Groceries & More. A Friend at the Door
In January, employees at Kaiser Permanente joined with friends and family members to make a mountain of handmade, heartfelt greeting cards for Store to Door. We can’t wait to share them with our clients, and we are grateful for KP’s commitment to making a difference in our community!
Bank of America sponsored a week of grocery deliveries to homebound seniors and people with disabilities in the Portland area. As a part of Store to Door’s Support-A-Week program, Bank of America paid delivery costs for 241 orders, consisting of groceries, prescriptions, and other household items. Bank of America employees also supported Store to Door’s work by volunteering to help shop client orders at both Hollywood Fred Meyer and Beaverton Town Center Fred Meyer.
For more information about Store to Door Support-A partnership program, visit our Corporate Sponsorship page!
Store to Door is pleased to announce that Mark Fulop has been named as the organization’s new Executive Director effective December 16th, 2019. Mark joins Store to Door with a wealth of senior management experience—having served in nonprofits, county health departments, and academic universities. His career has focused on supporting community-based health and social programs.
For the last decade, Mark has been a consultant to nonprofit, government, and philanthropic organizations. He helped dozens of Portland organizations create effective boards, develop strategic plans, and strengthen programs that serve the community. Mark’s education includes degrees in Public Health and Educational Technology.
“Mark is a strategic thinker and empowering leader who brings with him extensive experience in the nonprofit community and a rare combination of expertise in public health and technology,” says Store to Door Board President Mike Beaty. “We are excited to welcome him into our family.”
In addition to his extensive professional experience, Mark has served as a volunteer Board Member with several different organizations, including Reading Results, Community Music Center, and Resolutions Northwest. Mark volunteered with Social Venture Partners Portland and, with his two children, volunteered for over a year at the PACS Food Pantry.
“Store to Door builds community by connecting volunteers with seniors and people with disabilities. The program goes beyond delivering groceries and actively promotes the social health, equity, and well-being of those needing support. Store to Door is a unique approach to strengthening the social fabric of our neighborhoods,” Mark says. He continues, “I am honored to build on the legacy of this great organization and to work with the board to support our amazing staff and volunteers as we seek to make an even greater impact in the lives of those we serve.”
Held each year on the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving, #GivingTuesday affords us an opportunity to celebrate charitable giving, and to begin the holiday season by supporting those causes we feel strongly about. Since its inaugural year in 2012, #GivingTuesday has become a movement that celebrates and supports giving and philanthropy with events throughout the year and a growing catalog of resources.
We hope you will remember Store to Door this #GivingTuesday, and help us continue our work delivering nourishment, connection, and dignity to homebound seniors and people with disabilities here in the Portland area.
“I was going to the store about 6 weeks in between. Now, I can eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day.”
– Store to Door Client
PacificSource Health Plans sponsored a day of grocery delivery costs for more than 110 homebound seniors and adults with disabilities on November 13th through Store to Door’s Support-A-Day program.
Employees of PacificSource also celebrated the week by volunteering to grocery shop for Store to Door clients at Beaverton Town Center Fred Meyer, along with 30-45 other Portland-area volunteers.
PacificSource Health Plans support came as a part of a $2,500 grant awarded to Store to Door through PacificSource’s Healthy Communities Giving Program, which is aimed at partnering with communities in order to “achieve health, resiliency, and well-being for individuals and families.”
For the month of November, we’re putting the spotlight on long-time volunteer, Leigh! We asked Leigh about her involvement with Store to Door, her holiday traditions, and the multiple ways in which she gets involved serving her community!
Q. How long have you been volunteering with Store to Door and what do you help us with?
A. I have been volunteering with Store to Door for several years. I help shop at the Beaverton Fred Meyer and make calls for shopping orders.
Q. Which volunteer role with us is your favorite and why?
A. I love calling my clients. Since it is the same group every week, we have gotten to know each other well. Many look forward to my call, not only to take their order, but also to talk with a friend. They are so appreciative of our organization and the care shown to them from all of us -the callers, shoppers, delivery drivers, and the administrative office staff.
