Helping Hands receives grant to continue Tillamook services

Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers recently received a $500,000 from the Columbia Pacific Coordinated Care Organization that will allow them to continue operating offices in Tillamook and Clatsop Counties.

Now, Helping Hands needs to find further funding, with the group’s founder saying that either the state or county governments need to step up.

“We just realized that we can’t do this by ourselves anymore,” said Alan Evans, Founder and President of Helping Hands.

Helping Hands started in 2002 with an 8-bed shelter in Seaside, opened by Evans who had previously been homeless for more than two decades. Today, the organization operates 11 shelter facilities across five Oregon counties and will have more than 600 beds available once currently underway renovations are complete.

In Tillamook, Helping Hands has run a low-barrier, long-term shelter at the Naval Command Center at the Port of Tillamook Bay since 2018. It is the only facility of its kind in the county.

However, earlier this year when Helping Hands staff started looking at the economic forecasts for the shelter, they realized there was a looming problem—the finances.

Helping Hands has historically relied on private donations to fund its operations, with 90% of the Tillamook shelter’s cost covered by fundraising. But with a dip in donations that started during the pandemic, Helping Hands realized that they would soon run out of money to continue their operations in Tillamook and Clatsop Counties.

“We realized we’re gonna run out of money faster than we’re ever going to be able to bring it in,” Evans said.

That led to the decision in the middle of August to stop accepting new clients at the Tillamook and Clatsop facilities to allow Helping Hands to continue operations for existing clients for as long as possible.

Shortly after that decision, the Columbia Pacific CCO, which helps coordinate services for those on the Oregon Health Plan in the region, stepped in with the grant to continue services. The $500,000 grant will be split evenly between Helping Hands’ Tillamook and Clatsop County facilities and will allow the Tillamook shelter to begin accepting new clients again in the first week of September.

Now, the organization’s focus has shifted to identifying long-term funding sources to continue their operations in Tillamook and Clatsop Counties.

Evans said that the private donor model the organization has historically used has run its course and they will need government support to sustain their offerings.

“We’re trying to form partnerships with local governments and the state,” Evans said, adding that they needed those partnerships to continue offering a “vital service” for the community.

Evans said that he and his staff have already been in contact with Governor Tina Kotek and her office about the possibility of state funding, and discussions are ongoing.