September 2023 - EDITOR’S NOTE: Heeding the Call of Time
by Bonnie Gregg, Poverty Awareness & Communication Team and member of Madeleine Catholic Parish
It is said that to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, During the past seven years from May 2016 until September 2023 I have made it my purpose to prepare articles for the Interfaith Alliance Newsletter, spending hours in the process, generally a work of love, as together we have learned about poverty in Portland, and the Interfaith Alliance has expanded its role in the community,
Years ago, in a galaxy now far away, as a school reporter, I enjoyed interviewing Nat King Cole and Stan Kenton, among other celebrities as well as the Ambassador to Thailand and city officials. I eventually served as school newspaper editor. What fun! However, I never became a journalist. Instead, I wrote manuals, and other materials, including a building newsletter as part of my job as Special Projects Coordinator for the Portland Public Schools Department of Special Education.
It wasn’t until I walked on the streets of downtown Portland researching articles for the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty that writing, again for me, became a meaningful enterprise.
A few years back, I remember going downtown to N.W. 2nd in the early hours of the morning just as Street Roots newspapers were being unloaded from a truck. I stood among the vendors lined up for their weekly bundles of papers. We drank coffee while waiting beside the desk at the front of the office. Everyone was on a first name basis, except, of course, for me. Nevertheless, when I bought a batch of 20 papers, a cheer went up around the room, At $1 an issue, the weekly Street Roots newspaper is a real value. Nationally renowned, its reporters (including some of the vendors) tell the stories both of the homeless and City Hall. If you are concerned about poverty and want to know what’s going on in Portland, read Street Roots.
As they welcomed me. I saw them for who they were, these Street Roots salesmen and women. They may sleep on the streets, but they are also share a community who care for each other and see a better day coming, one where opportunities are measured not by where you’ve been, but by where you’re going, and how hard you’re willing to work to get there. They see a future of possibilities.
I saw that same spirit when I visited Maybelle Center for Community, located at 121 NW 6th. After showing me around the Maybelle Center, the Director put on her coat, and invited me to take a walk with her around the neighborhood. She told me to “Look up. See all those windows. There is a pair of eyes looking down from each one. These are the people we serve, the lost and the lonely. Once a month,” she said, “we send teams of nurses and volunteers, to find out how they are doing, then follow-up, as necessary. Knowing “someone cares” makes it easier for the residents to leave the building and reach out. Friends are easy to find at the Maybelle, many having shared the same life experiences. When holidays come round, instead of staring down upon the street, they are able to join friends at the Maybelle community. A variety of activities there give meaning to their lives. Mother Teresa said, “Loneliness is the worst kind of poverty.” At the Maybelle Center for Community, no one is alone.
As we walked around the neighborhood, we passed by people talking to themselves, but also to others sitting on curbsides or in doorways, everyone breathing deep of the fresh morning air. We met ”the Shoeman” who sells used shoes on the corner. From a car window, it all looks a bit bleak. But walking down the sidewalk, the view changes. Good things are happening.
We grabbed a cup of coffee at the Sisters of the Road Café and met some of the locals. Each of them tried to impress us with the fact they were not “just homeless.” It wasn’t always like this, you know. They had jobs, families, and houses. Just made a bad turn, Like the Street Root Vendors, they had hope! Just one right break, and it could all turn around, or at least get better They exchanged smiles with the Maybelle Center’s Director.
On the darkest day, hope still lights the way. Of course, hope is helped when there are organizations like Street Roots, Maybelle Center for Community, Blanchet House, Portland Rescue Mission, Central City Concern, Night Watch, and others willing to offer a ”nonjudgmental hand up,” Expressing love through the humblest of actions can turn lives around, including our own.
In recent years, I have relied less upon personal interviews, and more upon the expert journalists of OPB, Blanchet House, Street Roots, government offices, and others to provide the basis of Alliance news stories. We may not be in Street Roots league, but we do our best to make every story help better our understanding of poverty in Portland and be consistent with the mission of the Interfaith Alliance.
This fall, as the Interfaith Alliance begins a 2023-24 season, under new leadership, I believe it is time for me to heed the call of time and step aside, too, particularly as I am in the midst of selling my house of 60 years and moving to a retirement home in Happy Valley. Therefore, effective this issue, I am resigning as Newsletter Editor and member of the Poverty and Communication Action Team. I have had my say. Now it is time for someone else to have theirs. Maybe you!
This could be your opportunity to draw upon your experience and help set communication goals for the Alliance. Hopefully, you are better able to research articles on the streets of downtown Portland than I am now able to do. Editing a newsletter requires some level of journalism or writing skills. Because there is not always agreement on creative thought, newsletters may have many contributors, but usually only one editor. Like a pot of soup, too many cooks spoil the broth.
Fortunately, the Interfaith Alliance is rich in talent, and very particular about journalistic endeavors. Therefore, I trust all will be well. Happy reading! Bonnie Gregg