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.
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iJELi
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