By Melissa Wagoner
Silverton Area Community Aid – or SACA, as it’s affectionately known – has always operated with the same goal, to provide food for those in the Silverton area who need it. But that doesn’t mean it’s always looked the way it does today.
“It started as a much smaller organization,” Executive Assistant Erin Wilson said.
In fact, the organization has gone through several major revisions since it began in 1950 as the “United Good Citizens” program, the brainchild of Henry Vetter, a railroad station agent, and M.R. Ford, the principal of Eugene Field Elementary School.
Known as “Silverton Emergency Aid” in the 1950s, the organization was officially incorporated as SACA in 1984 when it grew to include a governing board of directors that would eventually oversee a paid staff and hundreds of volunteers.
“I think the beauty of it now is that we have a board and staff,” Wilson pointed out. Describing these organizational elements as imperative for SACA’s longevity. “Because we can shift from one group of volunteers to another.” And yet the services never falter.
SACA’s food pantry currently operates under a two-part qualifying system. First, anyone seeking food assistance must live in, or have a child enrolled in, the Silver Falls School District. “We’re a small town,” Executive Director Sarah DeSantis explained. “And we don’t have all the resources of a big city… So, we limit it to our school district to keep our dollars here.”
The second qualification, determined federally by the USDA, is the household income guideline. Featured on SACA’s website as a chart depicting the maximum income a family can earn and still qualify for food assistance, the income guideline includes numbers far higher than most people are aware thanks to a change in the maximum income eligibility from 185 percent of the federal poverty level to 300 percent in March 2020.
“It was a big jump,” DeSantis said. “But we want people to know, take what you need.”
After all, according to Wilson, stepping “into the gap and helping get to a space where they’re more secure” is what the food assistance program is all about.
“We would love to work ourselves out of business,” Wilson said.
But it’s a goal that appears less likely than ever as SACA’s aid numbers, partially owing to the USDA’s income increase, have continued to rise. The increase is far from the only reason.
“I think there are a couple of things going on,” Wilson said. “The cost of food has gone up. There have been shifts in SNAP benefits, and because of that people who can’t get them come here.”
Gas prices have also increased, the free school lunch program is no longer provided, the rental protection program has ended and housing and rental prices have continued to rise.
“Everything has gone up,” Wilson concluded. “And it’s all the things we help with.”
Applications for gas vouchers, utility assistance requests, rental assistance requests and transportation needs have all increased, prompting SACA, in an Instagram message posted on April 10, to put out a request to the community for help.
“Please give what you can to continue providing for our community during these hard times,” the post read.
And, while donations of goods – food and personal care items – are, as always, encouraged, the help SACA largely needs is funding.
“We can stretch dollars,” Wilson explained. “We get deals through grocery partners and we buy in bulk. Our money also goes toward keeping people housed, turning utilities on or getting them to medical appointments.”
Making a donation is relatively easy. It can be made anytime through the website, www.silvertonareacommunityaid.org, either once or on a recurring basis.
“Or get involved,” Wilson suggested.
Consider becoming a Neighborhood Coordinator, picking up green bags of non-perishable food items throughout your neighborhood six times a year, or attend SACA’s annual Gala and Auction, held this year on July 29 at the Vanderbeck Valley Farm in Mount Angel. Tickets, which go on sale June 15, are $75 each and are available on SACA’s website.
“It’s an evening of music and dinner – including appetizers, drinks and dessert,” Wilson said. “And if you don’t have the money to bid on big ticket items you can do a smaller paddle raise donation.”
Every dollar helps as demand is at an all-time high and SACA itself is scheduled to grow, expanding its operation into the former Ratchet Brewery building in the coming months.
“We’re hoping by early 2024,” Wilson said, “because we have renovations and adjustments that have to be made to move it from the restaurant and brewery space. And then there are so many different types of spaces we need.”
Once completed, the much larger space will allow SACA to not only continue serving its clientele but to partner with other agencies who have similar goals.
“It’s very exciting,” Wilson confirmed. “To see SACA so successful is a magical, beautiful thing.”
