There was no resident Swami in Portland from 1929 until Swami Devatmananda's arrival on February 11, 1932. But the devotees used to meet Tuesday evenings in the house of Theresa Olson and would read from the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Prabhavananda used to come to Portland during vacation time.

Swami Devatmananda, who was in the New York Vedanta Society at the time, was asked to take charge of the Portland Centre. Accordingly, he came to Portland in 1932¹² and started his mission of service while the entire country was steeped in the depth of depression. It is well known amongst the old members and friends of the Society that the Swami, when he started his work in Portland, had not enough money even to pay his milk bill. But the Lord's work has been going on ever since. At a later time, seeing that no collection plate was passed after the service, one person asked, "How does the Society manage to continue?"

"So many people ask that," Swami Devatmananda smiled, "and I really don't know. The Lord provides. When I first arrived in Portland, there was not even money to pay the milk bill. And yet we have managed. Our needs are very little."

"Members' devotion to the Society seems to be the answer," someone present remarked.¹³

The Society rented a house at 721 N. E. Halsey Street, near N. E. Broadway in March 1932 for the accommodation of the Swami and to hold regular meetings and classes. Soon after, the Society rented a hall downtown in the Dekum Building and had Sunday morning services and Tuesday classes there. In October, 1932 the Swami moved to a house at 1816 S.E. 32nd Place-- the second location of the Society. The Sunday evening service at this time was held in the Mason Temple downtown.

In 1934, when many non-profit religious institutions had to close on account of financial difficulties, the Society purchased a substantial house at 1206 N.W. 25th Avenue--the first permanent home of the Vedanta Society of Portland. Two years later, in 1936, on the occasion of the 100th birthday anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna, the Society purchased on February 27th a tract of 120 acres of wooded land near Scappoose, 20 miles away from Portland, overlooking the Columbia River Valley. This acreage was to be used by interested members of the Society as a Retreat for meditation and contemplation. There was a log cabin (not existing now) with a kitchen and quite a large living room, as also a tool house and a small shed (the latter later on being rebuilt as a small meditation hall). In 1938 a small cabin for the Swami was built. Later, in 1941, on Easter morning, the members laid the foundation for a ladies' cottage, which was built in memory of Mary Olson. The building is a two-storied structure with good sized porches.

"Persons who worship Me in all beings, to them I carry what they lack and preserve what they already have," says Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita. (IX. 22) Theresa Olson relates how it happened in their lives too: