Serve a Weekly Meal at Blanchet House (2021-22 PSU Serve Your City *Series*)

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About

Join fellow PSU students this Winter Term in helping prep and serve lunch at Blanchet House! The Student Community Engagement Center is excited to support the work of Blanchet House through this Serve Your City *Series* opportunity, where students will commit to a regular weekly shift throughout the term.

The mission of Blanchet House of Hospitality is to offer food, shelter and aid to all those in need of a safe place to be nourished and restored. Blanchet House of Hospitality serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner to anyone in need of a free meal at their Old Town Portland location.

When you volunteer at Blanchet House you will help prepare, plate, and serve meals and drinks in addition to other tasks related to the meal service. During COVID, meals and drinks are passed out "to go" rather than having folks eat indoors. Volunteers arrive half an hour before the meal begins to get oriented to Blanchet House and be assigned tasks.

Meal service lasts approximately one hour, after which volunteers are invited to stay and eat with the rest of the volunteers, staff, and residents who live at Blanchet House. Masks are to be worn at all times except during designated time to eat together after the shift. 

Time & Commitment Required: PSU volunteers will commit to volunteering weekly for Blanchet House's Saturday lunchtime shift. 

  • Orientation & training: Saturday, January 22nd from 10am - 11am (before the first shift)
  • Week volunteer shifts begin Saturday, January 22nd and go through the end of Winter Term (Saturday, March 12th) -- 8 sessions total from 11:00am to 1:00pm each Saturday.
  • Every three weeks, the team will stay a bit longer to connect, debrief how things are going, and dig into deeper discussion about the many intersecting layers of houselessness. Plan to stay later for a group debrief/discussion from 1-2pm on: January 29th, February 19, and March 12th. 
  • Volunteers are asked to commit to missing no more than two shifts during the term and communicating in advance if you do need to miss a day.


Where: This recurring project takes place at Blanchet House, located in Old Town at 310 NW Glisan St, Portland, OR 97209. Volunteers will have the option to meet together at the PSU campus around 10:30am to take the MAX together from campus for weekly shifts. On the first day, the group would meet around 9:30 to make it to Blanchet House in time for the orientation.

Orientation/Training/Resources provided or required: 

  • Blanchet House volunteers will provide an initial orientation session for volunteers to ground them 

  • PSU volunteers will also meet every three weeks as a group to connect, debrief how things are going, and dig into deeper discussion about the many intersecting layers of houselessness. 

  • Volunteers will have the opportunity to engage in additional trainings through the Student Community Engagement Center focused on Anti-Racism and Trauma-Informed Care.


Requirements:

  • Enrolled PSU student during Winter term 2021

  • Consistency; volunteers are asked to commit to missing no more than two shifts during the term.
  • Strong interpersonal skills and are comfortable working with people

  • This is an in-person volunteer opportunity; masks will be required at all times (except when eating after the shift, for those who choose to stay for the shared meal)

  • Vaccination Requirement: Blanchet House is requiring all volunteers to be vaccinated and submit proof that they are fully vaccinated before serving on-site. Fully vaccinated means being 14 days past your second Moderna or Pfizer dose or your single Johnson & Johnson shot. We will not grant exemptions from this policy. Volunteers must complete the vaccination confirmation form and attach a photo of their vaccine card. All documents will be submitted through Eversign, which also handles our legal waivers. Vaccination verification will be enforced; please do not sign up if you are not fully vaccinated.

Applications are open from now through January 16th, or until all slots are filled, whichever is sooner! 

To apply, press the green Registration button on the upper right hand corner of this page.

The information you provide in this application will be used to assure that the Serve Your City *Series* program is pairing and recruiting the best tutors for our tutoring program. Please provide as much information as possible.

For more information or questions, please email volunteer@pdx.edu


About Blanchet House: The majority of Blanchet’s guests are experiencing homelessness but many do have housing. Blanchet House welcomes everyone without question. Every meal is served with kindness and respect. Since 1952, Blanchet House of Hospitality has offered food and clothing to all, as well as transitional housing programs. The men living at Blanchet House perform work alongside volunteers during all meal services. Please respect the privacy of our meal and housing guests while volunteering. Learn more about our programs including Blanchet Farm at www.BlanchetHouse.org.



This service opportunity is a part of the Serve Your City *Series* Program, hosted by the Student Community Engagement Center. Serve Your City *Series* opportunities are designed to engage students in multi-week service projects with a specific community partner. The Student Community Engagement Center's mission is to provide robust and varied co-curricular opportunities for all students at Portland State to engage with the community and become catalysts for change. 
Positions
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Organizer will approve registrants
Registration
Opens Dec 23, 2021 1:00pm
Age Limit
18 and up
Requirements
Background check
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