Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current, July 28, 2017, Page 6, Image 6

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'call Portland my best of times, my worst
of times,” said Loretta H.
Loretta and her husband, Andy,
recently lost their jobs as co-managers at a
local apartment complex. Loretta said she
spoke up about rent and repair issues for
tenants and was fired. As a result, they also
lost the housing that came with the job.
“I was really pushing, and I just didn’t
want to work there,” Loretta said. "I had
been talking to Andy for months about it.
The timing was unfortunate.”
She recalled the famous quote: “The only
thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for
good men to do nothing.”
Loretta said she and Andy will have
separate jobs in the future: “Next time, let’s
not put all our eggs in one basket, and Andy
agreed. Being co-managers where both our
jobs are tied into our housing - it’s not a
good scenario.”
For the moment, Loretta, Andy and their
two cats are staying at nearby rest stops.
They’re preparing to travel to Southern
California and connect with family and
friends.
In the past, Andy was an engineer,
Street Roots • July 28-August 3, 2017
they don’t necessarily show up in the
statistics. So I think that the homeless are
an even bigger situation than we even
realize.”
Loretta also said health care is a big
worry. Andy has health issues and received
good health care in Oregon. They don’t
know if they’ll find the same care in
California, even though that’s where their
family support system lies.
“I would really like to talk to the
president about that,” Loretta said. “This is
a big, big deal. We should have health care
like other nations. We should have health
care that you can transfer over a state line.”
Loretta said this has also been the best of
times when she reflects on the kindness she
has experienced in Portland.
“It’s really the first time that I’ve been on
the receiving end,” she said. “In the past,
we had a food pantry at one
of our
churches, and I was
involved in that. So to
be on the receiving
end is humbling.
Loretta found
clothes and
jj
other services
at Rose
1 h
Haven, a
nonprofit
that provides support to women
experiencing loss of home, abuse or other
life challenges.
At Street Roots, Loretta said, she found
“a lifeline and a love-line.”
“Street Roots was the ray of hope for us,”
she said. “The kindness that I see, watching
how Cole and the others handle the office -
just so compassionate and yet not wanting
people to stay in their mess either. I
definitely saw the same with Rose Haven.”
While Loretta has a lot on her plate, she
still finds ways to pass on that kindness.
She said she gives “compliments from
the heart. Every day, I always try to say
something to make someone feel good. So I
usually try to find the ones who look like
they could use a word of encouragement.”
Uprooting from Portland has been hard,
but Loretta is looking forward to
reconnecting with family in California and
attending her 40th high school reunion near
Los Angeles, where an old classmate, Kevin
Spacey, might make an appearance.
“A sermon I heard long ago went: ‘If
you’re going through hell, keep walking!”
Loretta said with a big laugh.
and Loretta, a nurse by training, raised
th e k id s. W h en A ndy g o t sick , th e y
s p e n t m u c h o f t h e i r s a v in g s o n
alternative treatments.
We just spent a few days on the
coast, which was cooler, right?”
she said. “So we stayed at some
rest stops there. There are a lot of
people that are doing this, and
Sheeptoast
b y E liz a b e th C o n s id in e
In the special investigation of Oregon’s
cattle and dairy industries, “The true cost of
cattle, (Street Roots, July 21) we indicated
that grass-fed cattle emit three times the
methane of grain fed cattle. It has since
been brought to our attention that the study
we (and several experts we spoke with)
were relying on was co-authored by an
employee of a company that sells
chemicals to confined animal feeding
operations. In reality, research in this area
has found grain-fed livestock produce
anywhere from 38 percent to 70 percent
less methane than grass fed livestock
depending on the study. We regret the
error.
Street Roots strives for accuracy. However
we are also human. To report a correction,’
please contact Joanne Zuhl at joanne@
streetroots.org.