Across from the Amtrak station in downtown Portland, Oregon, Blanchet House has served community members without a place to go since 1952. What began as a simple mission to offer food to the unemployed, the organization has grown to provide clothing, hygiene items, and transitional recovery programs to thousands of people every year. In addition to the downtown location, Blanchet (pronounced Blan-Shay) Farm provides similar services in a rural setting, away from the stressors and complexities of urban life.

The Farm

The 62-acre property located one hour outside of Portland is designed, “to help men with substance addiction build sobriety and self-worth, and regain job skills by being responsible for the care of animals, gardens, meals, and facilities.” The Farm, according to the organization, has demonstrated success at saving lives because it offers hands-on outdoor therapeutic work for men who have tried more traditional recovery programs. Furthermore, the farm is free to participants because of generous donors.

When the Farm announced plans for facility improvements in the Fall of 2023, a close relationship at Malarkey helped make the new roof possible.

“The Blanchet House and Farm are important to our community and to me personally,” said Brendan Dineen, Codes Engineer at Malarkey. “My grandfather was one of the founders of Blanchet House and I’ve served on the Emerging Professionals board for many years. As part of the Malarkey team, I take pride in supporting an organization that feeds the hungry and guides community members on paths to recovery.”

The Project

The Building Pathways Home campaign, according to the release, aims to raise $9 million by the Fall of 2024 with construction already underway for a 14,000 square foot, mixed-use facility.

“Our farm program has been incredibly successful at helping people change their lives for the better. But the facilities are worn out. They were not designed with a recovery program in mind,” says Scott Kerman, Blanchet House’s Executive Director. “What we’ve learned is that helping someone become housed takes time, a safe place, and individualized support.”

The new building will provide a pathway for up to 25 men to overcome addiction and homelessness. The building will also contain offices, a kitchen and dining area, and space for job skills education. Additionally, communal areas will provide space for local residents to attend on-site Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA) meetings.

The Roof

The generous 14,000 square foot building posed a 172 square roofing project for Project Manager Austin Hamon and his team at CedarTech, Inc. The impressive result, however, speaks for itself.

“This was a completely new build by general contractor, Schommer & Sons, who framed-out the whole building before we began our installation,” said Hamon, who had seven crew members on site at the project’s peak.

Figuring out how to properly vent the roof was the first hurdle for the CedarTech crew, Hamon explained, “because there wasn’t enough ridge in places to properly install a ridge vent to exhaust the different attic spaces. So, we used intake vents as exhaust vents and were able to get the approximate amount of exhaust air out.”

Beyond the venting issue, Hamon had familiarity with Malarkey’s roofing products.

“From the initial bidding process, Malarkey was always the first choice, and we fully backed that decision as we are certified installers and prefer Malarkey products,” he said.

The Blanchet Farm roof utilizes:

• Legacy^® roofing shingles
• EZ-Ridge^® XT 10″ high-profile hip and ridge shingles
• Smart Start^® starter shingles
• Arctic Seal^® ice and water barrier underlayment
• Secure Start^® Plus synthetic field underlayment

“We install Malarkey roofs all the time; if you check out our social media profiles, we have tagged Malarkey when we use them. We are currently installing two roofs right now, one Vista^® roof and one Windsor^® roof,” he added.

EcoOffset Stats

• 32 upcycled rubber tires
• 21,600 upcycled plastic bags
• 10 trees ‘planted’

Continuing Community Support

“Completing the new facilities at Blanchet Farm is a great achievement for us and the community,” said Director Kerman. “Not only is the farm capable of housing more individuals, but this project’s success is evidence of the community’s support for recovery programs to aid people wanting to heal from addiction.”

To join Malarkey and donate to Blanchet Farm’s Building Pathways Home campaign directly, please visit blanchethouse.org.