The copier machine was on its last leg. Service men had already paid several visits to Portland Adventist Community Services, trying to keep it alive.
"It was breaking down on average once every week or two," says Leonard Yost, executive director.
Every weekday at morning worship, Yost would review a prayer list with PACS staff and volunteers. Near the top of the list was the urgent need for a new machine. There was no room in the budget to purchase one, so the best thing the staff could do was to hope and pray God would make a way for PACS to get a new machine.
Donald Bohlman and Gene Settlemeir had a dilemma of their own. The co-owners of Village Health Care Inc. found themselves trapped in a payment contract for a copy machine they had no use for. Bohlman, a retired family practice physician, is also a volunteer at PACS Family Health Clinic. One day it occurred to him PACS might be able to use a new copier, so he approached Yost about it.
"He asked me if PACS would be interested in a computer," says Yost. I thought to myself, I sure wish it was a copy machine. No sooner had I thought that when he said, ‘No, I don't mean a computer, I mean a copy machine.' I was absolutely delighted!"
It was an answer to prayer and then some. The new machine is top of the line and comes with a service contract guaranteeing service training and toner for the next four years. The combined value of the machine and service contract is equal to a donation of more than $60,000.
The money saved frees up more resources to help needy families through the PACS Family Health Clinic and the PACS Food Pantry. The speed of the machine also makes a difference. It operates at 60 pages per minute, allowing staff more time to focus on other needs.
"It's been a lot easier with the new machine," says Traci White, Social Services coordinator. "I know it's going to be fast, and I don't have to keep running back and forth."
The copier was delivered on Feb. 13.
"These things don't just happen," says Yost. "I firmly believe it was an answer to prayer."
Carol Paulsom, PACS volunteer coordinator, makes a copy with the donated new machine.
