A volunteer hands a sack meal to a guest at Blanchet House in Old Town. Volunteers served more than 1,200 to-go meals on March 18, 2020, because of coronavirus-related closures.

Published: March 22, 2020

Dear Blanchet House Community,

Because of your incredible generosity and the determination of our residents and volunteers, we overcame this week’s extraordinary challenges and succeeded in carrying out our mission beyond any reasonable expectation.

Collect and Share Food During Coronavirus Pandemic in Portland

We served nearly 10,000 to-go meals and have collected almost 50,000 pounds of food from shuttered restaurants and businesses, much of it perishable. Our efforts to rescue food for the benefit of our meal guests has cemented Blanchet House as an innovative leader in our city. We are now in a position to redirect some perishable food to other groups that desperately need support, and we are assessing our capacity to produce meals for delivery to those who cannot access food outside their homes. 

However, the news is not entirely good. We see the toll that living outdoors without access to shelter and food is having on the people we serve. They are tired and hungry, men and women with nowhere else to turn. We are feeding lots of people for the first time; many have been forced to travel to Blanchet House because we are one of only a few agencies serving meals daily. But they are grateful that we are here for them, with friendly greetings, nutritious food, and clothing they desperately need. 

Tomorrow brings yet another challenge as our state and city leaders will issue a “Stay at Home” order. I have no doubt that Blanchet House will qualify as an “essential service.” We are certainly essential to the people we feed.

We are doing everything we can to encourage that everyone stay six feet apart while continuing to meat the growing need for free meals.

Our mission is to feed people in need with compassion and dignity. Period. If we do not carry out our mission in times of great difficulty and risk then what is its true worth? For it is when the need is great and the circumstances severe that our work is most imperative. 

Volunteer: Serving During Difficult Time of Coronavirus Outbreak

I ask myself, what can we reasonably expect of our volunteers? Can we still call on them to serve during a public health directive to distance ourselves? I wish I had definitive answers to these questions. While we can promote safety and health in our facility, we cannot eliminate the risk of exposure to COVID-19. We cannot serve food from a distance of six feet. I say to our volunteers, for whom I have the deepest admiration and gratitude, you must choose to do what your heart and conscience compel you to do. If you stay home, I commend that choice and wish you and yours good health. There is still so much you can do to support our mission and the desperate people we serve. Please email me at volunteer@blanchethouse.org to find out how.  

If you choose to volunteer, please do so with full awareness of the risks involved. We will be here, feeding the hungry and desolate in our city. It is what we do.

Scott Kerman
Executive Director, Blanchet House of Hospitality

Cafe Closure: To-Go Meal Program Start

Published: March 16, 2020

Dear Blanchet House Community,

Just yesterday, I wrote to you about our commitment to serve meals during the COVID-19 crisis. Today, Governor Kate Brown ordered all eateries like our Founders Café to close starting tomorrow. The order also bans public gatherings of more than 25 people, with the CDC recommending gatherings of no more than ten. While I endorse this move, I am sad that we have to close to perhaps the last indoor refuge remaining for our meal guests.

But this doesn’t mean we will stop serving meals! We will not abandon the hundreds of people who depend on us for food.

Our kitchen staff will transition to preparing and packing to-go meals, which we will pass out at both entrances—NW 3rd Ave. and NW Glisan St.—so as to minimize lines and crowding. We will serve three times a day like we normally do; our hope is to provide as many hot meals as we can each day.

We need your help to continue feeding people by doing the following:

1.     Volunteer. Help pack to-go meals and run them to doors for handing out. Volunteers age 60 and over are still strongly encouraged to stay home, as well as any volunteers exhibiting any signs of illness. Email us at volunteer@blanchethouse.org if you want to help.

2.     Purchase To-Go Containers and Forks. Containers will costs us approximately $33 per meal. Consider funding an entire day’s worth of containers for $100.

3.     Donate To-Go Food. Send via Amazon or drop off single-serving non-perishable food items or produce that we can use to supplement our to-go meals to help our meal guests stretch their food.

