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The Dropbox Derby Experience
On September 3rd, 2018, 27 teams of four gathered at the Eastbank Esplanade to compete in Lovett Deconstruction‘s Dropbox Derby, a building competition in the style of Iron Chef. Just 24 hours prior to the event, teams were given the theme, “A Seat at the Table,” and an inventory of salvaged materials was delivered. Actual building-time was limited to 4 hours – afterward, these finished products would be judged and then auctioned off, with the proceeds going to support Oregon Tradeswomen.
The morning kicked off with a spirited pep talk by Lovett Deconstruction’s Der Lovett, and at 10:00 a.m. sharp, the teams hurried over to the piles of materials and gathered their share of supplies. The next 4 hours was a flurry of sanding, sawing, staining, drilling, and hammering, as teams were feeling the pressure of 4 hours that felt more like 30 minutes!
Oregon Tradeswomen competed this year, too. The team of 4 was comprised of two board members, Moe Gauthier, and Meghan Moyer, and two staff members, Abby Bandurraga, and Trytten Tehrani. The team’s concept for “A Seat at the Table” was a hexagonal children’s picnic bench where everyone is the head of the table. The table top had a geometric inlay of wood of different colors representing the unity between all the different people who share the planet.
The level of artistry and craftsmanship at the Dropbox Derby was impressive. Many spectators wove through the Eastbank Esplanade observing the teams diligently working together to assemble their unique projects piece by salvaged piece. Once the building portion was complete, judges filed through to talk to each team about their finished products. The judging criteria included Aesthetics, Creative Use of Materials, Craft, and Theme.
There were many different ways in which teams interpreted “A Seat at the Table.”
With an honorable mention, Team OG crafted a tabletop with the image of a woman with outstretched arms which intended to symbolize welcoming everyone to the table.
In 3rd place, Team Feathered Caulk decided to challenge themselves and build the most complex type of table they could imagine: a fully functioning Foosball table!
In 2nd place, Team Neil Kelly, built a beautifully designed bench made up of two seats facing opposite directions, with their arm rests joined together to make a table.
In 1st place, Team Engaging Environments built a table with a seat within it. The seat represents the patriarchal oligarchy in which we live. Half of the table is not seen on the surface, but it functions by holding the rest of it up. This represents workers of all genders and ethnicities who are an essential part of our social systems, but are often unheard. This project was also honored with the People’s Choice Award.
The Dropbox Derby is an experience like no other. Vast imaginations, great skill, and fierce teamwork all came together to create stunning structures with a message. We are so grateful to Lovett Deconstruction for organizing this stupendous event and for honoring Oregon Tradeswomen by naming our nonprofit organization as the beneficiaries of the auction proceeds.
Oregon Tradeswomen is grateful to all 27 teams for their creativity and talent, as well as all those who came out, cheered on, and bid on these handmade masterpieces. We are so lucky to have this community and we cannot wait to see what is in store for next year!
Dropbox Derby 2018
Lovett Deconstruction announced its first ever Dropbox Derby in 2017 and it was a rousing success! Now an annual event, Lovett’s Drobox Derby hosts thirty teams, comprised of 2-4 people, and the teams have four hours with identical packages of salvaged materials to build on a theme. Last year’s concept was “Bridge House” which led to creations such as these:
After the building portion, a panel of three judges come to an agreement as to which finished products win each of the three top design awards! Watch the 2017 Dropbox Derby video.
The concept for Dropbox Derby came from Der Lovett, the owner of Lovett Deconstruction. He wanted to do something with all the salvaged wood that came from old deconstructed Portland buildings as well finding as a way to participate in PDX Rust’s Portland ReUse for Societal Transformation: A Week of Neighborhood ReUse Events. Last year’s event was such a success that they will be hosting the event again during the 2018 Portland ReUse for Societal Transformation.
This event is free and open to the public, featuring excellent food, local ciders, live music, and an opportunity to bid on any of the finished products! It’s like an Iron Chef for builders mixed with a block party! And the best part is that all the proceeds will go to support Oregon Tradeswomen and our mission!
We hope to see you out there on Monday, September 3rd, from 10am-6pm to support Oregon Tradeswomen and your favorite builders at this unique event! Join the event on Facebook!
