___ march 3.2000 »
4M mews
Giving
ELPING
organization
Esther’s Pantry board member
Derrick LePak has got the goods
will continue good works
(
believe, here at M CC,
%
/ that the work that
1
)
/
Esthers Pantry has been
i "v. i
doing for so many years is
such a vital work that the
community can’t allow it to go by the wayside,”
says the Rev. Roy Cole, pastor of the Metropol
itan Community Church of Portland, which
took over responsibility for the longtime non
profit on March 1.
Esther’s Pantry, a community mainstay, pro
vides groceries to those living with AIDS. It is
named after Esther Hoffman Howard, the 24th
empress of Portland’s Imperial Rose Court.
Esther, a k a Chester Brinker, was a popular
and charismatic figure when he died of AIDS-
related complications in 1984— a time when
the A ID S crisis was beginning to take its toll.
The night Brinker died, Portland bar J.R .’s
West held a drag show and raised more than
$900 to help his parents with medical bills. But
his parents didn’t accept the money for their
own use; instead, they returned the dollars to
the community.
Brinker’s mother reportedly said it was her
son’s wish that others with A ID S receive finan
cial help. Thus, out of this wish sprouted the
Brinker Fund, which became a trust of Cascade
AIDS Project in 1986 and helped people living
with A ID S pay rent and utilities.
As the Brinker Fund board members visited
clients, they quickly realized that, in addition to
housing-related support, many needed food.
Hence the establishment of Esther’s Pantry.
(The gay and lesbian Catholic group known as
Dignity jump-started the pantry with a success
ful food drive in 1986. It wasn’t long before the
pantry became a main focus of the trust.)
In 1991, Esther’s Pantry received nonprofit
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by P at Young
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status with the state of Oregon. A t first, the
pantry was located in a board member’s garage.
But as the A ID S crisis grew, so did the need for
more food and storage space.
Fortunately, the Old Town gay bar Embers
Avenue came to the rescue by donating space in
its basement. From there, Esther’s Pantry moved
a few times until it landed at its current location
at 310 N.W. Broadway. And now it is getting
ready to shift to 2761 N.E. Halsey St.— a move
that will save $4,600 a year in rent.
When Cole heard talk that Esther’s Pantry
was closing due to administrative burnout, he
offered to speak with the pantry’s board to see if
M C C could run the organization.
After several discussions, he says, an agree
ment was reached allowing M C C to do just
that.
M C C has a congregation of almost 300
members, and Cole says many of them are look
ing for ways to help the community. Esther’s
Pantry may be just the good-works ticket.
The board members of Esther’s Pantry and
many clients are conterà with the change, but
some people have expressed concerns.
“They think Roy is going to be preaching a
sermon when they come to get their food,”
explains Derrick LePak, an Esther’s Pantry
board member.
“That will definitely not happen,” stresses
Cole. “There won’t be any religious overtones.
Esther’s Pantry is not a vehicle to be used to
coerce other people into becoming part of this
church.”
Cole says M C C ’s immediate goals include
ensuring the transition happens smoothly and
without an interruption of pantry services,
maintaining the pantry’s funding streams, and
attracting volunteers.
A t Esther’s Pantry, meanwhile, LePak and
others are getting ready for the move.
LePak is the main man. He doesn’t have an
official title, but everyone knows he keeps
things running, and people go to him with their
questions and concerns.
After starting out as a client in the early
1990s, LePak grew more involved with the orga
nization and evolved into this overseer role.
Among other things, he picks up the groceries
and interviews potential clients.
Currently the pantry has about 170 clients.
Most are gay men, hut there are also straight
folks, women and children. It’s the kids who
have really touched LePak’s heart. They’ve
drawn pictures for him, which he proudly dis
plays on the file cabinet by his desk.
Over the years, LePak has seen happy
moments, but mainly sad times, as so many
clients have passed away.
He talks of the more upbeat occasions when
various organizations raised money for the
pantry, especially the Imperial Sovereign Rose
Court.
He says one year the court raised more than
$8,000. The court, gay bars, Rosetown Ramblers
and others have raised money and collected
food via dances, bingo, haircuts and shoeshines,
roller-skating, and bowling.
Then there are the people who clip coupons
from the newspaper and drop off extra items at
the pantry.
“There is actually a full community— a city
community out there instead of this little one
that is HIV/AIDS-positive that keeps things
going,” LePak says of the various contributors.
“It’s not one big thing, it’s a whole bunch of lit
tle things.”
■ ESTHER’S P antry will keep the same hours:
5 to 7 p m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. The last day
at the downtown location is Thursday, March 30;
the first day at the new address is Thursday, April 6.
P at Y oung is a Portland-based free-lance
writer and gay and lesbian historian.
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