4.    Collect Clothing. The nights are still very cold. We need warm adult-sized clothes to give to our meal guests. Shop our Amazon wish list. We also need volunteers to sort and organize clothing!

Dorothy Day, the woman who inspired our mission said, “Charity is a recognition of a person’s dignity and the personal response that this dignity should inspire.”

Each of us face challenging days filled with uncertainty and dizzying change. Our staff and volunteers will  continue to meet these challenges, inspired by the dignity of the people we serve.

These are days we will remember. Days filled with grace and charity.

Scott Kerman
Executive Director, Blanchet House of Hospitality

Published: March 12, 2020

How You Can Help Blanchet House’s Homeless Guests During the COVID-19 (coronavirus) Outbreak

Like so many in our community, we are closely following developments regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus) and actively revising our meal program procedures to promote the health of our guests and volunteers. Our cafe is currently open for all meals because it’s our mission to “offer food, shelter and aid to all those in need of a safe place to be nourished and restored.”

However, we are preparing for the possibility of the COVID-19 outbreak limiting our ability to serve meals in the usual way. In the extraordinary event that we need to close our cafe, we will begin assembling and handing out sack meals at least once a day. We are committed to doing our utmost to meet the needs of our guests. We will take our cues from the Multnomah County Health Department and the Joint Office of Homeless Services.

To ensure that we are able to carry out our mission we need your help in the following ways.

1. Volunteer

Some volunteers and school groups may need to cancel their shifts, so we are recruiting for an“on-call” list. If you would like to be included, contact us at info@blanchethouse.org. Let us know which days and meals work best for you. Please fill out a volunteer profile at www.BlanchetHouse.org/Volunteer.

2. Food & Clothing 

We are stocking up on brown bags, bread, peanut butter, fruit with a long shelf life and single-serving wrapped foods that are easy to open and consume. You can mail the following items or drop them off at 310 NW Glisan, Portland, OR, 97209. You can also donate or purchase warm clothing in adult sizes from our Amazon wish list here http://a.co/hp4V3Eg.

• Granola or protein bars
• Single serving wrapped foods like chips, crackers, snack mix, fruit snacks or raisins
• Hand wipes (60% alcohol if possible)
• Apples or oranges
• Juice boxes

3. Donate 

Preparations for coronavirus are an unexpected and expensive addition to our annual budget. A $20 donation will pay for four sack lunches. $100 will pay for a 20 sack lunches.

Thank you! Know that your support helps so many in our community!

Published: March 5, 2020

Dear Blanchet House Community,

We want to assure you that Blanchet House staff is taking all precautions recommended by the CDC and Multnomah County Health Department to prepare for and prevent COVID-19 virus from spreading amongst our residents, volunteers and guests. Our leadership is in regular contact with county and state health officials and fellow social service agencies to help promote a coordinated response and adjust services as this situation evolves.

Please be aware of the following protocols that have been implemented at Blanchet House. 

• Volunteers and staff must stay home when sick. Please call or email us if you cannot make your shift.
• We have enacted cleaning protocols that require staff to disinfect all surfaces, doorknobs and water faucet handles multiple times per day with CDC recommended sanitizers and procedures in order to eradicate germs.
• We are emphasizing and supervising proper handwashing techniques with residents and volunteers as well as other recommended disease prevention procedures to prevent contagion. We have purchased additional hand sanitizers available to meal guests, residents, and volunteers.
• Residents exhibiting signs of illness are quarantined in their rooms and provided with appropriate health care.
• Meal guests are being evaluated for signs of illness and appropriate measures are taken to promote the community’s wellness while meeting the needs of affected guests. We have purchased an additional supply of to-go containers so that guests can take food with them if they are not permitted to eat in the Cafe. 
   

Our priority is to promote the health and wellbeing of everyone in our community. We are also extremely mindful of the essential services we provide our guests who rely on Blanchet House for their daily meals. We are actively developing contingency plans with other social service organizations to ensure that our guests in need of meals can still receive them should our operations be affected by the virus.

Thank you for your continued support.

Scott Kerman
Executive Director