If you’re able to make donations to those in need, you can give to a number of community institutions in the neighborhood that are doing collection drives right now (some at winter time, and some ongoing). Here are the collection sites that we know of:

• Allen Temple Food Pantry, at 4214 NE 8th Avenue, has a food bank that is open to the public on Tuesdays, 5-7 pm, and Wednesday and Saturdays from 11-2. They accept food donations of any kind, with a particular need for peanut butter, chili, and mac & cheese right now. The # for the pantry is 503-284-1010.
• St. Andrew Catholic Church Emergency Services provides food to anyone who is a resident of 97211. For info about donations or services, please call them at 503-281-4429. St. Andrew is at 806 NE Alberta Street.
• The Alberta Coöperative Grocery, at 15th & NE Alberta, has two bins for collections. One is for sleeping bags; see sleepingbagdrive.com for more information. The other bin is for toys and packaged foods, which go to the Sabin Community Development Corporation’s collection drive.
• The Northeast Portland Backpack Lunch Program, which expanded this year to serve students at King School who are receiving free or reduced-price school lunches, is always accepting donations for weekend lunches to send home with students. Contact Alan at 503-284-4647 for information.
• Whole Foods at 15th & Fremont has a collection bin for clothes and hygiene items, to go to the Portland Rescue Mission.
• Safeway at Ainsworth & NE MLK has a bin for Toys for Tots.

If you know of other collection sites, please let us know.

May this winter season be safe and warm for us all.