Blanchet House Announces Building Pathways Home Campaign, to Rebuild Facilities for Addiction Recovery at Blanchet Farm
Oct. 1, 2023 — The public phase of Blanchet House’s campaign to rebuild Blanchet Farm, located in Carlton, OR, begins today. The Building Pathways Home campaign aims to raise $9 million by the Fall of 2024 with construction already underway.
Ground was broken for a more than 14,000 square feet mix-use facility on May 31, 2023. The new building will benefit the rural and urban community by providing a pathway for up to 25 men to overcome addiction and homelessness. There will be offices for social ventures to support the nonprofit mission of the farm, a state-of-the-art kitchen and dining area, space for job skills education, as well as communal areas for the community. The communal areas will provide room for Yamhill County residents to attend on-site Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings.
Blanchet Farm was opened in 1962 as a place of refuge and recovery for people struggling with addiction and other challenges. Its facilities are in disrepair and desperately need to be rebuilt. Unlike traditional recovery programs, Blanchet Farm offers a hands-on approach by providing an opportunity to care for animals, tend gardens, and gain job skills through woodworking.
Blanchet House Executive Director Scott Kerman observes the construction of a new facility at Blanchet Farm, August 2023. Photo by Michelle Lagos.
“Our farm program has been incredibly successful at helping people change their lives for the better. But the facilities are worn out. They were not designed with a recovery program in mind,” says Scott Kerman, Blanchet House’s Executive Director. “What we’ve learned is that helping someone become housed takes time, a safe place, and individualized support.”
The new facility will operate using clean solar energy thanks to a grant from Portland General Electric’s 2022 Renewable Development Fund. The Renewable Development Fund, which awards grants for clean energy projects in the community, is fully funded by PGE’s Green Future customers.
Schommer & Sons are the general contractors and SERA Architects are the project architects.
In announcing the public phase of the campaign, Blanchet House announced that $6 million has been raised toward the total goal of $9 million. The total major gifts from the Heatherington Foundation for Innovation and Education in Health Care, PGE Renewable Development Fund, the Joseph E Weston Foundation, and HEDCO Foundation, along with other generous supporters.
In support of the public phase, on Oct. 3, Blanchet House will participate in a day of giving with live interviews throughout the day on KATU Channel 2 in Portland.
For more information on the Building Pathways Home campaign, visit the campaign website at https://blanchethouse.org/blanchet-farm-capital-campaign.
MEDIA CONTACT: Julie Showers, Communications, jshowers@blanchethouse.org, 917-620-7627
