Across from Eastgate Plaza, the Meals on Wheels People nonprofit is transforming a full block frontage at 4035 SE 82nd Avenue into an East Portland food distribution hub and resiliency center for a community that depends on their system for regular sustenance. The warehouse portion of the building already houses frozen and shelf-stable meals for the nonprofit’s programs on this side of the river. When construction is complete, this site will serve as a backup kitchen for their westside primary facilities, a resource center, a counter-service restaurant for program participants, and an event space.
The organization purchased the property in July 2021 with the intention of quickly expanding its delivery network, which distributes prepared meals to collection locations across the region where people come to eat in groups, or where volunteers collect and transport those meals to homebound elderly recipients. “We originally thought we could do this pretty quickly because the [existing] warehouse was added on in 2014. We could start with a warehouse because we weren’t moving any walls or anything, just installing our freezers and coolers in there. That took forever, so we then said, ‘Well, let’s do the whole deal,'” recalled Suzanne Washington, the Chief Executive Officer at Meals on Wheels People. They began work in phases, using the completed sections as crews renovate existing structures and then begin construction on new structures. “Phase one was that warehouse. Phase two is some offices and then part of the service area, as I call it,” explained Washington. Most of the building is single-story, but the area under construction will have two levels, an event space upstairs and the main floor hosting a kitchen, cafe area, hub for senior deliveries, and additional space they intend to lease to another service provider group that would benefit from being connected to Meals on Wheels People patrons.
During the nonprofit’s phased buildout, the neighboring Eastport Food Center cart pod closed, with its owner moving out of Oregon. He listed the property at 3905 SE 82nd Avenue for sale, and Meals on Wheels People purchased it in August 2024 to support development logistics and provide future auxiliary vehicle storage space. “We own this lot across the street, which is right now our staging for construction, but it will become parking for the event space and the senior transportation vans,” said Washington. The main Eastside facility has a parking lot, but four stalls support Electric Vehicle (EV) charging for the growing fleet of battery-powered transportation used by Meals on Wheels People. The SE Center Street accessed parking lot dedicates a sizable amount of space to the “U” shaped driveway that will support the speedy loading of delivery vehicles. Having the expanded parking across the street allowed designers to focus on operational uses adjacent to the building. The large lot across the street also allows for the delivery and staging of produce directly to this location. “So fruits, vegetables, and supplementary food will be delivered here directly, so we don’t have to bring them from Multnomah Village. Multnomah Village is now only bringing those frozen meals,” Washington said.
Reducing the amount of food transported is a key component of this expansion project. Although the established network had served the 55-year-old organization, leadership identified vulnerabilities and operational inefficiencies that this East Portland hub could address. A primary labor and cost savings would come from reducing the number of site-to-site transport trucks needed. “We will be able to get rid of a diesel truck and use our electric vehicles to deliver to Gresham, MLK, and all the places on the east side,” explained Washington. “Right now, a big diesel truck, which costs us $8,000 a month, goes to 20 different sites. We can be better for the environment and get rid of it.” The organization received a PGE Drive Change Fund grant for a second EV to replace a diesel medium-duty delivery truck with an electric delivery truck and to install charging infrastructure.
Another key concept in building along 82nd Avenue is based on maintaining operations when a disaster or weather prevents cross-town traffic. “The goal was to get a hub for emergencies on this side of the river. Our central kitchen right now is in Multnomah Village, and that’s where we make every meal fresh daily. We cook, flash-freeze, and then package anywhere from 6,500 to 8,000 meals a day. All the home deliveries are frozen [with volunteers] dropping them off for a whole week.” In the event of road network disruption, demand for food from program participants increases, and the ability to continue operations will be a critical lifeline for elderly people trapped at home. The kitchen at this new site will primarily serve people walking in for meals, but it has the capacity to prepare 2,000 meals a day in times of emergencies. It also has substantial freezer space for storing food. “The warehouse freezer right now has 45,000 frozen meals in it,” said Washington. They circulate the stockpile every day to deliveries in East Portland, but keep a reserve for emergencies. They also keep another 20,000 shelf-stable meals that can further bolster food delivery capabilities in situations where not everyone may have access to power to store and cook deliveries. The building is served by dual-fuel generators to keep the facility operational even if the power grid is down, and contractors will install solar panels on the roof, further ensuring the building remains powered and reduces its daily dependence on utility power.
