SLS: Blanchet House Saturday Meal Service Lead with the Serve Your City program (2025-26 school year)

Blanchet House is a nonprofit social services organization located in Old Town Portland which offers food, shelter, and aid to all those in need of a safe place to be nourished and restored. As part of the Student Community Engagement Center's Serve Your City *Series* community partners, Blanchet House hosts a group of PSU students on Saturdays to support lunch service at their old town location. We are looking for a student leader to be the main team lead for the PSU crew for the Blanchet Saturday lunch shifts!

NOTE: Both of our current Blanchet House leads are returning next year, so we may not have additional slots available with this community partner.

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Are you passionate about serving the Portland community and supporting a team of PSU students working to do the same? Make a difference by stepping up as a Serve Your City Series lead to support the weekly Saturday lunch meal shifts with Blanchet House!

Our Serve Your City *Series* opportunities are designed to engage students in multi-week service projects with a specific community partner, allowing students to dig in deeper and return to the same organization multiple times in a term or year. Serve Your City Team Leads will help support the development and facilitation of these weekly service opportunities.

Blanchet House, located in Old Town / Chinatown, a short MAX ride or longer walk from campus. Blanchet House has enjoyed having a PSU group serve for a regular Saturday lunchtime shift from 11am - 1pm. Availability on Saturdays from 10:30am - 2:30pm or 4:00pm - 7:00pm would be ideal to lead the PSU group, as well as availability to attend at least one additional Blanchet House meal shift every other week to meet the 4-6 hours/week SLS service requirement.

The Blanchet House Team Lead will serve from Fall - Spring to help coordinate, recruit, onboard, and take on weekly leadership of their volunteer team. Depending on timing considerations and community partner preference, team leads may begin leading their teams right away in Fall term, or they may spend Fall focused on getting to know Blanchet House and developing a student recruitment plan, and then will launch volunteer teams in Winter and Spring terms.

The Blanchet House Team Lead will be responsible for the following:

• Work with the Serve Your City Program Coordinator to plan for and coordinate a Serve Your City: Series opportunity at Blanchet House

• Support marketing, outreach, and social media coordination to promote program engagement

• Assist in the onboarding and orientation/training of Blanchet Series volunteers

• Provide leadership support and mentorship for Blanchet Series volunteers during weekly or bi-weekly shifts

• Lead team reflections and debriefs at the close of each shift

• Develop and/or implement educational discussions and activities for students to learn more about the issue area they are serving. 

• Attend organizational planning meetings with Student Coordinator and other Team Leads, as needed

• Serve as transportation lead to help students get to and from the Blanchet House from PSU via MAX.

Orientation and Training:

Blanchet Team Leads will participate in some team lead training with the Student Community Engagement Center between mid-September and early October, as well as going through any required orientation and training of Blanchet House.

Skills and Knowledge Required:

• Have prior volunteer and/or student leadership experience
• Have prior knowledge and the desire to learn about the the issue of Hunger & Houselessness
• Ability to communicate effectively with faculty/staff, community partners, and peers
• Serve as primary contact-person for Serve Your City partner sites
• Serve as primary contact-person and GivePulse support for student volunteers
• Desire to develop leadership skills and support your peers through training, service reflection, and discussion
• Interest in and ability to facilitate conversations about the issues of Hunger & Houselessness in our community with your team members
• Willingness to attend all required trainings, orientations and organizational meetings
• Available for weekly organizational planning meetings

Benefits of this Positions: In this position, you will gain experience both serving as a regular volunteer at your organization and the opportunity to develop and hone your leadership skills as the team lead. You'll gain experience in recruitment, group facilitation and communication, leading project reflections, and working the admin side of GivePulse to manage your team. Depending on the organization you work with, you'll get to connect directly with individuals experiencing houselessness and know that you are helping make a difference in helping everyone get a warm meal. And you'll get to know other PSU students along the way!

Location: This position will split its time between the PSU campus and Blanchet House. Ability to support transportation for your group to and from the PSU campus is a component of the role. Blanchet House is located at 310 NW Glisan Street and is accessible by the MAX within 15 minutes of PSU. 

Supervision: The team lead will report both to the Student Community Engagement Center staff and to the primary contact at the organization with whom they will be serving. 

Schedule Available: 4-6 hours per week, including weekly shift at your community partner and taking students to and from the organization. Availability on Saturdays from 10:30am - 2:30pm or 4:00pm - 7:00pm is needed to lead the Blanchet House meal service shift. Additional hours during the week are flexible around Blanchet House meal times.