the recovery: Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, National Audubon Society, and The Nature Conservancy.

For more information, visit prattandlarson.com/fundraiser/ .

Tickets are on sale now for the first-ever “Brunch on the Bridge,” which will raise awareness about hunger in Portland.

For $40, patrons can enjoy a 10 a.m. picnic brunch on the Hawthorne Bridge Aug. 7. The bridge will be covered in sod for the day.

Proceeds will support Portland Bridge Festival, which established itself as a nonprofit in 2009.

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