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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (July 8, 2011)
10 Street roots ¿id mTiTra July 8, 2011 Why I am walking with the homeless BY V IR G INIA PICKLES JONES C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T | ^there are walks and races to cure breast cancer and diabetes. There are even walks to raise money for homeless shelters, but I don’t know of any walks to draw attention to the connection between abuse and homelessness. So I decided to create one. My journey to this place has been a long one. I was sexually abused as a child and raped on a date as a young adult, but I did not come to terms with these events until I was in my 40s. In 2007, together with other suryivors of abuse and our supporters, I formed a group to support survivors and to bring them together with other members of the community for mutual healing and understanding. We called the group Compassionate Gathering. Our first public program was to screen a documentary on • abuse at the Hollywood Theater. To advertise the screening, I walked around downtown Portland posting flyers. I encountered four men selling the Street Roots newspapers written by and advocating for the homeless. I worked with survivors of child abuse who struggled with homelessness, so I offered my flyers to these men. Two of them revealed that they were child sex abuse survivors. One man had been abused in many of the series of foster homes he shuffled through as a child. These two men lived long struggles with the symptoms of abuse - depression, low self esteem, difficulties maintaining jobs and relationships, and drug and alcohol addiction. Both of these men were struggling to rebuild their lives. Both were receiving treatment for addictions. Both lived in shelters at night and sold Street Roots during the day in an effort to take a step towards employme-nt, , . ■Neither o f t h e s e screening of the documentary, but a woman came who was the mother of two adults who were child sex abuse victims. She brimmed over with energy and ideas. In 2008, she asked for my help walking from Ashland to Portland. She wanted to raise awareness about abuse by getting the attention of as many people as possible. We -A. My first “Walk with the Homeless” took wore t-shirts that proclaimed our issue and place late on an August afternoon in the what we were doing: “Help Stop Child Sex Abuse” and “Walk Across Oregon”. summer of 2010.1 walked alone without an Homeless survivors of abuse kept itinerary or publicity through Waterfront appearing along the way.... the street kid in Park to downtown Portland, carrying with Eugene, the recovering heroin addict in me a large bag of leftover t-shirts from the Portland.... 2008 and 2009 Walks. On a street comer in In the summer of 2009, the mother downtown Portland, I met a man seated on stepped back, but I continued walking the sidewalk holding a sign that declared his across Oregon to end status as a homeless abuse and heal the Vietnam vet My wounds. As a single heart is open, so I sat mother of two school down beside him and aged children, I could "Are you a veteran too?" I offered him a t-shirt not walk every step As I listened to his asked. of the way as the story, a young man other mother did. So The young man faced me but walked up and I walked through dropped some change backed up to the edge of the into the vet’s cup. towns and on scenic street. trails with my “I might be sitting children, friends, and, beside you soon,” the "Yes," he said. occasionally, staff and young man said to volunteers from other "Which war?" I asked. the older one. not-for-profits working “Are you a veteran "The one that is doing too?” I asked. on child abuse or The young man domestic violence. nobody any good," he faced me but backed We started walking in replied as he walked away. up to the edge of the Joseph, Oregon, and paralleled the street. Columbia River, “Yes,” he said. ending our walk by “Which war?” I asked. the Pacific Ocean near Astoria. “The one that is doing nobody any good,” We encountered many homeless survivors he replied as he walked away. that summer too. Our most significant The young man was on edge, but his encounters took place at the end of our wariness was familiar to me. I’ve journey — in Astoria — where we were joined encountered that same wariness in by the Clatsop County Women’s Resource survivors of abuse. Both survivors and Center. Their group included the residents veterans of combat suffer Post Traumatic of the Center’s shelter for victims of Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD alters brain structure and chemistry, affecting how the domestic violence which also served as a brain processes emotions and memory. shelter for homeless families and adults. Three residents iSome people recover from PTSD with a p p ro a c h e d m e a n d sh a r ed s t o n e s o f [uierap^ancn^meTDiTrmany'never recover: horrendous abuses they suffered as children while we walked along the Columbia River Walk in Astoria. Inspired by all the homeless survivors of abuse I met over the years, I decided to include a “Walk with the Homeless” in the Walk Across Oregon to End Abuse and Heal the Wounds. The symptoms of PTSD include outbursts of anger, chronic depression, anxiety, trouble maintaining jobs and relationships, alcoholism and drug addiction - all things that cause people not to be able to maintain homes to live in.. After chatting with the vets, I rounded Pioneer Square and walked back towards Waterfront Park. A group of fresh faced, young men in dark pants, white shirts, and ties stood on the sidewalk outside the courthouse. They were gathered around a table holding a placard advertising a website - Mormon.org. I looked beyond this group of young men and saw a girl seated on the sidewalk beside a dog, a can, and a sign asking for help. Beyond her sat a young couple with their own can and sign. I sent a mental message to the Mormon missionaries, “Why don’t you proselytize among the poor and the forsaken, the way Jesus did?” The Mormon missionaries did not get my message, so I walked down the block and proselytized my own message - End Abuse, Heal the Wounds. The girl with the dog took a t-shirt and thanked me. The young couple further down the block declined my offer of shirts, but the young woman said, “You’re doing good work.” By that time, two hours had passed, and all but my smallest of t-shirts were gone. “Time to go home; try again next year,” I thought. Now it is next year. I plan to Walk with the Homeless on July 18.1 will start at 9 a.m. by Whole Foods in the Hollywood District, walk down Broadway and NE Multnomah to Lloyd Boulevard and, cross the Steel Bridge to Waterfront Park and downtown Portland. I will be wearing a bright blue t-shfrt that says “Walk Across Oregon” and “Stop Abuse, Heal the Wounds”. I am asking the people of Street Roots newspaper to join me. Can you come too? Will you walk with me to listen to and be present with the homeless? Will you walk with me to share yotir story of abuse and survival so others may know that the homeless are not homeless for trivial reasons? Today, support is being cut in our country for people who are hurting and on the edge. We heed to come together and take up the slack ourselves, support the wounded and vulnerable, and be the change we need in our community. Meet Your Local Branch Manager: “Communities aren't ju s t streets a n d build ings. 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