RESTORING DIGNITY

"I got a call, and I'm supposed to tell you that 72 kids are 15 minutes away," said office assistant, Iris Stanley. "What?! Are you kidding?" I exclaimed. She wasn't. The estimated group of 36 earliteens from the Adventist campmeeting at Gladstone had doubled. We were not sure if we could handle that many kids. Our director, Paul L. Cole, pulled together a huddle of our supervisors. Donna Keeler, Assistant Thrift Manager, willingly agreed to split her group into two work areas, so we could keep the group size at a manageable 18 kids (we had planned for groups of 12). Bob Wilkening and Paul prepared to handle groups of 18 as well. When all was said and done, they rearranged, sorted and moved a lot of thrift merchandise; scrubed under the food pantry shelves; and listened carefully while we told them about the need, and how PACS is trying to help. And what a difference they made! God surprised us with a large group that we thought would be too many t

Monday night was the first food run for the recently finished PACS COW Mobile Pantry (COW stand for “commodities on wheels”). Food was provided to 21 families (a total of 91 people) from 6 – 8 p.m. The pantry is the brainchild of PACS’ Executive Director, Paul L. Cole, who developed the “client choice” mobile pantry concept after a volunteer asked how we could help people in her neighborhood, where there were many needy families, but no food pantries. The concept is designed to reduce the time and financial stress for these families, caused by the need for long drives or bus rides to the nearest emergency food center. The PACS COW was built from a snowmobile trailer, converted on the inside to include shelves and lighting in a walkthrough, grocery store-style setup that works like PACS’ on-site food pantry in NE Portland . Here are some pictures of the first PACS COW opening, hosted in Troutdale , Oregon by Frontier Missions : The exit ramp at the back of the trailer can also