History
The community wide collaborative effort to create a Portland area furniture bank is no accident. Its origins trace back to the 1990's Operation Exodus, which found the American Jewish Community committed to assistance for thousands of former Soviet Union Jews who wished to emigrate to Israel or the U.S. Jewish communities throughout the United States. Thousands of American Jews volunteered as mentors to newly arrived families and support programs were ushered in under local Jewish Federations and other Jewish agencies. In Portland, Jewish Family and Child Service (JFCS) drew volunteers into the Russian Resettlement program. JFCS started the Portland Community Warehouse, a project to collect donated home furnishings for redistribution to newly arrived Jewish families.