From Reasons To Be Cheerful by Hannah Wallace

On her most recent stay at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, Oregon, 45-year-old Adria White knew that she needed more than a drug treatment program. She was up for release soon, and while that program, which she’d participated in twice before, included useful tools like mindfulness training and behavioral therapy, it did little to prepare her for getting a job on the outside.

“You learn coping skills,” says White, who became dependent on methamphetamines at around age 30. “But when you get out and you’re poor and struggling, that doesn’t solve your life problems.”

So when her cellmate told her about Lettuce Grow, a sustainable gardening program that takes place at…

This story of three women who are in full control of their own happiness is a nice positive read. Enjoy your weekend out there in #backyardbend.

From CNN’s Good Stuff by Alaa Elassar

Bekah King, Abi Roberts, and Morgan Tabor have a lot in common. They describe themselves as free spirited adventurers and fearless risk takers, all obsessed with music and the movie “Megamind.”

They say they also unknowingly had the same boyfriend at the same time.

Following their discovery, rather than succumbing to their sadness the three young women said they dumped him, saved up money, purchased a school bus and spent over two months renovating it.

On June 25, the trio took their 30-year-old bus — which they…

From Eco Watch via Kindling by Audrey Nakagawa

The founder of athletic apparel company Lululemon, Chip Wilson, spent $3.2 million to purchase the small Canadian island Saturnina, and to help preserve two others in an effort to protect the Douglas fir ecosystem.

“It’s overwhelming,” Wilson said in an interview with Global National. “You can almost cry… where’s this jewel been hiding and I’ve never seen it?”

In addition to Saturnina, Wilson also contributed to the purchasing of two other small islands in the Salish Sea, according to International Business Times: The West Ballenas and Lasqueti Island.

The three islands all contain rare Douglas fir ecosystems. The islands support trees that are near 400 years old, including Garry oaks…

From Eco Watch By Victoria Masterson

Renewables are now significantly undercutting fossil fuels as the world’s cheapest source of power, according to a new report.

Of the wind, solar and other renewables that came on stream in 2020, nearly two-thirds – 62% – were cheaper than the cheapest new fossil fuel, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

This is double the equivalent share…

Tragedy is usually something most people will face in their life at some point. How do we find positive meaning from those challenges can be difficult. Seeing the community come together to honor and support those who have fallen and their families, are part of this local story this week. It is heart wrenching and difficult, however, seeing community come together to help is great example of the positive human spirit. We send our support and condolences to Eduardo Gutierrez Sosa’s family and friends.

From our friends at KTVZ.  Read the original story HERE. 

Tragedy struck in the first race of the return of the Crooked River Roundup Horse Races Wednesday evening when a jockey was thrown from his…

What could be more positive than the community coming together to give some TLC to our beloved Deschutes River. This annual event brings hundreds of like minded people together for a day of fun cleaning up the river and its banks. We even made a featured video about it a few years ago. WATCH IT HERE.

Come out on Saturday, July 31st for the 25th annual Deschutes River Cleanup! River cleanup activities will take place along the riparian areas of the Deschutes River at six different sites: Meadow Camp, Farewell Bend Park, Riverbend Park, McKay Park, First Street Rapids Park, and Tumalo State Park. Volunteers will help pull invasive weeds and remove litter from the stream banks, as well…

A food hub known as the Redd solves the business and logistical challenges of local food — and helps small farmers become a big deal.

From Reasons To Be Cheerful By Hannah Wallace

It’s Friday afternoon, and people on bikes and in cars are pulling up to an enormous red-brick warehouse in Portland’s Central Eastside to pick up their “Greater Good” boxes. Packed with local food, the $50 boxes are organized by local grocery chain New Seasons and wholesaler Organically Grown Co. A similar pick-up parade occurs on Wednesdays, when people cart away “Dock Boxes” of fish, shrimp and crab from popular Oregon Coast seafood restaurant Local Ocean. And on Monday evenings, Farm Punk, a farm in nearby Gresham, drops…

Here are several positive stories to take you into the weekend from the CNN Good Stuff newsletter.  It’s great to see the intention to look for the “good stuff” from more and more sources like CNN, the Good News Network, MSN News, Reasons To Be Cheerful and others to share and amplify positive vibes.  We hope our small effort here in #backyardbend is helping too. Enjoy the weekend!

From CNN’s ‘Good Stuff’ by AJ Willingham    You can connect with the newsletter HERE.

When things get hard, it’s tempting to say, “Life sucks.” But I’ve been trying out a different phrase. Life, after all, is good in my estimation. Well, it always has the potential to be good. It’s…

This is a truly inspiring story that should bring positive vibes. If you have an inspiring or positive local story we would love to hear it. Share it with us at info@backyardbend.com. This comes from Outside Online written by Abigail Barronian.

On June 20, adaptive athletes Vasu Sojitra and Pete McAfee pulled off what is believed to be a historic first in ski mountaineering.

While plenty of adaptive athletes have summited Denali, Vasu Sojitraand Pete McAfee are pretty certain they’re the first to ski it. (There is no definitive record keeper for adaptive-athlete mountaineering feats.) The two men, who are both amputees, summited and skied the 20,310-foot Alaskan peak on June 20. Their six-man team, which included mountaineers and filmmakers Erich Roepke, Stein…

An interesting read that may get your positive vibes going. From Reasons to Be Cheerful by Michaela Haas

At first, the employees at Digital Enabler in Bielefeld, Germany, thought their boss, Lasse Rheingans, was joking. “Would you like to work 40 percent less at full pay?” he asked when he stepped in front of them in November 2017.

His proposal sounded too good to be true. But Rheingans was serious.

The 40-year-old CEO now heads up the first company in Germany to have implemented a five-hour workday. The idea is simple: Employees at the tech agency arrive at 8 a.m., work with a minimum of interruptions, and leave at 1 p.m. after a five-hour burst of condensed, optimized productivity. The…