To the Editor:
Philomath Community Services would like to give a hearty thank you to the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund for two generous grants in 2025 and sustained support since 2015!
In 2025, funds from two grants of $3,000 each sustained PCS Gleaners, a community resilience program that serves as a template for self-help and mutual aid by acquiring and distributing food and other basic needs to low-income households.
As prices for everything continue to rise, this program is crucial to many of our community members who are increasingly challenged to make ends meet.
The number of Gleaners enrolled in the program averaged 484 individuals with over 121 children and youth under 18. There were over 74 people aged 65 or older, 75 disabled adoptees and 20 veterans.
Gleaners drove over 14,319 personal miles and logged over 8,431 volunteer hours to accomplish this program. Gleaners re-directed 26,594 pounds of food to other community groups, farmers and gardeners that would have otherwise entered the waste stream.
The PCS Gleaners program positively impacted participants by working shoulder-to-shoulder in activities of self-help and mutual aid to feed themselves, their families and adoptee households. By re-directing excess food, Gleaners had a positive ripple effect within the wider community and encouraged a sense of shared purpose in keeping everyone fed.
We are extremely grateful to the Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution Fund for their generosity and consistent support for us to continue this important work.
Jennie Mikkelsen and Linda O’Dell,
PCS Gleaners co-coordinators,
and Sharon Thornberry, PCS executive director