Give a Happy Birthday to a hurting person

Many homeless men and women watch their birthday come and go uncelebrated. But thanks to the generosity of Fred Meyer and Air1 and your thoughtfulness, our homeless guests will know they’re not forgotten this year.

On Thursday, March 8, we’ll throw a birthday party complete with gifts, cake, cards and colorful decorations.

You can be a part of our annual Birthday Party for the Homeless when you send a birthday card with an encouraging note to let a hurting person know you care. See the instructions below to send a card through postal mail.

Or create a custom card. Make an online donation here and include your customized birthday card greeting. We’ll print your message on a special card and share it with a homeless man, woman or child at our birthday party.

Send A Card

1. Write a message in a store-bought or homemade card.

2. Please do not include any personal information other than your first name.

3. Enclose your card in the matching envelope, but do not seal it.

4. If you like, include a donation to Portland Rescue Mission. Just $1.88 provides a hot, nutritious meal to a hurting person in need.

5. Place the card and matching envelope in a larger envelope and mail by March 1 to:

Birthday for Homeless
Portland Rescue Mission
P.O. Box 3713
Portland, OR 97208-3713

For additional information, contact Brian Merrell at 503-906-7799 or brianm@pdxmission.org

Items to Include:

A typical Care Kit consists of a watertight gallon-size zipper lock plastic bag filled with items like:

NOTE:

When you give your Care Kits away…

Photo: Saint Andre Bessette Catholic Church

From Oregonlive.com:

Many in the Portland faith community believe it’s their core duty to help the destitute, and they don’t think their congregations are doing enough. At the same time, the prospect of doing more flummoxes them.

Paul Schroeder understands the dynamic that freezes churches in place. As coordinator of the New City Initiative, put together by the nonprofit JOIN, he’s working to reassure congregations: Yes, it’s possible to gently move forward. Yes, you can step up your commitment to house the homeless without getting in over your head.

Schroeder’s “ask” is not a small one. A church or several churches together agree to furnish $2,400 — or $800 a month for three months — toward rent and utilities for a homeless family. Human Solutions matches that amount, covering another three months of the family’s bills.

The money covers basics, but the church’s commitment is not only financial. The church must also agree to send a core group of three to five volunteers to a special training; help the homeless family move in; celebrate with a welcome party and some food and household items; then keep in touch and provide some emotional support for a few months.

>> Read more…

Steve Stratos is the vice president of business development for Qmedtrix, a senior consultant for Wellspring Group, an executive coach and teacher of executive coaching at Western Seminary. He has a doctorate degree from Western Seminary in Leadership Development. Stratos and his wife Leslie have four children: Jesse, Charity, Jasmine and Jamiel. Steve and his wife attend Imago Dei Community.

Stratos has been a dedicated volunteer for Portland Rescue Mission for the past five years. He cooks and serves meals for homeless guests, teaches classes to recovery program residents, and mentors men committed to changing their lives.

“Steve’s leadership and communication skills are a tremendous asset to our board. We are blessed to have him,” says Executive Director Eric Bauer.

How many students in Portland’s school district are homeless?

Answer in the embedded poll below, or at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/S9TZTSD.

Did the answer surprise you? Talk about it in the comments of this blog post.

Cindy has both housing and employment. Watch Cindy’s video story of hope.

Eddie has a job and is back on his feet. Watch Eddie’s video story of hope.

Thanks for giving all three of these graduates a new chance at a healthy, productive life.

Homelessness ends!

*Name changed for privacy

Standing in line at the store, one of our Outreach Staff thought he recognized the girl at the checkout counter.

He couldn’t quite place how he knew her, but the cashier definitely remembered him.

“You look familiar,” he said. And the she began to tell her story…

Not long ago, she had been homeless for the first time in her life and didn’t know where to get help. She was alone on the streets, and scared.

She had stopped by the Burnside Shelter for a free breakfast. The staff person spent time giving her resources where she could get help.

“Thank you for being there,” the cashier said through tears. Today, she’s off the streets, has her own apartment, and a job.

Homelessness ends. Thanks for your support that makes it happen.

Guards at Willamette National Cemetery. (Photo by DeadManTalking, Flickr)

From OPB News:

Not much is known about Stevenson Roy. He was born 60 years ago in Montgomery, Alabama. He served in Vietnam and was honorably discharged. Dozens of people visited the Willamette National Cemetery on Wednesday to pay their respects to the homeless Portland veteran. Roy lived on the streets of Portland and died last month.

Doug McCleary volunteered to lead the service.

“What went through my mind was, how do we honor this man? How do we honor a man who has like I said, fallen through the cracks, but served his country for 11 years? And served faithfully, and yet nothings doing. So…I brought in a spiritual element as you can tell by talking about Jesus and his love for the poor and the homeless, which I think is appropriate, regardless of anybody’s religious background. But also tried to speak as much as I could about his service,” said McCleary.

Roy’s funeral was organized by the ‘Dignity Memorial’ network of funeral homes. Nationwide, it was the group’s one thousandth such service. The network estimates 67,000 veterans are homeless in the U.S. on any given night.

Paige’s Story of Hope on YouTube

A few months later, Paige was gang raped at a high-school party. “I suddenly found myself really, really angry toward God. He was supposed to protect me. Why would he let these things happen to me?”

Her family moved from Portland to St. Helens, and Paige’s new friends introduced her to marijuana. “I shut down, then started drinking, then cocaine. The next thing I knew, I was a full-blown addict, with heroin and meth.”

“I didn’t think God cared…no one else cared… why should I? I couldn’t quit, and it just got worse and worse — a vicious cycle.”

Paige has been in our New Life Recovery Ministry for a year. She is well on the path toward healing and a newfound personal relationship with Jesus who does care. “And now I care,” she says, “about myself, and others. There’s hope.”

Help us change more lives. Donate online or call 503-MISSION (647-7466).

A recent article by StreetRoots highlights:

From the StreetRoots blog: “A long way from home: Soldiers return from the battlefields”

Ryan McNabb was a medic in the Marine Corps for six years. He deployed twice to Iraq and worked on the front lines, experiencing, he says, what you’d expect to experience on a battlefield. He returned home in February 2006.

A few months later, he got in a fight and assaulted two police officers. He chalked it up to normal drunken sailor stuff — just blowing off steam.

When he blacked out in rage, while driving 65 miles per hour with his wife and five-month old son in the back seat, he realized it wasn’t normal any more.

“I know I’m an intelligent human being. I know why babies cry, and they’re trying to inform me of something,” McNabb said. “But with PTSD, I don’t like large sharp sounds. It reminds me of gunshots and explosions. My son had wet himself. He started to cry. I was driving. While he’s screaming at the back of my head, he’s screaming at my soul, which set me off. So I start screaming at my wife, while going 65 miles per hour down the freeway. She shouts back at me. I rip the rearview mirror off and threw it at the floorboard. I grabbed the GPS and threw it at the windshield and it spiderwebbed going 65 mph with my wife and child in back seat. I blacked out in rage. I don’t remember pulling to the side of the road at all.”

>> Read the full article