2021 Spring Impact Report
Looking back on a year of unexpected change
Over the past year, so much has changed. I am so grateful to you for joining us on this wild ride! Your support has helped us grow to meet every new situation, and I’m excited to share what we’ve been up to over the last few months.
You probably know that around this time last year, Clackamas Service Center moved all of our services for our houseless community members outdoors. Until winter arrived, that is!
With some careful planning, we were able to transform our community space into a one-way, walk-through shopping experience. By allowing just one person or family to come through the building at a time, we can social distance and allow everyone to pick up everything from tents to toothpaste while staying dry.
One of our longtime community members, Ryan, was first in line to pick up lunch at CSC on a recent afternoon. Until February, Ryan and his girlfriend lived in a tent near I-205. Before the pandemic, he was frequently able to pick up shifts with moving companies. COVID-19 “pretty much put a stop to all work for me,” he says.
CSC has been an especially important resource to Ryan this year. “When you don’t have an income at all, you need to get food somewhere,” he says.
Just before February’s ice storm, Ryan and his girlfriend were able to move into a hotel room. The couple got inside thanks to CSC, he says: our partners at Greater Good collaborated with us this winter to get dozens of members like Ryan into the same transitional housing program.
Growing our networks
We’ve always worked closely with outside organizations to make sure members like Ryan can access services beyond our scope, but the pressures of this year made that collaboration more important than ever.
New partnerships have helped us reach thousands of new people this year. We used our access to bulk food to share groceries with caring citizens stocking free fridges and pop-up pantries, and with non-profit partners such as Esther’s Pantry and Feed the Mass. In total, through partnerships alone, our food has supported an average of more than 3,000 households each month since December!
None of this would have been possible without you. Thank you for helping us make these important connections, and helping make life better for so many of our neighbors!
Gratefully,
Debra Mason
Executive Director
P.S. More good news: Clackamas County, medical care providers from Outside In, and CSC have teamed up to host several COVID-19 vaccination clinics in the coming weeks. As of this writing, we’ve hosted three clinics so far, where over 230 of our community members, partners, and volunteers have been vaccinated – with more clinics booked in coming weeks!
When I last spoke with Ryan, he was excited to get vaccinated, and I think we can all agree with his thoughts about this pandemic:
“I’m looking forward to putting all this behind us.”
Our deepest thanks to Classic Business Printing Services for donating paper, ink, and time for the physical version of this newsletter.
BY THE NUMBERS
On average, each of the last three months we:
Made 270 home food deliveries
Distributed 345 food boxes at school sites
Served 1,266 meals
Gave away 276 bags of groceries during meals
Provided 70 showers
Helped partner agencies support 3,166 additional households