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The Canby Center this week launched the public phase of our $8 million Thriving Together Capital Campaign, which will enable us to greatly expand our building and services as we work to alleviate poverty in Canby and beyond, through God's love and the generous support and involvement of our community.
We are humbled to have so far raised nearly 90% of our campaign goal. We are grateful to many generous people and organizations in Canby and across the state of Oregon for their support of our work and the low-income families and youth whom we serve.
That includes the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, which recently granted $600,000 to The Canby Center to help renovate and expand our facilities supporting low-income families. These renovations will triple the current size of our building for food distribution, classrooms, a job center, offices and more.
The Murdock Charitable Trust is supportive of The Canby Center's approach: meeting people where they are, but not leaving them there. This means providing food and resources to address immediate needs, while also helping individuals develop the skills and behaviors that will create long-term change in their lives. This includes encouraging members to volunteer monthly, thus empowering them to give back to their community in a circle· of care.
We know that one in 10 Canby residents — approximately 2,000 people — are living in poverty. We work to break this cycle of poverty by empowering families and individuals through God's love, relationships, education, community building and the power of personal responsibility.
"The cycle of poverty is complex and cannot be solved with a single solution," said Jeremy White, program director of the Murdock Trust. "This is why we are so grateful for organizations like The Canby Center that take a broad view on how to help individuals both immediately and in the long term to flourish.
"We are grateful to play a small role in supporting this important work that will help support so many individuals and families for generations to come."
This grant to The Canby Center reflects the Murdock Trust's continued investment in the Pacific Northwest. Since 2017, the Murdock Trust has contributed more than $102 million through 492 grants to nonprofits serving communities in Oregon and more than $1.2 billion in grants to the Pacific Northwest region overall since opening its doors in 1975.
Even before the pandemic, when demand for their services increased dramatically, The Canby Center recognized the need for more space. Every week, we host our Harvest Share program, lunches, multiple classes and one-on-one support meetings. However, because none of these resources have their own space, rooms must be rearranged for each event.
The Murdock Trust grant will provide dedicated rooms for educational and. mentoring programs, as well as permanent food storage and more clothing storage, allowing access to multiple services at the same time.
The Canby Center's successful and empowering approach to addressing generational poverty is being recognized outside of Canby and, over the next five years, we envision sharing this model to our neighboring communities and beyond.
Please subscribe to our dedicated newsletter for future updates about this exciting project here. And please visit our website at thecanbycenter.org/building to learn more about how you can support our mission to provide dignity-restoring and life-changing services for generations to come.