Video Archives - Blanchet House https://blanchethouse.org/category/video/ Fri, 27 Dec 2024 20:09:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://blanchethouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/cropped-BH_Logo_Monogram_Green_favicon-2-32x32.png Video Archives - Blanchet House https://blanchethouse.org/category/video/ 32 32 A Different Kind of Homeless Services Provider https://blanchethouse.org/a-different-kind-of-homeless-services-provider/ Tue, 07 Mar 2023 01:38:38 +0000 https://blanchethouse.org/?p=21693 The post A Different Kind of Homeless Services Provider appeared first on Blanchet House.

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A Place to Regain Hope

As a homeless services provider, Blanchet House offers free meals, transitional housing, and a safe community to regain hope.

Meet Diane R.

A year ago, Diane was homeless because of her drug addiction. She came to rely on Blanchet House for food and community. Now in recovery, she volunteers in the cafe serving others who are in the position she once was. As a Peer Support Specialist, Diane is a member of the Old Town InReach Team supporting people struggling with challenges to housing.

“It feels really good to know that I matter because we all want to matter and have a purpose,” Diane shared.

Blanchet House, a homeless social services provider in Old Town Portland, offers prepared meals three times a day, six days a week served restaurant-style by volunteers. Its dependable meal schedule along with the community found there is key to Diane’s progress in maintaining sobriety.

Read more about Diane’s journey.

Meet John A.

John struggled with addiction most of his adult life. After gaining sobriety, he needed a safe place to live surrounded by peer support and accountability. Blanchet House provides him with a room and meals so he can focus on his new job as a truck driver with Pacific Coast Fruit and come home to a safe place.

Blanchet House’s residential program houses up to 45 men. The program is designed to give them time to address issues like sobriety and save money for housing surrounded by a supportive community of peers. The program requires residents to work in the kitchen serving the homeless during the first 90 days of their stay.

“I couldn’t wait to get the dish pit every morning. The work gave me a purpose again,” says John.

This meaningful work helps people rebuild self-worth and a purpose for living, and reacclimate to a set schedule.

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]]> Inside Look: Volunteer at Blanchet House in Portland https://blanchethouse.org/inside-look-at-volunteer-blanchet-house-portland/ Wed, 19 Jan 2022 02:15:17 +0000 https://blanchethouse.org/2022/01/19/an-inside-look-at-volunteering-with-blanchet-house/ Take a look at volunteering with Blanchet House to see why so many people discover a meaningful way to lend a hand. Volunteers are needed to help prepare and serve hot meals, sort clothing donations, and pack care kits. You can sign up for a 1.5-hour volunteer shift, Mon-Sat. You can volunteer once a month, once a week, or once a year. It's up to you.

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Video: Volunteer in Portland

The video below gives you an inside look into Blanchet House’s free cafe. See why so many people find a meaningful way to lend a hand to people experiencing homelessness, hunger, and poverty. We hope you will want to sign up to volunteer at Blanchet House in Old Town Portland too.

Sign Up to Volunteer

Volunteers are needed daily to help serve hot meals, bus tables, sort clothing donations, and pack care kits. You can sign up for a 1.5-hour volunteer shift, Mon-Sat. Choose to volunteer once a month, once a week, or once a year. It’s up to you!

Compassionate individuals age 14 and older are needed to:

  • Serve meals or drinks.
  • Sort clothing, prep produce, or pack care kits.
  • Be a guest chef. (Must have food handlers card.)
  • Help out at Blanchet Farm.

To sign up first, complete the online orientation then you can schedule volunteer shifts in Volunteer Local. COVID vaccinations and masks are required to volunteer on-site. Groups of up to 10 people are also welcome to volunteer in Blanchet House’s cafe.

Volunteer Sign Up

Thank you to GMS Media and Advertising for generously putting this video together.

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]]> 2020 Impact on Homelessness in Portland https://blanchethouse.org/2020-impact-on-homelessness-in-portland/ Wed, 19 Jan 2022 02:13:06 +0000 https://blanchethouse.org/2022/01/19/2020-impact-on-homelessness-in-portland/ 2020 was a year of incredible need and generosity. Blanchet House served more than 500,000 meals which is a 60% increase from 2019. Thank you for supporting our work to ease suffering.

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2020 was a year of incredible need and generosity in Portland. Blanchet House served more than 500,000 meals, which is a 60% increase from the year before. As always, our mission is to alleviate human suffering by providing help and hope to people struggling to survive by connecting them with essential resources. We aim to help our guests on their journey to permanent and supportive housing, sobriety, trauma counseling, and medical or mental health care.

Many of the people we served in 2020 were experiencing homelessness but also poverty, hunger insecurity, and loneliness. Living homeless is a lonely condition that negatively affects the physical and mental health of anyone who experiences it. Our volunteers are often the only friendly face a meal guest might see during their day. We do not collect personal data from our guests but we learn through interaction that they span a wide range of ages and walks of life. Causes of homelessness include domestic violence, drug and substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, loss of jobs, and poverty among others.

Offering a person food, clothing, a shower, or essential care items aids their survival while enduring difficult living conditions. Taking care of someone’s most basic needs helps them to take the next steps on the long journey to permanent housing and life change.

Thank you for supporting our work to ease suffering and set people up for success and healing.

Learn more ways to get involved.

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Our Impact in 2020

517,026
meals served

150
people given life-saving
shelter

1,700
volunteers

650,000
pounds of fresh food rescued from local grocery stores and restaurants

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]]> Where some go when there is no place to go https://blanchethouse.org/where-some-go-when-there-is-no-place-to-go/ Wed, 19 Jan 2022 02:08:39 +0000 https://blanchethouse.org/2022/01/19/where-some-go-when-there-is-no-place-to-go/ Men struggling with addiction are finding refuge at the Blanchet House, a nonprofit in Portland, Oregon, that vows it will ‘never give up’ on them.

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]]> Men struggling with addiction are finding refuge at the Blanchet House, a nonprofit in Portland, Oregon, that vows it will ‘never give up’ on them.

The post Where some go when there is no place to go appeared first on Blanchet House.

]]> Why Do You Volunteer at Blanchet House? https://blanchethouse.org/why-do-you-volunteer-at-blanchet-house/ Wed, 19 Jan 2022 02:07:31 +0000 https://blanchethouse.org/2022/01/19/why-do-you-volunteer-at-blanchet-house/ Long-time Blanchet House volunteer Linda Wabs tells us why she gives back through service to others.

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]]> Long-time Blanchet House volunteer Linda Wabs tells us why she gives back through service to others.

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