Barb Lescher RIP

As I'm sure many of you have heard, our dear director, Barb Lescher, has died. Saturday night she and her family took a pack of turkey sandwiches downtown, her normal walk. Nobody saw her Sunday, and when she failed to report for work on Monday, Salvation Army called her daughter Anna. Her Son-in-law Nate found her on the floor on Tuesday morning, the coroner says most likely a heart attack sometime Saturday Night. She will be cremated and a private service February 4th. Still to be scheduled will be a celebration of her life, sometime late in February. Since OPP was a large part of her life, Nate says we will be intimately involved in the celebration; Tom Owens from the board of directors has stepped up. At this point, the plan is to keep Our Peaceful Place going, but the board meeting scheduled for this Saturday is canceled. RIP Barb. You were a living saint and an inspiration to us all.

It is a New Year

And with the fears of the fiscal cliff over, why not consider giving out of your surplus to people who have nothing? There are people who will be sleeping on the streets of Portland tonight; as the temperature dips. A pair of socks goes a long way in the wet and wild winters of northwestern Oregon; and that is where Barb comes in.

Not all of us can do what Barb does, walking the streets. Whether it is that we do not have the physical ability to do so, or the time while taking care of our families, or even the knowledge necessary to know who to help, Barb can be our stand in.

As Sustaining Circle Member Bonnie Owens writes: "I know that Our Peaceful Place provides very necessary services to the homeless. I'd like to volunteer, however I can't physically walk the streets due to bolts in my foot and a brace on my leg so I donate monthly to help provide the funds needed so she can continue the great work of OPP".

Please consider becoming a sustaining circle member today! You can even use your bank's Bill Pay system to automate your giving, Bank of America has provided a special account at routing #123000220 and account #153658912982. Or you can go to Our Peaceful Place webpage and make a one time donation through the Network for Good. Or alternatively, you can simply send a check to Our Peaceful Place, PO Box 3093 Clackamas, OR 97015

Barb Writes: Family moved into permanent housing

We were able to get a family into permanent, affordable housing Wednesday. We contributed to their deposit. They have rent covered but landlord would not pro rate the deposit. I was able to give them a hook up for furniture, too. Tonight, in Portland town where there are too many homeless, there is one more formerly homeless family snuggled into their warm, cozy home looking forward to looking forward again. Thanks to all our supporters... you did this!
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Please consider joining our sustaining circle. Here are the different options available to you if you wish to donate to OPP:
 Donate online via our website . Donations are handled by our payment processor—Network For Good .

 You can use your bank’s Bill Pay system to deposit directly to the Our Peaceful Place account with Bank Of America. Our Routing number is 123000220 and the OPP account number is 153658912982

 Send in a check to our mailing address—
Our Peaceful Place
P.O Box 3093
Clackamas, OR 97015

How do you get medicine on the streets?

It is a blessing for you and I to be able to stock our home bathroom cabinets with medicines and then go there to find remedies as we have need. When we can’t find the solution to our problem in the cabinet we can make our way to the local drug store and buy what we need. It’s not that easy for someone who is homeless.

One example of this need occurred recently when Barb had the opportunity to provide a toothache remedy to a young man who was suffering with pain to the point that he could not eat or sleep. He also had a dry skin condition that was making his existence even more unbearable. She was able to buy him an antihistamine and some medicated lotion. The edge was taken off his suffering. Barb was able to refer him for dental and medical care.

Visit our main page and join our sustaining circle today so that Barb can continue to help the homeless

Depression can be deadly

I must apologize to our supporters online, due to some issues in my own life, I haven't been able to help Barb post her stories since the very successful yearly fundraiser. Despite how successful that fundraiser was, it only provided about half our yearly budget- so will you please consider digging deep this Christmas and becoming a member of our sustaining circle? You can set up automatic payments at our main website

Recently Our Peaceful Place was able to provide a night of shelter for a man who was waiting to get into a treatment program. He had become homeless gradually after the tragic death of his precious fiancé. They had been childhood sweethearts. He had been working full time as a cook but was grief stricken over her death and unable to hold himself together at work so his employer had to let him go. He started drinking and using drugs to numb himself. His sympathetic landlord could only carry him so long before he evicted him

While homeless, he had been severely injured by razor wire. Multnomah County arranged for his medical care and up to 90 days of in-patient drug and alcohol treatment. He was medically and emotionally fragile... too fragile to spend another night on the street. Now he is ready for help and we were glad to support him on his way. This could not have happened without the generous support of people like you.

Feeding the poor

Ok, nearly messed that one up, but I should write a blog post anyway. Barbara doesn't just do surface charity- she gets down on the street and actually asks people what they need. If you saw the post this replaced, that's kind of the point (though I meant that to go to my personal blog). We in the more lucky classes of society think we know what the poor need better than they do themselves- and so we send condoms to starving kids in Africa. Here at home, Portland excels at all sorts of charitable giving for the homeless- but often, the larger organizations see the homeless as a group, instead of as individuals- and that's when individuals fall through the cracks. Help Barb fill the cracks! Come to our East Indian Dinner this Saturday!

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.