Store To Door of Oregon

Groceries & More. A Friend at the Door

Store to Door Community Raises Nearly $34,000 During ‘Celebrate 30 with 30’ Campaign!

We are excited to announce that ‘Celebrate 30 with 30’ raised nearly $34,000 thanks to the incredible response from our community! Surpassing our goal of raising $30,000 in 30 days, we owe this success to 176 Store to Door supporters like YOU! We are SO grateful for the outpouring of support during this campaign, and want to thank everyone who made it possible as well as our campaign corporate sponsors. Thank you everyone!

“While this year has been a challenging one, it has also highlighted just how vital services like Store to Door are for the vulnerable populations that we serve. Support from members of our community has allowed us not only to sustain our program during this time but to expand our service to meet the increased need. Throughout our 30-year journey, the kindness and diligence of volunteers, supporters, and community partners has enabled us to help seniors thrive. Thank you!” – Mark Fulop, Store to Door Executive Director.

Necessitated by the cancellation of our annual benefit gala, the campaign was our first-ever peer-to-peer fundraising effort. The campaign raised funds to celebrate and sustain the program’s 30th year supporting independent living for homebound seniors and people living with disabilities across the Portland metro area. Thank you to everyone who created a fundraising page, or helped to spread the word to family and friends!

We are grateful as well for the support of these partner organizations for sponsoring the campaign. Please help us show our appreciation for their commitment to supporting our community!

Event Partners:
Fred Meyer
OnPoint
Bank of America
AWS
Kaiser Permanente
Summit Bank
Becker Capital Management

Thank you Drivers!

This year’s difficult times have made our service even more indispensable. In circumstances such as these, a familiar friendly face can mean a great deal; we are particularly grateful for the incredible commitment of our drivers and for their kindness and patience in difficult times.

Each week, Store to Door drivers deliver groceries to more than 300 clients across the Portland metro area. Picking up from our two Fred Meyer shopping locations, they load their personal vehicles up with blue or gray tubs and deliver to 3-10 regular clients. Braving stairs and elevators, down-town parking and summer temperatures, our drivers work within social distancing guidelines for drop off and a quick check-in with each client before moving on to the next.

While the job is not easy, our drivers work tirelessly to make sure that our clients receive a high quality of service and a friendly face at the door every week. We hear regularly how vital this connection is to our clients, and how much they appreciate the work that our drivers do.

If you see any of these friendly faces out and about, we hope you will help use appreciate them with a thumbs up or a wave! We love our drivers!

Welcome Cassie Sorensen, Store to Door’s new Program Director!

Welcome Cassie Sorensen, Store to Door’s new Program Director!

Cassie brings 20 years of social services and social work experience to Store to Door, focusing on program coordination, development, and management. After graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in Women and Gender Studies, Cassie earned her Masters of Social Work from Portland State University. Most recently, Cassie was Director of Homestead and Women’s Housing and Transition (WHAT) programs with Share Vancouver.

Largely focused in the Pacific Northwest and the East Bay region of California, Cassie has worked with programs supporting the full spectrum of ages—from infants to elders. However, Cassie joins Store to Door with a particular connection to work supporting older members of our community: “I saw that there can be many barriers to aging in place, as so many of our elders want to do,” Cassie says. “These barriers can include accessing food, losing income, disconnection from natural support networks, and insufficient community supports.”  

Born and raised in Oregon, Cassie has a personal connection to Store to Door’s work as well: “Personally, I have had the pleasure and responsibility of caring for my aging father and my sister, who has Downs Syndrome, and I know first hand how important it is for our elders and community members with disabilities to have supports outside of their immediate caregivers and family to help them be as independent as possible and thrive in place.”

Drawn to Store to Door’s program model and the essential service the program offers, Cassie is excited about working with an organization in an exciting phase of growth and program development: “I am looking forward to supporting the agency in growing and developing programming to meet the needs of community elders as they age in place.”

We are fortunate to have Cassie’s experience, skillset, and commitment to our work as a part of the Store to Door team, and we hope you will help welcome her to our community!

Volunteer Spotlight – Linda Walton

Linda has been a Store to Door Volunteer since 2015.  She has logged just over 400 Volunteer Hours as a volunteer order taker and shopper!
 

