Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home Emergency Ministries Director Bob Hartsock resigned last week, and the SHEM Board of Directors hired volunteer Peggy Blair to succeed him.
SHEM, a local church-based food ministry, provides boxes of food to its qualifying low-income households.
Skip Malone resigned after serving 15 years on the board, and Hartsock was appointed to succeed him. Malone also served as director for six years during the 1990s.
“I resigned for health reasons,” Hartsock said. “I’m going back to a volunteer status. I’ll continue to work here probably one day a week.”
Hartsock also will continue helping with the Manna program, which provides 80 to 90 meals at the United Methodist Church on Friday nights.
The board accepted his resignation on April 12 and hired Blair.
Malone stepped down to meet other commitments, Hartsock said. The board accepted both resignations “with regrets.”
“(Blair) has been right in the middle of things since 2003,” Hartsock said. “We have some very talented volunteers.” He said Blair has created an “excellent” system for record keeping.
Blair moved to Sweet Home when she was about 10 years old, she said. She graduated from Sweet Home High School in 1964.
“I worked at the state Department of Agriculture for a period of time,” she said. “Then I stayed home to be a housewife.”
She later worked as a clerk at the Sweet Home Post Office and then as a processing technician at Oregon State University’s College of Engineering before she retired in 2003 and began volunteering at SHEM.
“Not having work, being alone, I wanted to be out with people,” Blair said. “It’s a lonely life being retired. SHEM has been a lifesaver for me.”
She became involved when Pastor Dick Hill, SHEM president, asked her to come by and see if SHEM could use her help.
“They definitely needed her help,” Hartsock said. “She’s very, very good.”
“You get attached to the clients, particularly the ones with health issues,” Blair said. She said that’s what keeps her interested in working at SHEM.
“She has an important characteristic that you have to have,” Hartsock said. “You have to be nonjudgmental to work here. You have to accept them for who they are.”
“I could easily be one,” Blair said.
“Most of us recognize we’re one paycheck from standing in the food line,” Hartsock said.
SHEM is operating in the black right now, Hartsock said.
“Things have been tough, and they will always be tough in this kind of operation,” he said.
In 2004, individuals and churches donated $12,000 of SHEM’s $42,000 budget, Hartsock said. This year, he anticipates donations will reach $25,000.
When former Director Rebecca McClaskey said SHEM needed money last spring, the community responded and more donations came in.
A profit-loss statement for the last nine months shows a positive balance of $100, Hartsock said.
The organization is still sending out 240 to 260 boxes per month, Hartsock said, but what’s different is that those boxes are feeding more people.
“We’re dealing with 800-plus people,” he said. “That’s 3.5 people per box, and that’s higher than in the past.”
Boxes are provided on a household basis rather than individual, Hartsock said. For Christmas, SHEM provided 290 boxes, which fed 1,300 individuals.
The need in general continues to rise, Blair said. She doesn’t have hard numbers to support it right now, but based on her experience from the time she started till now, she can feel a higher demand. Where she would get 10 to 15 applications per day for help, now it’s closer to 20.
Part of that may be location, Hartsock said. “We’re here (downtown). We’re physically close to our clientele.”
It is also possible that number is higher because SHEM is only open on three days, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, each week, Blair said.
SHEM is located on the north side of Long Street behind the laundry service, between 10th and 12th avenues.
For further information or to donate or volunteer, call 367-6504.