New Seasons Slabtown partners with William Temple House in many ways!
For more than three years, William Temple House has partnered with local grocer New Seasons Market’s Slabtown store on a variety of projects that help support families in our community.
When the Slabtown location at 2170 NW Raleigh St opened in 2015, New Seasons staff wanted to find ways to support community organizations in the neighborhood. “We love to feed people and we have a strong dedication to not letting food go to waste,” said Kari Lorz, Community Coordinator at New Seasons Slabtown. “We wanted to find partners that could use any of the food that we needed to find a good home for. For example, sometimes we accidentally order three cases of an item, when we only wanted three individual units. Or maybe a can was dented and a box a little smooshed. Those items that are still good, yet we don’t want to sell a damaged item, we give it away to those that need it. And William Temple House’s food pantry was just what we were looking for.”
Volunteers from New Seasons Slabtown setting up “Santa’s Workshop” in 2018
Keeping It Local
First, the Slabtown team began contributing in-kind donations to our healthy food pantry. Before long, New Seasons staff began to help with special projects as well. Highlights of our partnership so far include:
- Setting up the “Santa’s Workshop” toy room and holiday meal box prep station at our annual Holiday Family Program. This event provides children’s gifts and holiday meals to over 100 families, including over 250 children.
- Repainting the Children’s Clothing Closet during the recent renovation to transform the space into “the best store I have ever shopped at,” according to a 9-year-old client.
- Holiday decorating around the agency
- Inventory and cleaning projects in our food pantry
A volunteer team from New Seasons helped repaint the Children’s Clothing Closet in 2017
In addition, William Temple House has been the recipient of New Seasons’ ‘Bag it Forward’ program, where shoppers can donate their 5-cent reusable bag refund to benefit a designated nonprofit in their neighborhood.
Although New Seasons Slabtown works with a variety of nonprofits in Northwest Portland, they see the work that William Temple House does as particularly impactful in our community. “Our staff really connect with many of the programs of William Temple House,” Kari told us.
“Of course, we love to feed people, so the food pantry is very important to us! Yet, I think a lot of the counseling that you do, especially around mental health, is what New Seasons Market staff are especially appreciative of. We’re just grateful that there is a close place that we can not only refer people to, but to know William Temple House is here looking after our neighbors in a way that speaks to all of our hearts.”
William Temple House is grateful for the many businesses and groups that partner with us. For more information about ways to get involved, contact our Director of Volunteers & Outreach at 503.715.0248 or our contact form.