Street roots
Sept. 14, 2012
Four years in the making,
New Blanchet House opens
he Blanchet House of Hospitality in Old Town Chinatown
celebrated a new lease on life this week with the grand
opening of its new building at Northwest Third Avenue and
Glisan Street.
The new $13 million facility houses a commercial kitchen
operation, a dining hall and two floors of dormitory-style housing
for residents in the program: men struggling with homelessness,
addiction, unemployment and other hardships. Residents volunteer
their service in exchange for hot meals and hospitality, including
work at the organization’s farm in Yamhill County. Food raised on
the farm, along with community donations, helps supply the
kitchen, which serves breakfast, lunch and dinner six days a week.
Today Blanchet serves between 700 and 900 meals a day.
The move has been four years in the making, since 2008, when
the organization launched its campaign to replace its crumbling,
100-year-old brick box with a new facility on the same lot. The old
building still stands, dwarfed by the new four-story center next
door.
In 2009, The Portland Development Commission granted the
parcel to Blanchet House in exchange for the old Blanchet
property.
The old building had no extra space and for years each meal
meant a line of people wrapped around the corner down Fourth
Avenue. The new facility has space for people to queue up inside.
Launched by a group of University of Portland students,
Blanchet House opened its doors for its first meal 60 years ago.
Each year more than 1,000 high school students volunteer at the
center.
In addition to the organization’s farm, the kitchen relies on
Urban Gleaners, which collects food from stores and restaurants in
the Portland area.
The new facility is in part a hands-on project for its program
participants. Residents working in the organization’s wood shop,
located on the farm, made much of the furniture in the new center,
including the tables and stools for the dining hall, and dressers,
desks and nightstands for the rooms upstairs.
T
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COM MUNITY STORE J
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N a tu r a l K itch en
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2 1 0 6 SE Division
5 0 3 ’ 231-5175
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M o n -S a t 1 0 - 6 ♦ Sun 1 1 -5
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Above top, the new
Blanchet House of
Hospitaly exterior:
The new commercial
kitchen facility.
Lower right, many
o f the furnishings in
the rooms were built
by residents at the
organizations
woodworking shop
in Yamhill County.
Canning jars &
equipment,
cookware, kitchen
tools & appliances
Organic cotton
sheets, towels,
& blankets
Food dryers
Juicers
Books on meat-free
cooking, gardening
& sustainability
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