If you’ve lived in Portland for more than six months, chances
are you will have heard somebody mention Sisters of the Road. Now
here’s why you should give ’em your money.
Sisters, as it’s also known, is more than just a café serving
inexpensive meals to the homeless. Started by idealists in 1979 with
the rare insight to actually ask homeless Portlanders what they needed
before providing it, the Old Town/Chinatown nonprofit has grown into
one of Portland’s best-loved institutions without losing sight of its
guiding intention: to help homeless people without judging them for
their condition, or worse, making them pray about it first.
For many homeless people, basic fellowship is difficult. Sisters
makes it easier: Over 12,000 people eat there each year for just $1.25
a meal, and if they can’t afford to pay, there’s a barter system to
exchange labor for food and keep one’s dignity. There’s no barrier to
entry, as long as you treat others with respect, and you don’t have to
say grace before eating. It’s not uncommon to see folks buying each
other lunch, forming lasting relationships that alleviate the hunger of
isolation, as well as the immediate need to eat.
“I like coming into work every day, because I feel safe,” says
Shorty, who was hired into Sisters’ temporary workers’ pool last year
from its community of customers. “It’s also my first job clean and
sober. I’m a lot more motivated; I’m not worried about the drugs
wearing off. Customers come to me and ask, ‘Where can I get clean?’ and
I tell them.
“Now I spend my check on things I actually enjoy,” she continues,
“such as taking friends out to lunch. And I have a strong community now
that I can be real around if I need to talk to them.”
As well as serving basic needs by providing a safe space, hygiene
supplies, mail and phone services, a children’s area, restrooms, and
on-the-job training in the café, Sisters works to advocate for
its community too. This year, they were one of just two homeless
advocacy groups in the city (along with Street Roots) to oppose
Portland’s controversial sit-lie ordinance. While others hemmed and
hawed and, perhaps, played politics, Sisters co-founder Genny Nelson
and community organizer Patrick Nolen—who was himself homeless in
Portland for eight years—found the voice to tell city council:
“This is just wrong, and we won’t support it.”
Nothing hits the root of society’s homeless problem more powerfully
than challenging stereotypes. This year Sisters published Voices
from the Street, drawn from two-hour interviews conducted with more
than 600 homeless Portlanders—demonstrating that most homeless
people are (shock and horror) on the street for a pretty darned good
reason.
Unlike some nonprofits, Sisters keeps its wages transparent, too.
Its executive director is paid $54,000 a year, and those working in the
café are paid at least $11.68 an hour. Nobody’s exploiting
homelessness at Sisters to buy a BMW, and nobody’s getting ripped off
working there, either.
What’s more, for first-time donors like the Mercury‘s Charity
Auction, there’s a donor-matching program this year—which
means whatever we raise as new donors in this year’s auction will be
automatically doubled, thanks to money from the Collins
Foundation and the Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust. Last year, we
raised $12,500 for Resolutions Northwest. If you give at least that
amount this year? Cha-ching! That will mean double GREAT news for
Sisters. So, get out your checkbook, and give generously!
If you want to know more about Sisters of the Road, or donate your
time, go to sistersoftheroad.org—or head
down there for lunch! Friday is Mexican food day, and Thursday’s
spaghetti is excellent. That’s a damn fine meal at a low price, and
friendship is included at no extra charge.