Q: Which volunteer roles have you filled at Store to Door, which is your favorite, and why?
A: I have primarily been an order taker since 2015.  I enjoy talking with the clients each week and really look forward to it.  I enjoy order taking the most because it really allows you to connect with the clients in helping them with their order and just asking them about their day; see how they’re doing.  You really feel like you begin to know the clients even though you’ve never met them.  More recently, I have been doing more grocery shopping. I enjoy this too.  I like the challenge of finding grocery items that I don’t normally shop for myself.  It can be a real scavenger hunt sometimes.  It’s also a great way to get your walking steps in!
 
Q: What are you looking forward to most as restrictions are lifted in our community?
A: I think I am looking forward most to being able to see my family and friends unrestricted.  I haven’t seen my Mom at all during this time as she is in Assisted Living.  I can’t wait to visit her when it’s allowed.
 
Q: What would you tell someone who is thinking of volunteering with Store to Door?  
A: I would tell them go for it!  I love volunteering for Store to Door!  It is such a highly needed service in the senior and those with disabilities community.  I can’t tell you how many times a client has told me how much they appreciate Store to Door and that they don’t know what they’d do without this service. Store to Door is so organized and has a great staff.  As a volunteer I feel that I always get the support I need.  The staff make it so easy to volunteer.  I also like the variety of jobs you can do; order taking, grocery shopping and delivery driving.  I haven’t delivered yet but maybe someday I will.

Thank you so much to Linda for chatting with us, and for her wonderful commitment to supporting our homebound clients!

Bank of America funds homebound grocery deliveries

Earlier this month, Bank of America Foundation chose Store to Door as a grant recipient as a part of their community response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a program that delivers groceries to vulnerable members of our community, our work is critical to help “flatten the curve” of the COVID-19 pandemic, and help our clients access vital nourishment as safely as possible during this difficult time.

This support will help Store to Door meet the increased need for services that serve homebound seniors and adults with disabilities. With Bank of America’s support, we have already been able to add an additional checkout lane at our Beaverton Fred Meyer shopping location, allowing us to deliver to even more clients out of that store!

Volunteer Spotlight – Michael Siegel

You are a relatively new Volunteer with Store to Door and have Volunteered for 3 different roles, which one is your favorite and why?

I really enjoy the weekly follow up calls, where we check in with the Store to Door clients. I have a set list of people I’ve been calling every Friday. After doing this for about 5-6 weeks, I’ve kind of gotten to know the people we’re doing this for. It’s pretty gratifying.
But I also like the actual shopping. I work both Fred Meyer locations. Each shopping list is kind of like a treasure hunt.

During this time of “Stay Home Stay Safe”, what are you binge watching on TV?   Do you have a book recommendation(s)?
 
I’m not much of a binge watcher. My attention span is too short! We do watch movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime.
A few books I’ve really loved are-
1) “Shantaram” by Gregory David Roberts
2) “The Yiddish Policeman’s Union” by Michael Chabon
3) the “Expanse” series of books by James S. A. Corey.
The Amazon prime adaptation was good, but the books (all 8 of them) were better. Great sci-fi writing.
 
Name 5 movies can you watch over and over again?
 
1) Princess Bride
2) Serenity (Joss Whedon)
3) Casablanca
4) Pulp Fiction
5) The Usual Suspects
 
When you have 30 minutes of free time, how do you pass the time?
 
Pull out my iPad and read an ebook.
 
If you were getting onto a plane right now for a vacation destination, where would you be flying?
 
Sigh. My wife and I were supposed to be finishing up a two week circuit through the national parks of the Southwest right about now. The Grand Canyon, Zion, Moab, Escalante, Mesa Verde. I’ve never been to those parks. Maybe next year!
I’ve got a two week trip to to France that’s still on the books for late September. That’s really unlikely now.

Multnomah County features Store to Door in Community Video

This week, Store to Door was featured in a video from Multnomah County about the important work we can all be doing to support our friends and neighbors, while maintaining safe practices!

Join us in our work!

Volunteer Today!

