This winter we handed out 750 Shelterbags in the Pacific NorthWest in partnership with local organizations Greater Good Northwest, Rose Haven, and Transition Projects. With your help, we were able to bring these critical products to the Western United States, all the way from our social factory in South Africa where they were produced.
Many who find themselves on the streets experience great isolation and lack access to individuals with the resources and committed presence needed to ensure their well-being. We recognize that creating transformation in the lives of those affected by poverty and trauma requires more than just a product or charity. That’s why we focus on building relationships with partner organizations that have boots on the ground, listening to the voices and leadership provided by people with lived experience. During our visit to Portland, we included their voices in the solutions, hearing from those with power and resources and those directly affected by the issues.
Some of us may have been led to believe that homelessness is a result of personal failures. However, people working full-time in low-wage jobs in Portland are paying up to 80% of their salaries on rent alone.* To create change, we must be willing to listen to those affected without judgment, and we are here to share our lessons learned.
We discovered that the city of Portland made a promise to shelter every homeless individual, but couldn’t make this a reality. More people came in from other states, and individuals still ended up being turned away at the door of overflowing shelters.
Just as we arrived in Portland, Mayor Ted Wheeler introduced a plan that addresses Portland’s ongoing homeless and housing crisis, banning unsanctioned camping across the city, and making it illegal and fineable to set up a tent. The city plans to open three large regulated, sanctioned camping sites, and provide easier access to mental health and substance abuse recovery services and more safe spaces for homeless people to stay.
But what does this really mean?
Greater Good Northwest
Eboni Brown, the director of Greater Good Northwest, first reached out to us in 2019 through Instagram. At that time, we were not yet able to deliver Shelterbags to Portland. However, a few years later, we can finally launch this partnership.
Greater Good, a non-profit born in the midst of the pandemic, prioritizes presently and historically underserved communities, including people of color, Black individuals, Indigenous individuals, LGBTQIA+, and formerly incarcerated individuals. These communities often have the least access to housing support services nationwide.
Eboni transformed an old motel into an alternative shelter in an area with very limited resources. It is a non-congregate shelter, meaning everybody has their own room, with a door to lock. Here, Greater Good runs a transitional program, providing case management to navigate people into housing and make sure that they are able to keep that housing. “We are there to support them through that transition back into housing.”
Greater Good also strives to change the way houseless participants are served in their community. Developing and maintaining meaningful relationships with the population they serve, allows their team to act as mediators and connectors between participants and a variety of houseless services in the area.
Ashley and Richard have been staying at Greater Good for six months.
this community.”
The community realized our value
While the census for the shelters had been cut in half to help with the spread of covid and all the services were closed down, Greater Good started as a mobile team, bringing out food to even the deep woods because nothing else was open. “Nobody wanted this place in their neighborhood,” Eboni says. “We were being yelled at and everybody wanted this place shut down. That’s the issue in communities all over. People would rather have these folks sleep on the sidewalk than have a shelter in their neighborhood, and this makes no sense.
A true community should not be fighting over resources. You’re not competing, you’re sharing. We had to do a lot of community engagement in order to all co-exist here. Now, multiple people in this community depend on us for clothing, food, and services. So yes, there was a lot of pushback. But once people realized our value, it very much changed to positive. They know they can call us when they see someone in need, and someone will show up to help.”
Eboni
When Eboni was 6 years old, she met John, the only homeless person in the neighborhood. Initially, he told her to leave him alone, but their friendship developed from there. He was the one who first conveyed to Eboni that these individuals are our neighbors, whether they have homes or not. He made her realize that everyone living here plays a part in the community. “And my life has been completely dedicated to services since then.”
Since her sister died in 2019, Eboni became a lot more radical. “Because that is the only way to get things done around here. I want to give my friends every opportunity possible to navigate those services and use the system as it was intended for them to use. I couldn’t do that at any organization that I worked for, so it was nice to be able to develop my own. All the people that work for me are radical individuals. A lot of them I met when I was protesting.”
Mike
One of those individuals is her colleague Mike. They first met on the streets during the numerous demonstrations over the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Mike is responsible for running the outreach program at Greater Good Northwest. Their radical approach is rooted in identifying individual needs and involving people with lived experience on their staff. Mike explains, 'We apply the ideas of Mutual Aid and Direct Action, which means that I spend my time building relationships with people, finding out what they need to better their situation.''
Mutual aid is an idea and practice based on the principles of direct action, cooperation, mutual understanding, and solidarity. Mutual aid is not charity, but the building and continuing of new
social relations where people give what they can and get what they need, outside of unjust systems of power.
Mike explains that the nature of this particular camp he's taking us to is that it’s highly visible, easy to spot from the bridge. This makes it a camp where many people start out when they are on the streets for the first time in their lives because they know where it is.
Paulo
Paulo, 30 years old, has never camped a day in his life, yet after a falling out with family, he finds himself learning to make a campfire to stay warm. No easy feat in the relentless Portland climate. He steps forward to talk with me and lets me film our interview. When he feels overwhelmed, I ask him if he wants me to stop. He says ‘no, it’s ok. But this is not a way to live. I try not to think about it. I usually go to the back of the forest to listen to my music and dance.’
Diane
We met Diane, 60 years old, in front of the winter shelter in Beaverton. She had already heard about the Shelterbags coming into town from the word on the street and she was so excited to run into us. She has spent more than a few nights sleeping outside and was caught in the rain more than once. She said, “there are many people getting soaking wet out there. These are the ultimate solution to this problem.”
When she just moved to Portland, Eboni started working at Rose Haven, our other partner. Here, where she once started the shower program that has helped countless women over the years, Eboni’s best friend Liz is the development director. These two are prime examples of our people helping people movement and we are so proud to be working with them.
“I don’t ever have to have a wet sleeping bag ever again.”
– Diane
Rose Haven
Rose Haven is a day shelter and community center for women, children, and marginalized genders who are experiencing homelessness, trauma, and poverty in Portland, Oregon. Their mission is to provide day shelter, resources, emotional support, and community connections: helping people navigate services in order to help improve their lives long-term.
On Wednesday, November 9th Rose Haven organized a distribution event, handing out 40 Shelterbags to women who were sleeping outside that night. “This was a global collaboration to get these Shelterbags to Oregon and our guests were so grateful today,” Liz says in an interview with the local media. “Thank you to everybody who worked extra hard to make this happen.
Together we can do so much. 25 years ago there was a survey that eventually became Rose Haven. Today, Oregon has the second-highest rate of literally unsheltered folks in the United States. Sheltersuit Foundation is so needed and created in a very similar way to Rose Haven, by listening to the people. Look out for each other this winter folks. It’s getting cold out there.”
Tracy
At the distribution event, we had a camera set up outside. Anyone who wished to be photographed was invited to have their picture taken. It was there that we met Tracy, who invited us to see her tent. At the time, she was packing up her belongings, deciding whether to leave them at the tent in the hope they would still be there when she returned, or to take them with her in a borrowed car. She was preparing to go to the courthouse for a custody hearing.
– Tracy“My ex was abusive so I left him. He doesn’t know where I am. It’s no fun to be living like this. It hurts.”
“I’ve never seen a sleeping bag like this before. It shows that the guy who designed this really has compassion for people in less fortunate situations. I’m glad I came down and needed a sleeping bag.
I didn’t expect this, I’m grateful.”
Meet all the wonderful women at Rose Haven Day Shelter and Community Center
Source: More Than A Place to Lay My Head — ThinkTank (thinktank-inc.org)
