Union Gospel Mission to Provide Easter Sunday Meals, Gift Baskets

PORTLAND, OR – The Union Gospel Mission's tradition of feeding and assisting Portlanders continues this Easter Sunday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 16 at 15 N.W. Third Ave. in Portland, where Mission volunteers will serve meals and give away Easter gift baskets to the city’s most at-risk population.

Mission organizers said they’re expecting to provide more than 500 meals and gift bags consisting of small throw blankets, flashlights, and dental hygiene products.

"We conducted an informal poll with our homeless guests and they said the gifts they most wanted were small fleece blankets and flashlights," said Lori Quinney, Union Gospel Mission's food services coordinator. "We are hoping the public can help us with this, and the Amazon Wish List makes it easy to directly help a homeless person this Easter."

Also making it easier to provide assistance to the city’s homeless neighbors are the numbers of organizations joining the Mission in helping anyone and everyone who has a need.

As the number of homeless people in the Portland metro region continues to climb so too does the number of volunteers working weekends and holidays in an effort to provide homeless citizens whatever comfort is possible.

"It's pretty obvious to anyone who lives in the city that there is need (for aid)," said Bernadette Gonzales, the Mission's volunteer coordinator, noting the gradual increase of visible homelessness not only in Portland but throughout the metro area.

Seeing homelessness, she told Patch Monday, has seemingly "upped the sense of community" in the region, which is realized through an increased number of volunteers.

"We're starting to see people we'd never seen before get involved and offer their time," Gonzales said. "I really think it's wonderful. We're all in this together."

For the April 16 event the Mission filled its needed number of volunteers easily, Gonzales continued. It's gotten to where she sometimes needs to turn away prospective volunteers until the next event, she said.

"It's a good problem to have," she said, adding that it's encouraging to see people of different faiths and denominations come together for the singular purpose of helping their neighbors survive. "I don't think everyone agrees on how to solve the problem (of homelessness), but more people are wanting to help … It feels like a team. I think it’s a blessing."

To volunteer with the Union Gospel Mission's Portland locations, visit https://ugmportland.org/get-involved/. For a wider variety of volunteer opportunities throughout the metro area, visit https://www.handsonportland.org.

According to the 2016 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this week, Oregon ranks 49th in its ability to house homeless people overnight.

Of Oregon’s 13,000-plus documented homeless, barely more than 5,000 are sheltered by outreach services each night –– leaving 60 percent, or just more than 8,000, unsheltered.

And of the unsheltered people in families with children across the nation, Oregon, California, and Florida accounted for more than half.

Photo Courtesy: Union Gospel Mission