Last week, I had the honor of being named the Portland Timbers’ 2018 Community MVP for my work with the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO). If you are at all involved with the Timbers Army/107ist, you are probably already well aware of the work we have been doing - and I use “we” because while I was the chosen nominee, by no means did I do it alone. Michelle “Bella Devil” DeFord organized supply drives. Kyle “Caterjunes” Jones tirelessly worked the phones setting up a venue for the kids to play futsal, resulting in one of the two most magical moments I’ve ever experienced as a Timbers Army member, when the Portland and Minnesota fans broke into an impromptu game with the IRCO kids before MNUFC’s inaugural match (the other of course being the Atticus game). Outside of 107ist, I have been helping the kids with their homework most every Saturday and acting as a big brother to one particular refugee family, which you can do as well!

For being the Timbers’ chosen winner, IRCO will receive at least a $1,000 donation. With your help, we can turn that into $25,000. From right now until the All-Star Game on August 1st, you can vote for IRCO to take home the grand prize. Portland’s representative has won two of the last three years, including last year’s champion, Keith Palau, and between that and countless Save/Goal of the Week awards, Portlanders have shown they know how to get out and vote. But it won’t be an easy lift. There are many passionate fanbases around the league and we cannot take victory for granted, especially given that the All-Star hosts in Atlanta are shattering attendance records left and right. Between their gate receipts and home field advantage, they have to be seen as the favorites here, which means it’s going to take a bigger effort than ever before to come out on top.

HERE'S HOW TO VOTE:

You can vote once per day per device (that means once on your work computer, once on your home computer, once on your phone, etc.), every day, on their website at https://mlsworkscmvp.com/#timbersfc and on Twitter by tweeting and/or retweeting the automatically prepopulated tweet that will include the contest hashtag, MLS WORKS handle, MLS Club’s handle, Wells Fargo’s handle and the Website URL, along with the reason why you voted for your choice.

If you want to make the Twitter part easy, you can schedule a tweet in advance for every day of the contest. Twitter dot com will only let you schedule tweets if you give them a credit card, but you can connect your account to Tweetdeck for free and schedule them there. Go to tweetdeck.com, log into your Twitter account, click on the new tweet button in the top left, copy the text below, paste it into the text box, click “Schedule tweet”, and pick some time today. Then repeat those steps for tomorrow. And again for the day after tomorrow, and on and on until August 1st. Now you don’t even have to think about tweeting every day - but make sure you still vote manually through their website as well. Every vote matters!

Here is the text to tweet:
I just voted for Scott Jeffries, the 2018 @TimbersFC @MLSWORKS #CommunityMVP presented by @WellsFargo https://mlsworkscmvp.com/#timbersfc

Thank you for your support. Let's bring home the grand prize and show our immigrant and refugee neighbors that they are supported and welcomed!