Milwaukee Tools Lends a Hand to TACC
The power of social media is real. Some may see platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram just as a way to share what you’re doing, what you’re eating, what you’re thinking, but it’s more than that. As an organization, we see social media as a way to share our mission, to inspire others, and to build relationships with not only with our individual followers, but with other organizations and companies. We are here to build a community with those who believe in empowering women, encouraging workforce diversity in the trades, and promoting visibility for apprenticeships among other core values… And build a community, we have.
We are so incredibly grateful for the wide variety of connections we have made through these social media channels. Late in 2017, we saw that little red “1” icon in the top right corner of our Instagram feed, signifying that someone send us a private message. The message read, “Hi! I’d like to get involved with your organization. Can you please point me in the right direction? Thank you!” Touched by the fact that someone went out of their way to reach out to us and express a desire to engage, we connected them to Lisa Palermo, our Development Director. Little did we know that this person worked for Milwaukee Tools, a distinguished power tool manufacturer from Wisconsin known for their innovation and high quality. As it turns out, the president of Milwaukee Tools had seen a post of ours on Instagram and was compelled to learn more about Oregon Tradeswomen and our mission. Wanting to support diversity in the industry as well as invest in the community, he tasked someone to make the connection with us.
In supporting the work we do, Milwaukee Tools made the incredibly generous offer to outfit our pre-apprencticeship program, Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC), with brand new tools! TACC students have been using the same rusty, second-hand tools for far too long, so this gesture was graciously received. They donated enough tools to replace almost all of our older, dilapidated tools. It is so important that the women in our program have more than adequate equipment so they can really learn how to use tools without frustration due to malfunction or poor quality. We want our tradeswomen to be job-ready and it means the world to us that Milwaukee Tools wants to help our students have the best experience entering the trades possible. 
What started as a simple Instagram message blossomed into a truly special partnership. We are humbled by the fact that a highly reputable company intentionally sought us out to get involved and help us on our mission. We extend our deepest thanks to Milwaukee Tools for donating their high quality equipment to our pre-apprenticeship program, improving the experiences of the women who we are training to enter the workforce!
Waterleaf Architecture’s International Women’s Day Fundraiser for Oregon Tradeswomen
Our generous friends at Waterleaf Architecture are celebrating this year’s International Women’s Day like they did last year; by kicking off a fundraiser for Oregon Tradeswomen! You may have seen some of Waterleaf’s work at Lloyd Center as they were responsible for the much-needed facelift of the mall including the three story spiral staircase that was an homage to the original iconic spiral staircase from the mall’s opening in 1960.
Waterleaf has always been so supportive of our mission and wants to make sure that our Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class has the proper equipment for students to hone their skills in preparation for their apprenticeships! To participate in Waterleaf Architecture’s fundraiser, you can donate here! And don’t forget to mention Waterleaf in the “How did you hear about us?” section when making your donation so that they can track their fundraising goal. The fundraiser started on International Women’s Day, March 8th.
We send our deepest gratitude to Waterleaf Architecture for their ongoing support of our mission!
Thank you for Supporting Oregon Tradeswomen in the Willamette Week Give!Guide!
Thank you for helping make Oregon Tradeswomen’s Give!Guide campaign such a success!
We are so grateful to have been included in the Willamette Week Give!Guide again in 2017 – a fantastic opportunity for local non-profits to reach new and long-time supporters alike.
All we can say is WOW and THANK YOU! We are completely blown away by the outpouring of generosity from all of you! Between November 1st and December 31st, we received 177 gifts totaling $19,960 – only $40 short of our goal of $20,000! These gifts will go a long way in the continued effort to increase the visibility of women in the trades and building their economic independence, from supporting the Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class (TACC) to offering career and leadership support as they grow in their Trade
A special thank you and round of high fives to our fabulous Oregon Tradeswomen Alumnae, who contributed an impressive $1,224!
As gifts began to come in, so too did the seriously heartwarming words of appreciation and support. Here are a few of our favorites:
“Thank you Oregon Tradeswomen! I have benefited greatly from your organization and mentorship and I am grateful for all of the work that you do!”
“Happy to support you all in any way I can. Thank you for the positive impact you make for the trades industry and women entering the field!”
“YOU ROCK.”
Thank you again to all of our supporters, whether you made a monetary donation, or donated your time, energy, and love to Oregon Tradeswomen and the work we’re doing together.
Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2018!
Looking Ahead to 2018!
As we begin 2018, Oregon Tradeswomen would like to thank our industry and community partners and supporters. Each of you contribute to changing the lives of the women we serve, and we are grateful for all that you do.
