Portland Adventist Community Services – PACS is a vibrant faith-based Community of Service made up of staff, volunteers, donors, prayer partners, and community partners who work together to provide food, dental care, and low-cost clothing/household items to individuals and families in the Portland Metro Area (Oregon).
PACS history can be traced back to 1934, women from the Sunnyside Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Adventist Sanitarium (now Adventist Health Portland) began meeting to sew quilts and clothing for struggling families during the Great Depression. Gradually the group started to distribute food in addition to clothing. In 1963 the ministry expanded when additional churches joined the effort, seeking to pool their resources to create a more effective program. That is when PACS was officially founded as a nonprofit organization under the umbrella of the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (SDA). For 25 years we had a the PACS Health Clinic which started in 1993 closed in 2018. Then in 1995 the PACS Thrift Stores were launched adding to the ministry to provide quality low-cost clothing and household goods to the community. In the fall of 2019 Gateway Grace Clinic, a caring dental clinic, sits next door to PACS seeing clients who fall between the cracks that are not on the Oregon Health Plan but cannot pay for private insurance.
PACS provides 3-5 days' worth of groceries to over 6,000 adults, seniors, and children every month through a Food Pantry and a Mobile Food Pantry. The Thrift Stores provides not just quality items at a low-cost but a welcoming family atmosphere as you search for your next treasures. All sales from the Thrift Stores directly support PACS' ministries to grow and strengthen our community.
PACS has a Gold Seal of Transparency from Guidestar - https://www.guidestar.org/profile/35-2468744