Help us Help Others

A while back I posted about a young woman, with three children, and a father in jail for shoplifting. It took some time, but that mother finally has a landlord who will work with her, and this month we suspended Barb's salary so that we could fulfill our $500 commitment to helping this young mother get into housing. Join us for the East Indian Dinner on October 6th- and help us to help others like this young woman. Indian Restaurants from all over Beaverton and Hillsboro have donated food- Prince of Peace Lutheran Church has donated the space- the International Church Youth Group has donated the time. Let's add our money donations, all of which go to support this ministry. Go to our facebook page and RSVP to the dinner today, or go to our website to donate ahead of time.

OPP helps access to permanent housing

Sometimes, when the larger organizations fail to help the homeless, it is because of very small items that they were unable to budget for. Take the case of a young man, who had found housing, had already done the research for subsidized housing, had even found a landlord- but lacked a $29 application fee. Barb was able to help him out- and today, that young man is in permanent housing and off the streets.

We cannot do this without your help. Please consider going to the East Indian Dinner on October 6th, and visit our home page at http://ourpeacefulplace.org

Car seats for twins

Late on a Friday Afternoon, Barb got a phone call from a social worker, working with a homeless family that had 4 year old twins. The family did not have car seats or boosters, and the social worker had some job leads for the mother but was unable to find child care and the children needed to be transported around while the social worker took the mother to job interviews. Barb's daughter was listening, and knew exactly where to go- and for a $40 investment was able to secure two age-appropriate car seats for the kids.

It is exactly this sort of small expense that your attendance and gift at the East Indian Dinner represents- an investment that will enable that mother to work and get her off of the streets.

A Worried Mother

Our Peaceful Place - Services to meet the basic needs of the homeless in Portland Oregon:

Barb gets the strangest calls sometimes.  She recently got an out-of-state phone call from the mother of a mentally ill man in his late twenties who has been missing for several years.  Recently, she started getting solicitations in his name from a school here in Portland, and she thought the school had her address because he might have used it while trying to enroll.  Barb was able to use her 30 years of experience on the street to direct the mother to some places he might be using as a mailing address- so that she could send postcards to those shelters in hopes that he shows up in one- and gets the message to call his mother.

A hot day in August

Oregon has been experiencing a heat wave as of late. Did you ever wonder how homeless people handle heat? We know that several die of exposure every winter, but the heat can be just as bad.
One sweltering day in August, Barb and Our Peaceful Place volunteer Raliegh walked both sides of the Willamette in downtown Portland handing out ice cold bottles of water and sports drinks. They gave the bottles to friends and strangers alike; to people on the streets, people hanging out in the backs of trucks, or waiting for the bus, both those with homes and those without- those who needed to be out in the heat to keep their homes, those who had no homes to go to. Matthew 25 is the chapter of the Gospels that lists the corporal works of mercy- and giving the thirsty a drink is one of them. Who knows how many were saved from heat exhaustion by a simple act of kindness. This is what Our Peaceful Place is about- filling the gaps that larger organizations can't, filling the immediate small needs. A bottle of water doesn't seem like much- but it can save a medical bill.