Vennisa Gomez-Gerberg remembers a story about a 2-year-old girl who walked up a driveway to her new foster home carrying a Ziploc bag with two diapers, two wipes and a sippy cup. That was everything she had.
Gomez-Gerberg, executive director of With Love Oregon, tells that story to explain why her Tigard nonprofit exists. The organization provides clothing, baby gear and essential supplies to foster children from birth to age 6, delivering packages valued at $1,500 to $2,000 directly to families' doors.
"I fostered for 14 years. I know the reality of what these families are experiencing," Gomez-Gerberg told the Valley Times in a profile published Friday, Aug. 21.
Gomez-Gerberg was in and out of foster care in California as a child before being adopted around age 7 or 8. She went on to foster children herself for 14 years, including a Guatemalan teen mother.
That personal history now drives an operation at 14555 S.W. 74th Ave. in Tigard that fulfilled roughly 1,530 requests last year, according to Gomez-Gerberg. In July, the nonprofit hit 150 requests in a single month, its second-highest monthly total ever.
How it works
Volunteers at With Love Oregon's 6,500-square-foot facility shop for each family, assembling one to two weeks' worth of coordinated outfits along with books, toys, shoes, hygiene products and baby safety items. The packages are then delivered to foster homes within a 30-minute driving radius.
The nonprofit works directly with Oregon's Department of Human Services and serves families in both Oregon and Southwest Washington. About 45% of the families it supports are relative or kinship placements, according to the organization.
From a spare bedroom to a warehouse
Former Beaverton School District teacher Allie Roth founded With Love Oregon in 2013 after noticing that siblings of some of her students were babies and young children who could benefit from strollers, car seats and other gear. She started the operation in a spare room in her home. The organization moved into its current Tigard facility in 2018.
The nonprofit is currently running a Back to School Drive and accepts donations on Wednesdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at its Tigard location. More information is available at withloveoregon.org.