Suzanne Washington and others led the drive to buy this property because the organization is relying on leased space east of the river, and making this level of investment in someone else’s property would not have been a good use of resources. Additionally, the current locations are too small for the storage needs provided by the 82nd Avenue building. However, this new space will not immediately replace any existing site as the nonprofit needs those locations to continue serving its primary function. “We’ll keep those sites because people can only go so far. We do two things. For older traditional adults, we do home-delivered meals, and then we do congregate dining, where, if they can, we get them out of their homes to eat with other people. It’s much better for their health,” Washington said. “We still want to provide that service where they can come in and eat.”
Similar to other locations, the SE 82nd Avenue building is designed to bring people in to eat, but with more flexible hours and the ability to order something prepared to the individual’s tastes. “When somebody comes in for a meal here, first of all, they can come in at 8 o’clock and get a breakfast burrito; it doesn’t have to be lunch. They can eat at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, they order at the counter, and then we’ll bring it to them,” remarked Washington. “So we can serve the diversity of folks out here with their ethnic cultural needs and not your traditional lunch where you get one of two choices, and that’s it, because we control this space.” She describes it as similar to a Chipotle restaurant, where a person can customize flavors and mix and match base ingredients, all prepared fresh on site.
Guests can stop in at this location on their schedule, but they must become program participants and are limited to one meal per day. “It’s not meant to open to the street, especially right on this street,” said Washington. “We had a place downtown that we closed because most of the older people wouldn’t come because we had so many homeless folks.” Meals on Wheels People’s primary mission is serving older adults 60 and over. Washington explained that about 30 percent of the organization’s funding comes from the federal government through the 1965 Older Americans Act. “That comes with requirements like we have to have certain dietary guidelines and we have to ask for donations [from recipients], but there’s no coercion for that donation.”
Although serving older adults is what most people associate with the Meals on Wheels brand, through other funding systems, they also help alleviate food insecurity among youth and their families. The Meals 4 Kids program serves families with at least one child under 18. “Last year, we served over 275 people within those families. We provided more than 300,000 meals,” said Washington. In this program, families receive frozen meals with supplemental foods like bread, milk, and fruit, or they can get the raw ingredients and cook them themselves. The program is based out of the SE 82nd Avenue facility and primarily serves East Portland residents. “The great thing about that program is that over 70% get the raw food and then they’re home with kids cooking, doing homework, that kind of thing. Not trying to haul somebody around on the bus or trying to figure out how to make a meal out of a school backpack,” remarked Washington. They have other dietary assistance initiatives, including one that delivers medically tailored grocery boxes to pregnant and newly lactating women.
Food is at this organization’s core, but this new location will help Meals on Wheels People further expand services beyond feeding people by offering a tech hub and community space within an environment where people can eat healthily alongside their peers and stay to discover other opportunities and services to enrich their lives. This project represents a significant milestone for Meals on Wheels People. Suzanne Washington has spent over a decade strengthening the organization. “They didn’t have enough money when I started. They were always in the hole. I focused on three things while I’ve been here. To do the best service possible to those we serve, we’ve got to support our staff the best way possible. To do that, we need resources, money. So by focusing on those three things, [service, staff, and resources], we’ve gotten more efficient, where we can put more money into the quality of our food and the type of food. We support our staff, I think, much more than we did when I got here for benefits, wages, just everyday support,” said Washington. She believes the new property allows the organization to significantly update its operational infrastructure, ultimately saving on recurring costs by lowering transportation expenses and better utilizing people’s time.
Halbert Construction Services will continue working on the project through November. Several delays with permitting and supply-chain disruptions have already pushed back the completion date, but Meals on Wheels People anticipates completion this Fall season.
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