News from the Continuum

Revised: January 2019

By Sarah Owens and Michael Livingston

"Volunteers Count Homeless" (1 Feb 2018, Statesman Journal)

The big story in the continuum this week was, of course, the survey of unsheltered folks in Marion and Polk Counties.

The unsheltered -- those living in places considered unfit for human habitation (like a tent, a shack with no plumbing, a camper with no utilities) -- are a subset of people experiencing homelessness, and reaching them is the most difficult part of conducting the annual Point-in-Time Homeless Count.  So difficult, in fact, that HUD requires that they be counted only ever other year.

Did any of that discourage Santiam Service Integration Coordinator Melissa Baurer from raising her hand when the call went out for volunteers willing to coordinate surveys in their communities?  No, it didn't.

Santiam Canyon Survey Sign Up 11/29/17

Maybe it should have -- but, "I am a competitive person," she once explained, after she shot 3 video-game elk and no cows in 30 seconds, first time out.  "Maybe you have caught on to that.  Child of nine and playing sports gives you that drive."

Melissa didn't care that the community resources are notoriously limited in the Santiam Canyon, or that there had been only one other Canyon survey, back in 2017, with one hub, and this year they were wanting hubs and field teams in  Aumsville, Stayton, Mehama/Lyons, Mill City, Gates and Detroit, on account of the need, and also transportation being what it is up there.  

FF to this week. If you know Melissa, and Melissa's organizing something, chances are she's going to find something for you to do.  So, Tuesday, we were picking up soup and bread for 100 at The Salvation Army and making plans to drive it, along with Jesus Gutierrez (who'd been drafted to replace the flu-stricken Mehama/Lyons hub team leader, who'd been drafted to replace the volunteer from Northwest Human Services who had to cover for sick co-workers), to Stayton to pick up biscuits and gravy for 100 at Roth's no later than 7 the next morning and drop it off per instructions at all the hubs between Stayton and Detroit, before they opened.  Then, she'd have something else for us to do. 

 Hub at the Old Community School, Lyons

KYAC's Ken Cartwright at the Canyon Art Center Hub

Chris Garza at Roth's, filling in for assistant manager Bob Anderson, couldn't have been more helpful or pleased if we'd been taking his biscuits and gravy to a state breakfast at the Governor's mansion.  He even thanked us for letting them participate and said very sincerely to let them know if we needed anything else. 

We were 15 minutes late meeting Troy Gulstrom at the Old Community School in Lyons (went the wrong way on Emma), but he didn't seem to care, greeting us cheerfully and saying he'd got the coffee going. We left Jesus and Troy to get the biscuits and gravy organized, and headed out for the KYAC studio and Canyon Art Center in Mill City.

Ken opened his window to offer words of encouragement as Jenny Kraupa of Bolt Carlisle & Smith, CPAs in Stayton, and Barbara Sanders with the Canyon Closet, gave us several hefty hygiene/clothing kits to take up to the Gates hub.  Although they'd opened at 4:30 am, they'd not yet had any customers.

The china and flatware were set out in the beautiful new Fire Hall in Gates, along with coffee, water and lemonade, thanks to RFPD Chief Gary Swanson, team lead Sara Cromwell (all the way from Wilsonville) and Gates residents Dee Ann Jackson and Carol Cree.  We wanted to stay and chat, but it was 8 am, and we needed to get up to Detroit while the gravy was hot.

We had a little difficulty finding the Detroit hub at 160 Detroit Avenue; however, we eventually spotted team lead Andrew Rice of Easter Seals leaning on the side of the building.  None of his team had arrived yet, but neither had any customers.  He led us around to the entrance at the side of the garage and assured us he could handle things, no problem, so we headed back down the Canyon again, to the Gates Fire Hall, to see how things were going.

Michael and Carol at the Gates Hub

There were still no customers back at the Fire Hall (which turned out to be a good thing, as much of the gear and clothing to be given out had not yet been delivered), so we sat down with Carol for a chat.  She said last year's survey had "opened eyes" to the reality of homelessness within canyon communities.  People like Robert, squeezed out of gainful employment by the growing demands of an electronic age and the intellectual limitations of a traumatic brain injury, who not infrequently is unable to make ends meet. 

At 9:30, a truck with gear and supplies pulled up, and we helped unload food, clothing, tents, tarps, blankets and sleeping bags.

Cassie and Sara unloading at the Gates Hub

Marion & Polk Food Share had donated "shelf-stable" food items.  Since last fall, canyon communities had been collecting clothing and gear for the hubs and handing it over to John Schmiedl (Marion County Emergency Management), and, yesterday, he'd redistributed everything to the hubs.  The truck shipment included items collected/purchased by Beth Hays, Community Resource Trust, with help from the United Way of the Mid-Willamette Valley.

"This is food", Sara said, pointing to the canned soup and granola bars she was arranging on one of her tables.  "That", she said disapprovingly, pointing to the Twinkies and Hostess Cupcakes and other junk food at the end of the table, "is not food."  Sara, who was trained and has worked as a chef, believes everyone deserves to be served tasty, nutritious food.

