Thank you for visiting.
First, we are experiencing some problems with our website and will soon have a new site constructed. In the interim, we are experiencing problems with customers acquiring documents. Since documents are not being uploaded, please note that our most recent Clatsop County Resource Directory can be found here
http://www.northcoastfoodweb.org/Docs/2011ClatsopCountyResourceDirectory.pdf We apologize for the inconvenience and will hopefully rectify the problems soon.
If you want to help CCA without spending any cash, please go to Facebook; search for Lums Auto; click on LUMS BIG GIVE; press vote; select Clatsop Community Action from the list of contestants; press vote; ask all your friends to do the same. If we win after at the end of November, CCA will be given $5,000 to help our programs.
My name is George Sabol and I have the privilege of being the Executive Director of this wonderful agency. Hopefully you will find this web browsing experience much more enjoyable and user friendly than our old site. Plenty of links are included for you to easily and conveniently connect to our partnering agencies. My goal is for our website to help you either find or provide assistance within Clatsop County Oregon. I consider this website as a continuous work in progress, so encourage your feedback to improve the site.
The CCA Board of Directors selected me as their agency’s Executive Director in October of 2007. I was born and raised in Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania. I served in the United States Coast Guard as a commissioned officer and retired after 22 years of service. I first came to beautiful Astoria, Oregon in 1983 as the Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Industrial Base at Tongue Point. I retired from the military in 1996, and worked as a manager and director with the Job Corps at three different locations in New York and at the Tongue Point Job Corps Center. My wife Lesley and I have six children, two of whom graduated from Astoria High School. I am a member of the Knights of Columbus (local council # 1307), American Legion (Post 12), and the Astoria/Warrenton Kiwanis. I am on the Northwest Oregon Community Development Collaborative (NOWCDC) Board of Directors. I am the Board Chair of Clatsop County’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) and Vice Chair of Clatsop County’s Long Term Disaster Recovery Committee.
Here’s some history on CCA. In 1984, community meetings led to the formation of Clatsop Community Action (CCA) and the opening of an information and referral service serving low-income people throughout Clatsop County. In 1987, CCA became a United Way Agency. In 1990, CCA was granted 501(c)(3) federal non-profit status. In 1994, the agency acquired the Hilltop Apartments (22 housing units) in Astoria. In 2004, CCA relocated to its current address.
After several years of planning, we obtained a City of Warrenton sponsored, Business Oregon community development block grant (CDBG). We raised matching funding locally and through various foundations, and took out a bank loan in order to complete a new Regional Food Bank Warehouse project. Construction was completed in October, 2010. The new facility is located at 2010 SE Chokeberry Avenue in Warrenton.
CCA offers a variety of services including case management, housing and energy assistance, temporary rental assistance, respite referral and assistance, and prescription assistance for low income residents of Clatsop County. We also provide phone, facsimile, and mail message services for our homeless clients. We operate the Oregon Food Bank’s Regional (county) Food Bank, 22 units of low income houses (duplexes), and a personal care pantry for basic necessities other than food (items which food stamps cannot be used to buy such as personal hygiene products, diapers, and cleaning products).
Clatsop County has continued to experience a large increase in demand for all social services, particularly for housing and emergency food requests. Approximately 30 families, (including 30 children) are helped with shelter in our county on any given night. Sadly, about 70 people (including 20 children) remain unsheltered.
Housing assistance requests have continued at never-before-seen levels (over 600% from two years ago). Unfortunately, our food distribution also increased by about 50% over the past four years. We distributed over a million pounds of product through our Regional Food Bank last year. We provided food for over 492,000 home cooked meals through the 16,643 emergency food boxes distributed through our partner agencies. We also provided food for over 258,000 hot meals served through our partner agency shelters and meal sites. Our Personal Care Pantry served over 600 people.
More than 25% of the residents of Clatsop County qualify for emergency food assistance. The most unsettling statistics regarding the high number of people qualified for food assistance are that 41% of these people are children and 20% are seniors (on limited, fixed incomes).
Many of the clients seeking our services are individuals who have never before been in need of social services, but have been forced into the situation due to the current economic conditions. We have a lower unemployment rate than some counties, but we also have many part-time jobs, lower wages and higher housing and utility costs. Our working citizens sometimes just cannot afford shelter and food. No one should have to choose between basic needs such as shelter, food, child care, medicine, heat, or other utilities. Our case managers also help those clients lacking basic living skills to develop the skills needed for sustainability, so they will not continue to use social services.
Please consider Clatsop Community Action, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, with your generosity. Remember CCA for volunteer work. We can always use an extra hand. Every person has unique talents; yours may be the unique talent we need! Remember CCA for in-kind work. Your professional expertise could save us from paying for the same service, allowing the funds to be used for more direct client assistance. Remember CCA in your estate planning. Your estate can continue to help provide civic support through an annuity, trust, or will. Remember CCA with cash donations. It is mainly through your heartfelt financial support that our mission is kept alive. You will get a receipt for tax deduction purposes for any donation. Please note, in 2008 Clatsop Community Action became an "accredited charity" with th Better Business Bureau. Accredidation can be researched at www.bbb.org
Again thank you for viewing our website. Enjoy your browsing!
Sincerely,
George Sabol Executive Director, Clatsop Community Action
Clatsop Community Action (CCA) is an equal opportunity provider.
PRIVACY NOTICE:
1) No information is being collected about you by CCA.2) Use the above contact us tab for any questions about personal information collected.3) We do not share personal information provided by donors with anyone outside CCA.4) PayPal and Google are secure websites for donation purposes.
