Sweet Home Emergency Ministries has been able to purchase a generator to provide electricity during power outages, board member Cindy Rice reported.
During the extended weather-related power outage in early September of 2022, the backup generator at SHEM, which had provided electricity to keep the refrigerators and freezers operational, experienced a complete failure, Rice said.
“Fortunately, the catastrophic event occurred within 90 minutes of having the electricity restored and no inventory was lost,” she said.
SHEM applied for and received a $5,000 grant from the Oregon Food Bank’s Network Support Fund and partnered with several local small businesses to purchase a replacement generator, she said. Also, three local donors each gifted SHEM with $1,000 cash, Rice said.
The new generator ensures that all perishable food products will be maintained in operational freezers and refrigerators and safe for client distribution, she said.
Help in installing the new system came from John Hawkins of Axis Elective, Dan Rice and Kylan Walker, she said.
“In the event of a future extended power outage or major equipment failure, SHEM now has the capacity to extend temporary product storage for the SHEM Manna Meals site, as well as other partner agencies in the community.”