With your support, we are building our capacity to reach and serve more women each day. In 2017 we provided more than 1,000 women with career education and support to pursue a career in skilled trades in construction and manufacturing.
Because of your commitment, support, and generosity, Oregon Tradeswomen was able to provide 159 women with industry skills training, hundreds of women with job placement, access to registered apprenticeship, career counseling, supportive services, advocacy, and leadership development. Our work – with your support – ensured that women were able to move themselves and their families out of poverty and into prosperity. They have gained skills and confidence and community. They have been able to build a career and a future and a sisterhood. Thank you for making all of these things and more a reality for women in the Portland region and across Oregon.
As we begin this New Year, Oregon Tradeswomen invites you to continue to support our work, and to join us as we think and dream and do – bigger and bolder.
We have big changes underway – including the development of a three-year strategic plan, revamping of our decade old pre-apprenticeship training program, and expanding services. We are raising money to purchase our own building where we will house a training workshop, community space, on-site childcare, and low-income housing. We are building an advocacy platform to ensure positive changes for women and industry at the local, state and national level are realized. We are developing a mentoring program, expanding our services to rural communities and engaging new partners.
We invite you to join us as we build this vision and our future for the women, industry and community we serve.
With gratitude,
Kelly Kupcak, Executive Director
Easy Ways to Support Oregon Tradeswomen
Hard to believe it, but it’s already November, which means Thanksgiving might as well be tomorrow and Christmas the week after that! The holidays probably have you in one of two camps: thrilled at the thought of getting cozy, spending time with family (biological and chosen!), and coming up with the perfect little something for your loved ones OR terrified at the mere thought of being within 100 yards of a Target parking lot.
The cherry on top, or silver lining, depending on which side you’re on, is that this holiday season you can support Oregon Tradeswomen with minimal effort and at no additional cost to you just by shopping on Amazon or at Fred Meyer. That’s right – free money for Oregon Tradeswomen and the revolutionary program that’s changing lives!
How does it work? For Amazon purchases, simply visit tradeswomen.net/donate to access our AmazonSmile portal and connect your account to Oregon Tradeswomen by logging in to your Amazon account. Then, just shop as you normally would. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases to Oregon Tradeswomen!
To support us through the Fred Meyer Community Rewards program, just link your Freddie’s reward card to Oregon Tradeswomen (instructions can be found at tradeswomen.net/donate) and we’ll receive a quarterly donation. You will still receive 100% of your earned rewards!
At Oregon Tradeswomen even small gifts lead to big impact. Our deepest gratitude goes out to all our supporters who generously donate their time, energy, and financial support to making rewarding, living-wage careers for women in the construction trades a reality.
Thank you for supporting Oregon Tradeswomen!
Oregon Tradeswomen is in the Give!Guide!
We are honored to have been selected for inclusion in the 2017 Willamette Week Give!Guide!, and we’re in great company – 148 other local nonprofit organizations doing great work are also featured in this special campaign!
The Willamette Week Give!Guide started in 2004 with a goal of engaging younger Portlanders and encouraging them get in the healthy habit of end of year giving to local organizations that make our community a better place to live.
To inspire giving, donors who give between $10 and $999 receive a code to access your incentives in the Chinook Book mobile app. The incentives range from discount coupons to free ice cream and coffee. Donors who make a gift of $1,000 or more will receive bags filled with incentives delivered to their home!
As we approach the season of giving, we hope you’ll think of Oregon Tradeswomen and help us provide training and opportunities for women to build and strengthen their lives.
Big Give Days
To encourage donors, the Willamette Week Give!Guide also hosts a raffle on certain days and anyone who makes a donation of $10 or more is entered to win one of the BIG PRIZES!
November 9
A $500 shopping spree at Powell’s Books
November 13
Anyone 35 & under who gives on this day is entered to win a $250 gift certificate to Tender Loving Empire, a basket of TLE goodies, five autographed copies of their latest vinyl and four tickets to any 2018 show headlined by a TLI artist!
November 16
Two nights at Brasada Ranch in a luxury suite and a round of golf.
November 30
Two VIP tickets and early entry to the Portugal the Man show at McMenamains’ Crystal Ballroom on 12/17, plus:
+A Euro Queen hotel room at the Crystal Hotel
+ $80 worth of dinner and breakfast vouchers at the Zeus Café
+ A FREE taster tray in the Annex
+ FREE pool and shuffleboard in Ringlers Pub.
