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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 21, 2009)
14 C E L E B B IT O IG A D£CJU>£ îI îiL I lllih 10 street roots' «M¡ Education * Dialogue ^'Independence Dreams can come true, and sometimes they bring jobs for a Powerball ticket. Then he told me, “If I very time the Powerball goes over a win, we’re going to buy the Warehouse hundred million, I think about the across the street for the Blanchet House.” cold mornings waiting in line at the Blanchet House. Sometimes some of the Then he went bn to say, “And we’re going to turn the warehouse into a big homeless homeless guys would shelter. I told him, “Hell yeah! I’m in.” come to the line My friend Vince and I were looking at the soaking wet, building. We figured the first floor would be shivering. I’d look at W OB1B2B those guys and think, offices, intake^ counseling, conference rooms, showers, bathrooms, and laundry “What the hell, how . Leo Rhodes facilities. The second floor would be for the hell did these guys get wet?”'I ’d feel families, the third for single mothers, the sorry for them, fourth for single fathers, the fifth for youth, and the sixth only for women. Thé top floor watching them shiver. Then one day it happened to one of my friends. I was would be open to any homeless person. All the times we tried the Powerball, we didn’t standing in line with another friend. We win more than $12. started laughing as our friend walked up , I left Portland in 2000, and didn’t return shivering. We asked him, “What are you, until March of this year. I checked o.ut my nuts, walking around wet?” He replied, “No, I fell asleep on the landing docks.” old stomping grounds. I went by the Across the street from the Blanchet Blanchet House. It was still there, and still House is a huge, old, abandoned warehouse. the same. Across the street was thé Sometimes they would turn the sprinkler warehouse, and they were renovating it. My system on the homeless as they were heart started beating quickly. I thought to ’ sleeping on the -docks. What a rude myself, Wow, did somebody hear about bur awakening. plans to make thé warehouse into a shelter? One morning, a friend asked if I’d pitch in I kneW it wasn’t any of my friends^ because 8 activist a n d homeless advocate. H e is also a vendor with Street Roots a n d a regular conributor to the newspaper. H is street nam e is The Wanderer they’re all dead. Happy and excited, I looked at the warehouse building and smiled. Some time later, I found out it was going to be an office building. My heart sank. Then I told myself it was just one of those days. Now I hear Commissioner Fish is going to start construction on the Resource Access Center. The RAC building is going to have affordable housing, a homeless shelter, support services, and a day shelter for homeless people. This is a great start, but' | we need more, like across the river in Northeast', and in Southwest. Homeless people aren’t just downtown. I’m excited about the RAC building, and I know it will help a lot of homeless people. Yet one thought keeps going through my mind. Are there going to be any homeless or low-income people working on the job site? We should e-mail Commissioner Fish to , applaud his creativity and courage on the RAC building, and also encourage him to put homeless and low-income people on the job site. Emptiness By Wesley Hesketh The emptiness of the street Pounding at my' soul Making me only one half Where once I was a whole But in the streets I’m living No one being kind Can’t they understand? What is on my mind? The hunger and the loneliness ' Fill this life of mine As I lie here sleeping People walking by Looking for a handout People never being kind No one to help me up No one gives a try The pain that is in life Never makes its point • Drug-induced this dreaminess I’ll smoke just one more joint But someday I’ll stand up straight L will show them all That my life is not a mess- My happiness does call Now I’mJat the bottom Falling in a pit Now I find that drugs and smoke Is not really it Though I have no money Not even a room they’ll give Nobody really can be with me In this life I live M iß . ADOR C O M M U N IT Y S’ 7« „ Canning jars & equipment, cookware, kitchen tools & appliances Organic cotton «keets, towels, r blankets Natural Kitchen & Home Food dryers 2106 SE D ivision Books on meat-free cooking, gardening & sustainability 503*231*5175 miradorcommttmtystore.com Mon-Sat 10 -6 * Sun 1 1 - 5 Meet Your Local Branch Manager: “C om m unities a reritju st streets a n d build ings, C om m unities are thriving places where cultures, commerce a n d souk grow Juicers stronger together, ” " ■ -M a ry Mary Edmeades . Social impact Banking 503.445.2155 fnedmeades@aibinabank.com EQUAL LENDER At Albina Community Bank the most ordinary financial transaction can have an extraordinary impact OH Our local community. „ , Yous re going to bank somewhere, why not let your banking make a difference in the places where you live and work?
