Good day,
We just want to give you an update and a little bit of context about Oakridge — a community we’ve worked with for more than a decade to create affordable housing, address Veterans’ issues, open a local store, and implement job training and placement programs. It’s been a wonderful experience, but it’s especially dear to our heart right now during the community’s moment of crisis caused by the Cedar Creek Fire.
We had to evacuate more than 100 of our resident families in Oakridge, who we hope will be able to come back to their homes soon, and we temporarily closed our store. What we most want to emphasize is how resilient we believe that community is and how our response will hopefully dovetail with yours.
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out and supported Oakridge-area evacuees with in-kind donations! We were able to secure two pallets of drinking water and two pallets of blankets for the Red Cross. We’ve connected a generous in-kind donor to Greenhill Humane Society and now have enough pet crates, litter and animal food for those evacuation efforts. We also continue to work closely with the Red Cross and Lane County Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) to respond to needs as they change.
One of the things St. Vincent de Paul has always been good at is a nimble response. Along with hosting the donation site this past weekend for fire-relief efforts, we were able to provide towels to the Red Cross for evacuee showers, along with refrigerators, wheelchairs, and KN95 masks for the evacuation site.
At this point, we are ceasing the call for in-kind donations because we have been able to sufficiently cover the needs.
Thank you to the community, the individuals and the organizations that promptly showed up in support of those affected by wildfire. We are incredibly grateful to be here! This is a difficult moment in time and it will not be the last of those we see, but together, we can all find a way to get through to the other side of this to a better, more resilient future — one in which we all continue to strive for the common good.
Thank you all,
Terry McDonald, SVdP Executive Director
Bethany Cartledge, SVdP Deputy Director