December 4
Anyone 35 & under who gives on this day is entered to win a Sony Alpha a6300 camera and a 16-50 zoom lens from Pro Photo Supply.
December 7
One lucky donor will win a Trek FX bike from Bike Gallery
December 14
Two tickets to the Portland Trail Blazers vs. Denver game, two tickets to the Trail Blazers vs. Philadelphia game and a jersey signed by Evan Turner.
December 21
A 60-person Salt & Straw ice cream and ping pong party at Pips & Bounce.
December 28
The Oregon Cultural Trust challenges donors to “Give Big and Get Out” across this amazing state of ours by offering a vacation package! Visit giveguide.org for details
Thank You to Danner Boots!
If you don’t know Danner, they are a Portland based company that has been manufacturing work boots for 85 years! They began as a small group of 12 people in the logging town of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, hand-making affordable work boots for the loggers. As logging in the Pacific Northwest kept growing, Danner moved to Portland to meet the demand. Danner manufactured boots for the US military during World War II and in the 1960s and 1970s, they started a new line of boots and shoes for the growing interest in outdoor activities such as hiking, backpacking, and mountain-climbing. Danner even developed and patented a waterproof boot using GORE-TEX ® fabric! Danner has always strived to be ahead of the game and we are so grateful that we have the privilege to partner with such an incredible local company.
Recently, we reached out to them with a request for specific boots which would allow our pre-apprenticeship students to participate in a new welding training offering, Danner stepped up like champs! Danner immediately provided a full size run of their wonderful Quarry USA boots. Our students were beyond thrilled when they received a fresh new pairs of boots, both stylish and industry appropriate.
In addition to the generous boots for our pre-apprenticeship students, Danner gave us “Friends and Family passes” to their stores which equates to a generous 40% discount! It warms our hearts when local businesses and members of our community want to pay it forward. It shows us that they value the work that we do and support these incredible women who are taking bold steps to change their own lives.
We’re excited to announce that the first 15 people who sign up as a member of Oregon Tradeswomen in the month of November will receive a “Friends and Family pass” to do their own shopping with Danner.
Thank you, Danner! We are grateful for your continued partnership and your great generosity.
Building on a Mission
Oregon Tradeswomen was founded on principles that women should have access to training, education, and career pathways in blue-collar industries as a means to economic self-sufficiency. Beginning in the 1970s, women began to organize nationally to impact federal public policy, as well as at the local level to bring about much needed changes for women working in the skilled trades and other “nontraditional” jobs. Here in Portland, a small support group was founded in 1989, led by four tradeswomen, (an elevator constructor, two carpenters and an operating engineer), later forming Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc., in 1999. That elevator constructor was Connie Ashbrook, founding Executive Director, who built the organization from its early foundation to where it stands today – an integral nonprofit partner working to ensure access, opportunity, and equity for women across our community and the country as a whole.
After dedicating her life’s work to the organization and to the tradeswomen movement, Connie Ashbrook retired this summer, building a foundation and legacy of which she can be extremely proud. All of us at Oregon Tradeswomen are honored and grateful that Connie has graciously committed to continue to contribute her time, talent, and expertise as Executive Director Emeritus, contributing to special projects for Oregon Tradeswomen as we move our work and vision forward.
As the new Executive Director, I am excited to be a part of Oregon Tradeswomen, and the tremendous community of which we are a member. As Connie “passed the torch” to me just a few short weeks ago, I have reflected on the privilege that comes with being engaged in work you love, for which you have a passion, and for being able to help make the world a better place. I recognize the big shoes I must try to fill in carrying this important work forward. While I don’t know everything, I do know that this community has shown dedicated support of the great work of Oregon Tradeswomen and that the work of our mission cannot be done alone.
In that, we invite you to continue to build with us, as we set a bold vision for our future. In the coming year we look forward to expanding our programming across Oregon to reach more women – especially those in rural communities. Deepening our commitment and our reach into our communities of color as we adopt and implement a racial justice plan. Forging new relationships with industry stakeholders in manufacturing, transportation, and other nontraditional occupations and industries to increase opportunities for women. Increasing our capacity to provide technical assistance to support our partners in achieving diversity, inclusion, and equity. Responding to the new challenges and opportunities in our community through engaged and intentional collaboration. Building a shared wealth creation model so all the members of our community may prosper. Please join us as we move forward with a bold vision for change. I look forward to doing good work together.
In solidarity,
Kelly