Oregon City Family Wins Challenge
Fed up with fueling up, three local families put their skills to the test to reduce their driving for one week in the area’s first Drive Less/Save More Family Challenge. And the winner is the Jordan family from Oregon City!
All three of our participating families did a great job finding ways to combine car trips and take advantage of carpooling, ridesharing, biking and transit. Lessons learned show that there are ways to cut back on road miles and save money—even for families who are always on the go.
In first place, the Jordans shaved a total of 538 miles from their weekly average of nearly 1,200—a savings of about $91 in gas alone for the week, potentially more than $4,700 a year.
The Guillens in Beaverton took second place by reducing 361 miles from their weekly average of 615. They saved $59 in gas for the week, potentially $3,000 over a year.
The third place winner, the Price family from West Linn, also dramatically cut back on their mileage to save $27 for the week, a potential yearly savings of $1,400.
Check out these news stories from KGW to learn more about our families and their efforts to reduce road miles and save. Daily dispatches from the families can also be read at www.KGW.com/green.Special thanks to our sponsors that donated prizes for the Family Challenge: City of Wilsonville (SMART), Bike Gallery , Flexcar, Metro, PGE Park, Pioneer Organics, Oregon Zoo and TriMet .
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June 14, 2007 KGW Channel 8 Metro and TriMet give pointers to the Jordan family in Oregon City on driving smart, bike commuting and busing. [Watch the Video] (5.6 MB - Windows Media Player file)June 18, 2007 KGW Channel 8 June 20, 2007 KGW Channel 8 July 17, 2007 KGW Channel 8 Oregon City family wins Drive Less/Save More Challenge. [Watch the Video] (6.6 MB - Windows Media Player file) 
The Guillen Family Check out blog
Estella Guillen “feels like a bus.” She is the mother of four active boys, Jose, 15, Isaac, 14, Alexis, 10 and Ulysses, 9. Plus, Estella holds a full-time job at the New Parent Network for Washington County’s Health and Human Services Division in Hillsboro. Between work, errands, going to the gym and chauffeuring her boys around, she easily makes five to seven car trips a day. Estella’s husband Jose also puts on the miles running errands and going to work at the Van Doren Red-E-Mix in Forest Grove. On the weekends, the Guillen family is constantly in their car.
This Beaverton family is aiming to streamline their car trips and combine errands, as well as use transit and walk to the store, to cut down on their driving during the challenge.
The Jordan Family Check out blog
The Jordan family is always on the go. As AARP Oregon’s volunteer program manager, Gretchen Jordan, 49, is routinely on the road going from meeting to meeting. Gretchen’s husband Bill, 50, also puts on the miles getting to work at UPS. Plus, their daughter, Jackie, 19, commutes to her work in Milwaukie as well. School is out for their son Jaymes, 14, but someone will still need to drive him around.
Family errands and non-work related trips also add significantly to the Jordan family’s time on the road. But what makes planning and combining trips difficult is that they often get called upon with little notice to run errands of all types for Gretchen and Bill’s aging parents who live nearby.
This Oregon City family is looking to take advantage of better errand planning and alternate transportation, including bike commuting, walking and taking transit, to win the challenge.
The Price Family Check out blog
