Sponsored Content: A Friend at Your Door
Sponsored Content
Since 1989, Store to Door volunteers have supported independent living for homebound seniors and disabled adults in Portland and Beaverton with low- or no-cost grocery delivery and more. Here’s how it works.
As we get older, shopping for groceries and other necessities can become one of the most difficult parts of remaining independent in our own homes. There are more options than ever to get things delivered, but few of them help with a key piece: what to do with everything after it is left on the doorstep. Heavy bags, low shelves, tough jar lids, not to mention frustrating and impersonal ordering and delivery processes.
Portland-area nonprofit Store to Door solves this problem, and many of the other challenges that come with choosing to remain at home as we age. Each week, the same volunteer calls to take each client’s order. A team of volunteers fill the orders at one of two Fred Meyer locations. Clients get a call about substitutions or deals, and every order is double-checked before checkout. Prescriptions from the pharmacy can be added, too.
Then a volunteer delivery driver (‘Kindness Courier’) brings the order to the door and is happy to carry it inside and help put it away.
Three different volunteers touch every grocery order, and there’s help for nearly every schedule. Additionally, friendly callers phone clients each week just to chat, and Store to Door’s Food Box program puts together free monthly food boxes for clients experiencing the greatest risk. Over time, volunteers and clients get to know each other, sharing updates on kids and grandkids, book and movie recommendations, recipe suggestions.
This past year, 1,044 volunteers gave 20,335 On average, Kindness Couriers stay with the same clients for more than three years. Volunteer Tim recently summed it up: “Volunteering for Store to Door, we get way more than we give.”
Help goes beyond groceries. When one client mentioned an eviction notice to his Order Taker, staff connected him with a partner agency that same day, and he ended up being able to stay in his home. Store to Door made 309 similar resource referrals this past year, for home repairs, health care, housing help, and more.
Store to Door serves homebound seniors and adults living with disabilities across Portland and Beaverton. Clients order their own groceries, and new sliding-scale fees mean many now pay no delivery fee at all. To learn more for yourself or someone you care about, call 503-200-3333.
A friend at the door can make someone’s whole week. If you’d like to be that friend, contact us to find the role that fits you.
Volunteer@StoretoDoorofOregon.org
503 200 3333