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Beaverton. Church member Joanne Dunatchik says the program is formally referred to as the Special Church-Community Action Team.

“We are the longest continuously run-ning emergency food program in Washington County,” says Dunatchik, adding that the program was founded in December 1974, when a group of families at St. Matthew decided to share the Christmas spirit with families in need. “They delivered food and gifts to 16 fam-ilies that Christmas. They decided it was so much fun, and so rewarding for them, that they would make it a permanent min-istry at St. Matthew.”

Eventually, the church provided funds to build a separate building on the church property. The program relies on donations of food and financial funding from the St. Matthew congregation.

The program, says Dunatchik, is “for anybody who needs food. We serve indi-viduals as well as families. We occasion-ally have a homeless family or individual. Dunatchik says a separate nonprofit, Care To Share, is a central referral and record-keeping organization, responsible for receiving calls from clients.

“We have walk-ins who request food. We give them two days worth of food and we ask them to call Care To Share.” Care To Share pre-qualifies clients on the phone to make sure they’re eligible.

The aim of the emergency food pro-gram is to provide a balanced diet for fam-ilies.

“We call it a menu,” says Dunatchik — a menu that includes, among other items, sources of protein, vegetables, fruits, rice and beans. Among household items are laundry soap, dish soap and hand soap. “We really try to be as friendly and welcoming as possible,” says Dunatchik.

During rough times, it’s also important to stay nicely dressed. A Tigard shop makes it possible by providing a wide range of items at very low prices. At the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in Tigard, you can invest in some nice threads. Nancy Burnett, who is responsible for advertising and publicity, says the goal of the Discovery Shop is to raise money to find a cure for cancer and “to provide the area with quality merchan-dise, in a pleasant environment, at afford-able prices.”

Every item at the Discovery Shop is sold at a significantly reduced price. “Many of the items are brand new,” says Burnett. “They have been donated as over-stock from retail stores,” she adds. “It’s primarily men’s and women’s cloth-ing. We also have jewelry, housewares,

books and tapes. We do not carry chil-dren’s clothing.”

A popular item is jewelry. “We have a strong following of people who come in, a couple of times a week, to look at our new jewelry,” says Burnett. “For the most part, we’re dealing with costume jewelry, but that’s a very popular item.”

According to Burnett, while retailers donate over-stock, the primary donor is someone who is familiar with the shop and loves to keep the interest going, Donations are accepted as long as the store is open.

All workers at the Discovery Shop are volunteers, says Burnett. “We send 100 percent of all income, over and above our shop expenses, to the American Cancer Society.”

A short ways away, in Beaverton, is the Assistance League of Portland Thrift Shop, where you will find items of high quality, including clothing, housewares, linens, jewelry and, sometimes, higher-end furniture.

Shop manager Lennette Watson explains that the Assistance League of Portland is a philanthropic organization that helps area children in need. Money collected at the all-volunteer shop goes to

fund programs such as Operation School Bell, which provides brand new school clothing for younger elementary school students.

“Each year, our business has increased, whether it’s the economy or more people know about us, you get the best for the buck here,” Watson says. “We clean it, we size it, we separate it. Whatever we can do to make sure we can recycle it back into the community at a fair price.” Everything at the store is donated. The Assistance League of Portland Thrift Shop, where you may find a $4 blouse that costs $50 at a major depart-ment store, is not just for people with lower incomes.

“We’re starting to see some very high-quality cars sitting out in our parking lot,” says Watson.