Physical Health United States Project #5692

Daily Food/Shelter for Portland's Poor & Homeless

by Portland Rescue Mission

Project Report | Dec 16, 2011
Recession'11 impact: Meals up 17%; Shelter up 16%

By Bill Miller | Director of Development Ministry

Daily shelter

As the global/national/local recession lingers, Portland Rescue Mission continues to see growing needs on the streets of the Rose City. We're open 24 hours/day, 7 days/week, providing a place of refuge and rest for weary souls -- meals, shelter beds, safe, clean restrooms, mail services, referrals and renewed hope.

Every day, volunteers and staff work together to serve a hot, nutritious breakfast (7 a.m.) and dinner (6 p.m.). This year, we'll provide more than 240,000 free meals, with the help of 5,000+ volunteers and tons of donated food.

In Aug-Nov 2011, daily meals served grew by 17% vs. the previous year. In January, we will begin to provide weekend lunches as well (weekday lunch service is plentiful for homeless men, women, and children in Portland).

This year, we expanded our daily shelter services by 16%, and we're working to increase by a similar amount next year.

The generous support of the Portland community for our services makes these acts of compassion possible. Thanks for considering a gift today.

100s of blankets are distributed/recycled daily

Links:

New website includes news, video stories, contacts

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Aug 17, 2011
Growing Number of Homeless in Portland Increase Needs

By Bill Miller | Director of Development Ministry

Nov 24, 2010
Holiday Meals Surge

By Bill Miller | Director of Development Ministry

Mission staff engages a guest with holiday cheer

During Thanksgiving and Christmas, we provide special meals for our homeless guests at our Burnside Shelter (111 West Burnside, Portland, Ore.). That's in addition to our daily breakfast and dinner services. Our staff and volunteers encourage dinner guests to linger for conversation. The dining room is expanded to seat more people and holiday decorations make it as festive as possible.

Last year, one of our winter guests was Jim. He came to us looking for a place to get a safe night’s sleep. He’d just taken the bus from Seattle to Portland and got robbed the day he got in town. “I lost everything I had except my beer,” he recalls. “I didn’t know anyone here and didn’t know where to go.” Jim’s life was a mess. A wrecked marriage. Lost custody of his son. His brother was killed in an accident. He’d spent 3 ½ years in prison.

“I hated myself, and I hated life. I blamed God for my mess, and I was angry.” Drinking led to drugs. It was a vicious cycle with dead-ends everywhere. “I’d wake up each morning and all I’d want to do was crawl inside another bottle… and I did,” Jim says. "I found myself standing outside the Mission, not really knowing what was available inside. I believe it was God who reached out and said ‘This is where you’re supposed to be.’ I really can’t describe it anyway other than that.”

Fortunately, Jim was clear-headed enough to know he wasn’t hallucinating. “I sat down with one of the chaplains, and he invited me into the recovery program. I struggled with that decision, but figured I had nothing to lose. And I really wanted a place to sleep that night!” That was a new beginning for Jim. Today, he’s graduated from our New Life Recovery Ministry, is working full-time, going back to school, and training to mentor new believers in their Christian faith. “I’m on the way to being more whole because I have God in my life. I don’t have to carry all of life’s pain and baggage by myself. I can trust Him and others to make it through it.”

A holiday meal often is our first connection with hurting men, women and children. Shelter and food are just the first step in our efforts to break the destructive cycle of homelessness, poverty and despair.

Lines of hungry guests wait patiently for a meal

Jim is now a new man (see UnSeenHomeless.org)

Links:

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