The Oregon Chapter ARCS Light for 2021 is Lee Ragen. Lee has been a loyal and contributing member of ARCS Oregon for 12 years. She has excellent organizational skills and is devoted to accomplishing committee goals and tasks. She says “yes” when asked to lead and we are very fortunate to have her long-term participation in our chapter. 

In 2009 and 2010, Lee chaired our Scholar Awards Luncheon. She expanded the event to celebrate scholar award funding and invited William Gates Sr. to be our speaker. Lee was instrumental in pivoting the logistics to include more guests and focus on raising more dollars from sponsors.In 2013-2015, she chaired Member Relations. Lee was diligent about welcoming new members, either at planned orientations in members’ homes or with individual members over wine or coffee. Her efforts to welcome new members benefitted our chapter greatly!  While leading Member Relations, she also served on the Nominating Committee and the chapter’s board.From 2017-2021, Lee has served as Board Member at Large, serving on several ad-hoc committees. In this role, she worked very hard to organize and update our new member orientation. In 2019, Lee co-chaired our 15^th Anniversary Celebration at Waverley Country Club. In 2021, Lee is again a member of the Nominating Committee.  She has spent a great deal of time collecting information about our members to help the Nominating Committee be more aware of the skills and interests of our members. She has been a consistent leader and cheerleader for our chapter, with grace and warmth, always with careful attention to detail and a willingness to work on any project needed.

Lee also has many years of community board experience.  She was the president of the Junior League of Portland in 1974-1975 and was named Sustainer of the Year in 1990. Lee and Ron have been long-time supporters of the Japanese Garden. They have supported several individual ARCS Scholar Awards and she faithfully attends committee and program meetings. She continues to participate actively and meaningfully on committees and the board, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience so important for us all.  Lee has been an outstanding, long-serving “GEM” for our chapter! Congratulations Lee!