SOLVE volunteers help clean up Portland ahead of MLS Cup
By MARILYN DEUTSCH
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PORTLAND, Oregon (KPTV) — Saturday will be the first time Providence Park has hosted the MLS Cup, and it comes with an international spotlight. City leaders and Timbers fans hope Portland shines in front of a worldwide audience this weekend.
To put a bit of spit and polish on Soccer City USA, SOLVE volunteers fanned out across southwest Portland’s Stadium District to pick up litter on sidewalks and streets.
“Oh my gosh, I’m just so excited. It’s finally here in Portland, and hopefully we can win the cup,” Timbers fan and SOLVE volunteer Rebecca Pietra said.
Also helping clean up was former Timbers defender Nat Borchers. He was part of the team that won the 2015 MLS Cup, and now serves as a community ambassador for the Timbers.
“Look, Portland’s taken its bruises in the last year, and there’s a lot of litter around here we need to pick up, especially for the big game,” Borchers told FOX 12.
Even if you’re one of those who believes the city has seen better days, Borchers couldn’t be more excited to do his part to show off the city he now calls home.
“This place, Portland, is a wonderful city,” he said. “I moved here seven years ago with my family and we fell in love with it.”
To a nation that knows Portland only by protests, violent crime and houseless encampments, Borchers hopes Saturday’s MLS Cup shows off another side of the city – the Rose City side.
“We want to show the city off. We want to show off this beautiful stadium to all the people coming out of town to enjoy the game,” he said. “It gives me goosebumps just to think that we could have another championship brought to this club, and the fact we get to host it, it feels like a true championship run.”
SOLVE has decades of experience cleaning up all across Oregon. Volunteers have been especially busy in Portland during the COVID-19 pandemic, coming out once a month to clean up the downtown area and other neighborhoods.
The MLS Cup featuring the Portland Timbers and New York City FC will kickoff at 12 p.m. Saturday.
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