To meet an increasing demand for food assistance in Tigard, the food pantry at St. Vincent de Paul has expanded its schedule to six days a week—adding Tuesdays to its regular operations—while bringing on dedicated leadership to guide its growing list of community services.
The pantry serves an average of nearly 1,000 families, representing thousands of local residents. To handle the increased workload, Jackson Fischer was hired in July as Pantry Director to oversee daily operations.
“We serve, on average, close to 1,000 families and then a few thousand individuals if you count the family members,” Fischer told Tigard Life. “That’s staying the same with most of the same volunteers, and it’s kind of an easy transition in that sense.”
To support this expansion, oversight of the food pantry officially shifted on July 1 to St. Anthony Catholic Church, which handles administrative and financial management while keeping the pantry’s seasoned volunteer base intact.
“The food pantry has, this month, switched over the St. Vincent De Paul volunteers to the staff person at St. Anthony,” said Diane Bohan, Vice President of the Tigard Conference of St. Vincent de Paul. “We have plans to expand some of the services and combine it with some of the stuff the church was doing.”
“Everyone at St. Vincent De Paul is a volunteer,” Bohan added. “It’s overseen by one paid staff person, and then the rest of the volunteers will be the same as we had, it’s just who’s managing the financial aspects of it.”
Looking ahead, parish leaders hope to eventually broaden the scope of support offered at the site, located at 12630 SW Grant Ave., by integrating existing outreach initiatives such as rent and utility assistance.
“Our pastor had reasons for it, but basically he would like to expand further into other social services in the future,” Fischer said. “We’re currently doing the pantry like six days a week and rental services, but his vision is more as a social services center.”
Fischer noted that assistance with water and utility bills are examples of the services that could be streamlined at the facility over time.
“They’ll kind of go along with things we were doing, which is housing assistance and utility assistance and things like that,” Bohan said. “The church is just going to focus on rent to start with.”
As both organizations navigate the transition, the focus remains on collaboration and continuity of care.
“We’re trying to figure out who’s doing what and how we complement each other and not compete or both be doing the same thing,” said St. Vincent de Paul Homeless Outreach Coordinator Lori Kellogg.
While organizational details are fine-tuned, long-standing community programs remain unchanged. The Sunday Community Cafe—a local staple operated by St. Vincent de Paul since 2009—continues to serve free hot dinners every week in France Hall at St. Anthony Church.
During a recent Sunday dinner, 57 guests gathered for a meal prepared by volunteers.
“A lot of the regulars, we know them by name,” said Julie Le, President of the Tigard Board of St. Vincent de Paul. “Diane and her husband Tom started the community cafe because they wanted to add another service to the community and another way to feed people in a friendly social environment.”
For many in attendance, the weekly meal provides connection as much as nourishment.
“I was alone, and this is camaraderie,” dinner guest Kelly Cunningham told Tigard Life.
Patron Paul Cree agreed, noting that the cafe’s social environment has been instrumental to his well-being.
“I just made sure it was one day I would get out of the house,” Cree said. “This was my saving grace that made sure that I went outside…95% of the meals are really, really good.”
More information on current programs, food pantry schedules, and Sunday Community Cafe hours is available at www.satigard.org/st-vincent-de-paul.
