Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home Emergency Ministries has launched a fund-raising effort to help pay for a generator to protect the thousands of pounds of food it keeps cool or frozen in case of a major or lengthy power interruption.
The campaign is named ICE, which stands for “In Case of Emergency.”
SHEM serves more than 300 food boxes to more than 1,100 people per month, including more than 400 children. Last month, SHEM served 312 boxes to 1,184 people, including 445 children.
Additionally, SHEM organizes the weekly Manna meals, 958 of them in June, served at the Sweet Home United Methodist Church.
Last year, SHEM provided 3,857 emergency food boxes to households with children, 13,831 people, including 4,894 children.
SHEM is requesting $8,250 from the Oregon Community Foundation, said volunteer Food Pantry Manager Cindy Rice.
“The whole premise is when we’re out of power, we lose every single thing in this refrigerator and freezer,” Rice said. “If we’re more than two hours without power, we are at risk of not being able to keep things at the proper temperature for storage.”
Every other week, SHEM stores 4,000 pounds of fresh and frozen items, Rice said.
If the power goes out, the organization faces questions of whether the food is still safe and how to dispose of unsafe food, which can be costly, she said. Losing the food means that SHEM won’t be able to provide help for those who need it, while they may be facing the same kind of emergency.
“If we had an on-site emergency generator, we could be open during an outage,” Rice said.
The total project will cost $13,342, Rice said. Some of the necessary work is already complete, including a concrete pad and roof extension, with a total value of $3,645. Of that, $2,200 was in-kind labor. Josh Darwood completed the concrete, while volunteers extended the roof. They included Tim Healy, Roger Campbell and Eric von Ladau.
SHEM used $1,445 from budgeted building funds and is seeking at least $1,000 from its fund-raising effort.
SHEM is selling reusable ice cubes for $5 each or three for $10. Additional, “virtual ice” levels of contributions include a “Block of Ice” for $25, a Playmate cooler for $50, an Igloo cooler for $100, a freezer stocked with “virtual ice” and $500 toward an iceberg.
Sponsors giving $100 or more will be acknowledged with their names or business names on the generator housing.
Anything more than $1,000 raised for the ICE project will be held for use on a future walk-in expansion project that will allow the food banks at the Seventh-Day Adventist and Assembly of God churches to store their perishables in an emergency.
In addition to the fund-raising effort, SHEM also is experiencing a volunteer shortage, Rice said. Volunteer levels often drop during the summer, with vacations and school out. High school students often help out during the school year.
SHEM is open 9 a.m. to noon Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
For information, call (541) 367-6504.