2
Clackamas Print
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
HOMELESS: Clackamas brief hom
for transients before moving on
Continued from HOMELESS, Page 1
“It’s not that dangerous in this
area,” she said. “I’m more ner
vous about falling asleep down in
Portland, or in the homeless shelters
or even worse the camps. It’s not
really about where you sleep any
ways, it’s about getting sleep. I can
stand the hunger, I can’t stand not
getting sleep.”
*
Her stomach is always empty,
often calling out for something to fill
. it. She’s dirty, a bath comes maybe
once every few weeks. The lice is
eating away at her scalp, making
her anemic. The malnutrition has
caused her to be so weak she can
barely walk.
“It’s hard to get a decent meal,”
she said. “Sometimes, I won’t eat for
three, four days even. There aren’t
many places around here that feed
people like me. I can’t get to a
doctor’s office. I’m not sure where
the nearest free clinic is, or if they
even exist anymore. I just try to get
by, each day is a test”
Heidi is only 29 years old, a few
years younger than the average stu
dent on campus. She went to school
once too, and tells stories of times in
classrooms, graduating at the top of
her class, wedding days and a good
job, But, it’s all gone now. Heidi is
not her name on the streets. To her
friends and fellow street dwellers
it’s “H”, short for Heidi, but most
importantly to her, it is symbolic for
her new life.
“I was 25 when I first started liv
ing on the streets,” Heidi shared. “I
lived in my car for a while. Then I
lost that too.”
Heidi’s story is like many others
before her: she got divorced, lost
her job, began sleeping in her car,
lost her car and now is left to the
streets. She has been homeless for
four years, since right after her hus
band left her.
“I can’t remember the date now ”
she says between sorting through her
odds and ends that she keeps in an
old Jansen backpack “All I remem
ber is coming home and he had been
gone. I lost my job a week later. I
couldn’t pay my rent and I stayed in
a shelter for a while. Now I’m here.
I’m not the only one though; there
are many others who stay here.”
Another Clackamas camper,
Chris, said that Clackamas provided
Jon Petty Clackamas Print
Leftover garbage marks the spot of what seemed to be a homeless camping spot on campus.
SUSTAIN: Green grants may fund big changes
Continued from SUSTAIN, Page 1
Pending approval, Clackamas
will be able to offer students a
signing our infrastructure we are
are currently unemployed. People
moving towards doing business that
contracted to do the work cannot
is more sustainable.”'
be employees of CCC. -One of the
Another grant which the school
rules for this and other grants was
degree or certificate in renewable
has
energy technology.
Clackamas $26 million. Along
contractors or laborers to perform
with that money comes two steam
the work. “The idea behind the
Going green seems to be a trend
applied
for would
award
that the school must hire outside
Ray Hoyt,
power generators that would give
stimulus money was to stimulate the
director of Customized Training
the school its own internal electric
local economy,” Leach said.
and Development, said, “This is a
source. This grant would partially
Another project currently pend
cultural change.”
allow the school to be taken off the
ing is to turn the gas station behind
grid.
Barlow into an alternative fuels
that is catching on.
One of the first changes being
made is changing the conventional
If awarded this grant, it would
hot water heaters in McLoughlin,
also give faculty enough resources
provide, refueling for vehicles that
refueling station.
The plan is to
Pauling, and Randall to solar heated
for all exterior lights of the school to
run off hydrogen, biodiesel, electri
hot water systems. Bill Leach, who
be powered by wind turbines with
cal and compressed natural gas.
sits on the Sustainability Committee,
solar power battery back-ups.
Moving
into
the
future,
believes that by converting to these
Clackamas is competing against
Clackamas is laying the foundation
solar-heated systems, Clackamas is
Portland Community College to
for the next generation to come.
shifting the foundation of how busi
receive the bid for this grant.
ness has been done in the past.
Leach commented, “By rede
Not only will Clackamas benefit
Without funding it will be difficult
to continue on the path it is headed.
what a lot of other places don’t.
. “When I slept in the camps in
other places, I had trouble with my
things being stolen, cops harassing
me. I even got beat up by some
punks that thought I was worthless,”
he said. “The shelters aren’t much
better, and it’s tough getting a bed
for the night”
Chris has been staying on cam
pus for around four weeks, who fol
lowed a friend he met on the streets.
He said that the buses provide a shel
ter during the day, but when night
fells it’s hard to find somewhere
safe and warm. When asked how
he came to living on the street, he
clutches an old faded photo of a little
girl he calls Nina.
Chris said that 15 years ago he
ran away from home. He left his
sister, the girl in the photo, and his -
mom to a dad who was abusive. He
became heavily involved with drugs
and never bounced back.
“I wish I could live a normal
life,” Chris said. “But sometimes,
you can’t just change how things
work out”
Student Nathan Meyers said that
he wasn’t sure what it would be like *
to live on campus and that he was
uncomfortable with the idea of the
homeless using it as a campground.
“I don’t like the idea of vagrants
camping here when I’m walking
around after class, especially at
night,” Meyers shared. “I guess I
have a pretty negative viewpoint
when it comes to homeless people.
They usually are involved in drugs
and crime.”
Student Claudia Simmons refut
ed. Meyers idea, saying that there
needed to be more done to help
Clackamas’ homeless.
“I know several students here
who have been close to living out
in the woods or their cars, because
they had no where else to go,” she
said. “It’s sad, but eventually they
r*
L'
will be asked to leave and fl
be the end of it. They nJ
than that.”
Neither Chris nor Heidi
day they get told to leave |
According to Kandertieff, I
overnight anywhere on cd
against policy.
The big question for mo]
less people is where they sM
Clackamas
County!
resources for people who ar|
less such as finding them joj
arrangements, and directing]
places to sleep. The system!
faults. It takes months to gel
the processes that put peon
into society.
“I applied once and got]
the process,” said Chris. 1
them months to find the iiI
tion and it’s not like I have!
mail for someone to leave al
I never heard back from th]
though I stopped by a few fl
As of Friday, May 11,1
remained living on campJ
Heidi_had moved on. AcJ
Chris, she was gaining attend
too many people and was]
try to apply for help.
“Sometimes you believa
get help, a lot of the time]
up giving up and choosin]
trying,” said Chris. “We ten
in limbo, somewhere bed
people who matter and W
don’t.”
Disclaimer: The Pro]
to withhold the last naina
two homeless people in J
</ m £’ to the conflict of //id
on campus. Interviews ■
and Chris were done o»|
over the, past two months!
Bashaw. Other staff m
The Print contributed torn
All comments can be ed
chiefed@clackamas.edu.
Upcoming Events
Community Congress Event | Saturd
May 16, 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. in the Greg
Forum
FIDO Days | Saturday, May 16
Alcohol Awareness | Wednesday, May
Club’s Banquet | Thursday, May 21,6|
p.m. at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Clal
amas
■
Memorial Day, No school | Monday, M
25
Locks of Love event | Wednesday, M
27, 12-3 p.m. outside the Commul
Center
from this,but also local people who
-X
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