Portland Adventist Community Services serves Portland's vulnerable while keeping a low profile
September 15, 2009
Oregonian reporter Irina Verzemnieks recently spent a week volunteering with Portland Adventist Community Services (PACS) on 110th and Halsey in NE Portland, and has chronicled her experience in a series of articles in the Oregonian.
PACS offers low-income community members a Family Health Center, Client Choice Grocery Warehouse, and thrift stores. It also provides needs assessments and referral to other agencies where necessary.
Last year alone, PACS distributed over 1 million pounds of food, sold over 300,000 items in its low-cost thrift stores, and provided primary care to nearly 1,000 patients in its Family Health Center.
Volunteer opportunities abound at PACS, where their many programs offer something for everyone – Verzemnieks writes that according to PACS Director Paul Cole, “while all of the services they offer are important, perhaps the most important, transformative one is giving people a place where they can be of service to someone else because of what it reveals to them about themselves.”