About six of us (class of 2008-09) got to tourImpact Northwest last month. This agency, with a staff of about 95 people, serves more than 94,000 low-income Oregonians. How? Thanks to about 2,400 volunteers, that’s how.

I was stunned by those numbers.

Here are better ones: We asked, what would a donation to Impact Northwest (formerly known as Portland Impact) provide to needy Oregonians?

The answers:

$50 would pay for after-school music lessons for two children.

$150 buys a year’s worth of school supplies for three children.

$250 nets you a first book for 125 toddlers in the Early Childhood Education program.

$500 allows 10 homebound seniors to maintain their phone service for a month. Either that, or it helps a working mother pay for one month of child care.

The 95 staffers and 2,400 volunteers at Impact Northwest aren’t out to save the world. Just their small corner of it.

dana