Help Linn Benton Food Share by Just Using Your Fred Meyer Rewards Card

You can help Linn Benton Food Share earn donations just by shopping with your Fred Meyer rewards card! Fred Meyer is donating $2.5 million per year to non-profits in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington to charities designated by their customers. Here’s how the program works:

• Go to www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards to sign up for the Community Rewards program, which links your Fred Meyer Rewards Card to Linn Benton Food Share. You can search for Linn Benton Food Share by name or by their non-profit number (94-1099406).
• Every time you shop and use your Rewards Card, you are helping Linn Benton Food Share earn a donation!
• You still earn your Rewards Points, Fuel Points, and Rebates, just as you do today.
• If you do not have a Rewards Card, they are available at the Customer Service desk of any Fred Meyer store.

For more information, please visit www.fredmeyer.com/communityrewards.

Thank You!

Here at Community Services Consortium, we help people overcome poverty. With your support, we are able to make a difference in the lives of thousands of children and families. Thank you for your support this year, and in years to come, as we work together to end poverty in our communities.

As this year comes to a close, we wanted to share some of our successes and the impact that your support has made.

• We helped thousands of households in Linn, Benton, and Lincoln counties with energy assistance. This included a family with young children, which kept them safe and warm and allowed the father to continue his work towards a medical degree.
• We prevented hundreds of households from becoming homeless by providing housing and financial assistance. This included preventing a Linn County veteran and his family from being evicted from their home by making arrangements with the landlord, and providing support so they could make a plan to get back on track.
• We provided more than 40 adults with the job training they needed to find work or get better jobs, and helped nearly 70 at-risk youth to complete their educations.
• We put millions of pounds of food on the table of families in Linn and Benton county with the help of a network of 74 member agencies—including emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and gleaning groups.
• We helped prepare 160 children for success in kindergarten and beyond with the support of Head Start.

Your generous support has even allowed those that received help to pay your kindness forward.

"One of our Workforce & Education scholarship recipients in the Nursing program met with me today. She said that she is working as a C.N.A. this summer and that one of her patients, who is in hospice, is unable to afford the care she needs.

Our scholarship recipient is working for this patient at a reduced rate because the spring term tuition, fees, and supplies paid for by the CSC scholarship saved her enough money to be able to help out this patient.

The CSC scholarship has truly changed the world for this hospice patient." Maggie Underwood, Principal Employment Advisor at CSC

If you haven't had a chance to offer your support, please consider making a tax-deductible donation so that we can continue to help people and change lives in your neighborhood.

You can make a donation by clicking here, calling 541-928-6335, or mailing your donation to 250 Broadalbin St, 2A, Albany, OR, 97321.

With gratitude,

Community Services Consortium

Newport Church Makes Christmas Brighter for CSC Clients

Christmas came a little early for nine children living in CSC's Tern House and Pelican Place housing in Newport this year, as members of Ocean Unity Church delivered more than 150 gifts to them on Christmas Eve.

Jerry Johnson, a retired CSC employee and Ocean Unity Church member, spearheaded the holiday drive. The church originally intended to sponsor one family, but decided to open their hearts to all of the children living at Tern House and Pelican Place.

Several of the parents had tears in their eyes and were pretty much speechless.

One parent said, "Without these gifts, it was literally going to be the socks and underwear day. My son actually had many things to open and it was all so wonderful."

We give our heartfelt thanks to all of the members at Ocean Unity Church, who gave so much when so many have little to give. Your generosity is a shining light in our community!

CSC Hosts Fifth Annual Homeless Person's Memorial Service

Community Services Consortium hosted the fifth annual Homeless Person's Memorial Service on December 21 at Albany City Hall. The event gathers the community together to pay respect to the homeless people that we have lost in Albany during the year. This year's service included six homeless people: Robert A. Carlson, 76; Daniel S. Cowen, 59; Russell Ray, 56; Crystal L. Sprague, 33; Vincent A. “Tony” Torrier, 48; and David L. Weidrich, 42.

To read more about the memorial or to view a slide show with pictures from the event, visit the Albany Democrat-Herald site here.

The Giving Season Is Here!

Dear Friends and Community Partners,

It has been a challenging but rewarding year for Community Services Consortium, and we couldn't have done it without you.

Through your donations and support of events like the Barrel to Keg Relay and our American Winter screening, we can continue our mission to end poverty in Linn, Benton, and Lincoln County.

As we enter into the holiday season, we hope that you will include CSC in your giving plans. We are proud to announce the launch of our Giving Season Catalog, which makes it easy for you to give a gift in your name or on behalf of a loved one. Gifts to specific programs - housing, food & nutrition, and education - are available in a wide range of amounts.

This year, we are also participating in Giving Tuesday on December 3. You've heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday - now there is Giving Tuesday, a day to give back. Giving Tuesday is the perfect day to support CSC with a general donation (just use the "Donate" button on our home page at www.communityservices.us) or a selection from the Giving Season catalog.

Thank you for your generosity and support in our fight to end poverty! Happy holidays from all of us here at Community Services Consortium!