From The Director

For many years now The ROC Food Pantry has desired to purchase the building that we have operated out of, but has struggled to come up with the funding required to make that happen.  This has hampered our efforts at times to raise funds to make significant remodels, since it is challenging to find grantors willing to invest in making improvements on a property not owned by the organization they intend to help.  Our additional desire has been to purchase an emergency generator (approximately $20k) to support us through the power outages that often attend the summer wildfire season, as well as paving our parking lot (approximately $10k).  We would also like to remodel the interior of our facility to improve its functionality and broaden the services we might offer (approximately $30k).  Last summer we were given the opportunity to apply for funds allocated to the county through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA).  As you may have read in the Grants Pass Daily Courier on Friday, November 26^th, it appears that we have been awarded a large portion of what we asked for!  Praise God!

What does this mean?  Well, it means that we will be finally able to fulfill our dream to purchase the very building that we have been operating out of for the last decade and make about half of our desired improvements.  Those funds were designated before they were even granted and we are blessed.  But what it doesn’t mean is that our cost of overhead and doing business has changed in any way.  We cannot use these funds for anything other than what we intend in our request for them, and that’s good.  Consequently we still have the tough monthly challenges of covering the costs associated with food, refrigeration, sanitation, vehicles, and staffing, so we still need your help!

If you are a regular donor to the ROC, let me say “Thank you!”  Because you give, we can give to those in need in Josephine County.  You are the means of Gods blessing to thousands of individuals every month who need a helping hand and reliably good food!  If you have never considered giving before, would you consider doing so now?  We can always use the help and with the challenges we have all faced over the last two years, we recognize just how uncertain the future can be. 

Now more than ever, we can really use your support.

Hard winter months combined with so many people unemployed or businesses shut down equals a busy start for 2021.  In the month of January alone we saw 92 new families who have never used our services.  We have heard over and over from folks who say, “I feel embarrassed to have to come to you for food because I’ve never been unable to afford to buy groceries before.  I’m usually the kind of person who donates to the ROC, but with the economy locked down I have way less income than normal and it has gone on so long that all my reserves are nearly gone.  I’m just trying to keep my head above water and feed my family.”  Our staff and volunteers work hard to be encouraging and let them know that we realize this and are all in it together. 

We know that these are hard times and we will walk through them stronger when we walk together. In January, our total number of individuals served was 4,350 with 1,357 of them being children.  Clearly the need is there and we thank all of our donors who make it possible for us to accomplish this task.  Without your support the struggle for our neighbors would be far greater.  May God bless you!

“the holy art of “giving for Jesus’ sake” ought to be much more strongly developed among us Christians. Never forget that all state relief for the poor is a blot on the honor of your savior. The fact that the government needs a safety net to catch those who would slip between the cracks of our economic system is evidence that I have failed to do God’s work. The government cannot take the place of Christian charity. A loving embrace isn’t given with food stamps. The care of a community isn’t provided with government housing. The face of our Creator can’t be seen on a welfare voucher. What the poor need is not another government program; what they need is for Christians like me to honor our savior.”
― Abraham Kuyper, The Problem of Poverty

Luke 8:22-25

Brian Bouteller – Executive Director