This is an excerpt from the article “We Are What We Do,” written by Peter Hartwick and published by Bittersweet Monthly. Read the full feature story with beautiful photos by Minsong Kim at https://bittersweetmonthly.com/stories/blanchet.
Let’s start simply. Blanchet House and Farm is a nonprofit in Portland, Oregon that provides three services: food, shelter, and work.
At its most basic, Blanchet feeds people, gives them a place to stay, and involves them in meaningful occupation. Amidst a sea of hollow promises and unreliable help, Blanchet is a beacon of commitment and concreteness.
Food, shelter, purpose—what would any of us be without them? I don’t mean that rhetorically.
Structurally speaking, the organization has two halves. The first is the house and cafe. The second is the residential farm. They are separated by 30-some miles, and—except for vegetables—there does not seem to be much traffic between them week-to-week. Even so, it is remarkable how much the same Blanchet spirit lives in both.
But the material aid Blanchet provides is more than the sum of its parts. It is a foundation for a community of people who are being restored to themselves. Which is to say, the description “nonprofit social services organization” does not quite capture everything that Blanchet House and Farm is. For my money, I’d call them a microcosm of redemption.
You can see it in their mission statement. To alleviate suffering and offer hope for a better life by serving essential aid with dignity. There’s nothing explicitly there about hunger or poverty or employment. It’s a bigger vision made of the alleviation of suffering, the offering of hope, and the demonstration of dignity.
And yes, it is pronounced the cool, French way—like its Archiepiscopal namesake blan-CHAY.