Surveys, Guides, Releases at the Gates Hub

We left Sara and her team arranging the supplies in a welcoming display (still no customers, despite Carol's FB posts and Ken's announcing on his show that the hub was open for business) and set off to see how things were going at the Mill City hub.  Before we could get there, however, we got a call from Melissa asking us if we'd like to go with her to knock on doors in the nearby trailer park.  She was up at the Fire Hall, and she wanted customers.  

We headed back to the Fire Hall, helped Melissa load up a box with cups of coffee, granola bars, blank surveys, and a few Santiam Canyon Resource Guides, walked over to the park, and started knocking on doors.  A couple of folks said they might come over later.  We walked back to the Fire Hall, wondering where else we might look.

The Chief had stopped by to see how things were going, and offered to take us up Mad Creek Road to talk to a resident who might have seen folks around his place (he hadn't).  On the way there, we stopped to talk to Ray, who was collecting bottles and cans, and invited him down to the Fire Hall for a free lunch.  We tried driving up Rock Creek Road and a few logging roads, but found the most frequently used areas were empty.

Ray and Robert, whom we'd talked to on the way to the trailer park, were at the Fire Hall when we got back.  Shortly thereafter, Keddy Haines, a drug and alcohol counselor who used to work with Melissa at the Salvation Army, arrived with hot lasagna, salad and bread sticks donated by The Olive Garden on Lancaster Drive in Salem.  While we were unloading, Ray came over to Keddy and greeted him warmly, asking how he had been doing.

Meanwhile, Sara and Melissa had been conferring with the other hubs to see how their supplies were holding out.  Team lead Erin Boers (Early Learning Hub) said she could use some sleeping bags and food, so we loaded up food and supplies and headed off to the hub at New Life Foursquare Church in Stayton.

Statyon Hub at the New Life Foursquare Church

Things were much busier at the Church than they were farther up the canyon, perhaps because the Stayton field team had come back in for lunch.  We chatted with team lead Doug Richardson (North Star Industries), Brad Nanke (Santiam Watershed Council), John Schmiedl (Marion County Emergency Management), and  Margo Pabst (Bridgeway's Sandra Bloom House).  Margo had spent two hours surveying an individual with mental health issues, only to find out in the end that she was not homeless.  We later learned the Stayton teams conducted a total of 27 surveys (Detroit 4, Gates 5, Mill City 1, Lyons 10, Aumsville 3).  After a brief visit, we left the bustle to go see how Jesus was doing at the Old Community School in Lyons.

We ran into Melissa in the parking lot.  She'd just finished dropping off more food and supplies.  She said Jesus had gone out with Angie Torres (PH Tech) to try and find customers.  While we were there, Christina Baurer (Linn-Benton-Lincoln ESD) arrived.  Things were quiet at the Canyon Art Center where she'd been all morning (except when she left to make a sign to put out in front of the building to let people know where they were), and Melissa had asked if she would step in for Jesus and help Judy Skinner with the surveys.

Lyons Hub at the Old Community School

Inside, there was just Judy and one customer (said she'd attended the school as an elementary student), so while the customer shopped for what she needed, Michael talked with Christina about her work at "Connections Academy" in Mill City.

Christina said students come to the Academy for all for sorts of reasons.  Some are way ahead of their classmates, and working through the Academy allows them to learn at a faster pace that suits them.  Some are there because they're victims of severe bullying, or their housing situation is unstable for whatever reason, and they're between districts.  The Academy allows students to stay connected to a learning environment despite such challenges.

Michael and Christina at the Lyons Hub

Christina studied community health education and sociology at Western Oregon.  When Michael asked her why she decided to do that kind of work, she said, smiling "Well, when my sister started working for Community Action and [later] Salvation Army, she would have our family volunteer a lot.  And so, when I was in high school, and then college, I would volunteer for different programs."  She then added, "Growing up, our parents taught us to help others and volunteer where we can."

A couple more customers arrived, and Christina went back to work.  We left Lyons, headed to the Canyon Art Center (which we still hadn't managed to visit), until we found out they'd packed it in about an hour early (well, yeah, they'd been open since 4:30 am).  The Aumsville food pantry (which we'd also not visited), Foursquare Church, the Fire Hall and the Community School stayed open, so we're told, until 4 pm (though the packing up probably started earlier) and sent their leftover food and supplies somewhere they could be of good use.  By 4:30 pm, most everyone was headed home.

The unofficial tally for the canyon (there's never an official one) is "around 60."  (That includes Jefferson and Turner.)  We are told that this is about the same number surveyed in 2017.  If you care about such things, that would have been about 20% of all the unsheltered people surveyed last year in Marion County.  As for this year, 453 were surveyed, versus 295 in 2017 and 182 in 2016. 

Through the course of the day, we overheard one or more volunteers saying that conducting the unsheltered survey is important because an accurate survey will bring more resources into the area.

But, we all know that's not really true.

An "accurate survey" only brings more resources into an area if people later come together and lay claim to those resources by organizing effective projects and programs.

Alternatively, you could say that the survey is HUD's way of forcing people to work together on a problem that many don't want to believe exists, if only for one day out of the year.

Whatever HUD's intent, the unsheltered survey brings together people inside and outside of communities; people who care enough to show up and lend a hand to someone they don't know.  What people choose to do with those new relationships is really up to them.  If they choose to do nothing, well, then it's very likely nothing will change.  But, if they choose to ask for help, to learn about the resources that are available to them, and work hard to put them to good use, well, progress is possible.