Store to Door is Proactively Preventing the Spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Updated 06/25/20
As you may know, Multnomah County entered Phase 1 on June 19, 2020, and, along with Washington and Clackamas counties, will remain in Phase 1 for at least three weeks. For Store to Door, this means little change to our current operations.  Staff and volunteers continue to practice safe-distancing and follow enhanced cleaning practices.  The use of hand sanitizers and the wearing of masks continues to be required for staff and volunteers shopping in stores and delivering to seniors. Store to Door also provides sanitizer and masks to those who do not bring their own. We continue to follow a no-contact delivery model and have added a volunteer-driven friendly caller program to reduce the social isolation of the clients we serve. 

The Oregon Health Authority recently issued a mandatory requirement to wear masks, face shield, or face coverings in public spaces. This mandate includes grocery stores. Store to Door already complies with this mandate. We have required all staff and volunteers to use masks since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its recommendation on May 1, 2020.  A similar store policy governs the employees of Fred Meyer (see here).

Thank you for helping us stay safe and for providing us ongoing feedback that helps us improve our safety practices!

Store to Door’s Response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Store to Door is a nonprofit agency that is a volunteer-based grocery shopping and delivery service in Portland, Oregon serving over 700 clients annually.  We support independent living for seniors and adults with disabilities. Many of our clients are homebound or have limited access to the community.  Because we are delivering groceries to a vulnerable population we are taking our role in preventing the potential spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) seriously.  In fact, because our program reduces the need for seniors to shop for groceries in stores, we actually prevent vulnerable seniors from potentially being exposed to the Coronavirus.  Store to Door staff meets on a regular basis to ensure that we are taking recommended steps to protect the health of our staff, volunteers and clients. Our actions so far include:

1. In our office, we have implemented a mandatory stay at home when staff or volunteers are sick. We have also implemented an enhanced cleaning policy that includes daily, wiping down of doorknobs, counters, and keyboards as well as enhancing the cleaning of common areas and bathrooms. Signs about how to prevent coronavirus have been posted at our offices and information handouts are available to all staff and volunteers.

2. For the past two weeks, we have included an informational pamphlet about the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) developed by the Oregon Health Authority (see here) in all client grocery deliveries.  We will continue to include these informational fliers in order deliveries to ensure that we reach all clients.

3. We are encouraging our order takers to work remotely from home for those volunteers seeking to reduce their potential exposure in the community.

4. When we take orders from clients, we inform them of our “no contact” or “limited contact” deliveries.

A no contact delivery is where the driver knocks on the door and leaves the groceries at the door (in paper bags). The delivery driver steps back 6 feet or more when the client comes to the door. The delivery driver waits while the client brings groceries into his/her home and the conversation with the client is at a distance of 6 feet or more.

A limited contact delivery is when both the client and the driver are comfortable with the driver bringing groceries into the client’s home leaving the groceries either at the door or on a counter in the kitchen according to the client preference.  The delivery driver maintains a distance from the client and steps back outside of the home after setting down the groceries. The conversation with the client is at a distance of 6 feet or more.

5. For volunteer shoppers, we are working with Fred Meyer to monitor their company actions (see here) related to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). We require volunteers who are ill to stay home. We also encourage healthy volunteers to continue to support vulnerable seniors by shopping on Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

We currently provide hand sanitizers and are also implementing social distancing strategies for staff and volunteer shoppers. If you can support us as a volunteer shopper contact Kelsey Hecker, at 503-200-3333 extension 108 or kelsey@storetodooroforegon.org

6. Store to Door staff is working closely with county government and community partners to coordinate additional prevention measures. We will update this bulletin as needed.

7. Finally, we are coordinating our actions with the Fred Meyer Stores where we shop to make sure that we are promoting the optimal health and safety of our staff, volunteers, and the vulnerable clients we serve. Please see the corporate policy of Fred Meyer for more information about the actions the stores are taking to prevent the spread of the virus (see here).

HOW YOU CAN HELP NOW

Volunteer to shop for groceries: https://storetodooroforegon.volunteerhub.com
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Volunteer to make no-contact deliveries to homebound seniors: email Kelsey@Storetodooroforegon.org
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Donate to support our work: https://storetodooroforegon.org/donate/

For more information about Store to Door’s response to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), please contact Mark Fulop, MA, MPH, Executive Director (503) 200-3333 extension 101 or mark@storetodooroforegon.org

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