Q. You frequently bring along a furry friend while volunteering – tell us about your pup!
A. I am a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind and have my pup with me at the office and while shopping. As a puppy raiser, I work with the pups from 9 weeks until 14-16 months when they return to the Guide Dog campus for their 3 + months of formal training. I used to bring Tahiti, a black lab brindle, who is now a working guide. She’s back in Portland and her handler is on my call list. I am currently raising Haviland, a yellow lab, who has become a regular at the office and shopping with me at Fred Meyer.
Q. Any challenges to volunteering while also training?
A. I love this organization and enjoy my volunteer jobs with Store to Door. They are also great working opportunities for my guide pups in training. The dogs are exposed weekly to office settings in a busy room with lots of people and several hours at Fred Meyer shopping, checking carts, and doing the belt line check out.
Q. The holidays are approaching, what’s your favorite family holiday tradition and why?
A. When my sons were young, we started doing ‘holiday adoptions’ for families at Albina Head Start. My boys are now 21 and 24 and they still go with me to deliver our gifts to the families.
Q. Does you pup get spoiled during the holidays? What’s a special treat your dog gets?
A. We have a lot of guidelines to follow to prepare our pups for their formal guide dog training, but they have lots of time off at home to play, get lots of snuggles, and just be “dogs.” Their treats are tug toys to play with me or my pet dog, and always a new bone for Christmas.
On October 30th, 2019 Advantis Credit Union sponsored grocery deliveries to 133 homebound seniors and people with disabilities through Store to Door’s Support-A-Day program!
In addition to their sponsorship, a lively team of Advantis employees volunteered to help shop for Store to Door clients at the Hollywood Fred Meyer location.
Advantis has been a Store to Door partner since 2015 and has been a consistent supporter of our work delivering groceries and friendship to homebound seniors and folks with disabilities. Together, we envision a Portland community in which seniors and people with disabilities are nourished, connected, and able to age with dignity in the setting of their own choosing.
Becky Blumer—Store to Door’s dynamic and dedicated Board Vice President—has always brought a deep commitment to our mission, caring for our clients, and a clear leadership vision to our work as an organization!
This month Portland Monthly Magazine is honoring Becky with a Light A Fire Award as an Extraordinary Board Member. Thank you Becky, Store to Door is lucky to have you!
Read the Portland Monthly’s full piece on Becky here: http://ow.ly/qgZO50wTrKB
This year’s Light A Fire Award winners will be honored at a gala event on November 21st, presented by Bank of America! More information about the event is available here: http://ow.ly/IgED50wTrKA
Congratulations, Becky!
During the week of October 21st, 2019, Daimler Trucks North America sponsored all Store to Door delivery costs for homebound seniors and people with disabilities. During that period the program made 228 total deliveries from both Beaverton Town Center and Hollywood West Fred Meyer locations, bringing much-needed nourishment to homebound seniors and people with disabilities in the Portland metro area.
The sponsorship was a part of Store to Door’s Support-A-Week program, which involves community partners in the program’s work and allows them to directly support Store to Door clients on either a day or week basis.
Store to Door’s work is almost entirely volunteer-supported, and teams of Daimler employees followed up by volunteer shopping at our Hollywood location both Wednesday and Thursday!
Supporting Store to Door since 2016, Daimler has been a valuable partner in our work providing nourishment, connection, and dignity to seniors and homebound people in our community, and we are grateful for their commitment to our mission!
We are excited to announce our first annual Store to Door Giving Tree!
Beginning the first week of November we will have trees in our office and each store decorated with gift tags describing a gift for a specific Store to Door client.
Giving Tree gifts will be small—under $20 in value—but will be meaningful items requested by our clients themselves! We cant wait to share some holiday cheer with our clients, and we hope you’ll help us make our inaugural giving tree a roaring success!
Gift tags will be available beginning the week of November 4th in our office and both stores!