I hope you are enjoying the spring weather – sunshine, flowers and time outdoors can be great healers. And healing is so needed in our community right now, for all of us in one way or another. So much has happened this year, and in the midst of it all our team has been working hard to identify and meet our community’s needs. Read on for ways to engage and some good news we got recently, too!
YOU’RE INVITED! Show up for community with Human Solutions on May 7th!
Human Solutions is thrilled to share that in a few short weeks we are hosting a virtual gala — There’s No Place Like Home. And we want you to be there!
This past year, many of our homes have served us in new and unpredicted ways: as virtual offices and classrooms, quarantine spaces or places of refuge. But for too many in our community, home is unaffordable, inadequate, out of reach or even a car, tent or friend’s couch. We all know it doesn’t have to be this way, and yet, there it is.
Human Solutions believes that housing is a human right, and our team is working every day to create a more just future where everyone – and we mean everyone – has a place they are proud to call home and the economic agency to pursue their dreams.
Please join us for our virtual gala, There’s No Place Like Home, where you will have the opportunity to support this work directly and be part of something big: investing in a more just future where racial, housing and economic justice are the foundation of everything.
• RSVP + Details: avstream.me/humansolutions
• RSVP by April 15th for a chance to win great door prizes.
• Don’t miss the fun! Raffle | Happy-hour home delivery | Door prizes | Entertainment
• Friday evening, May 7, 2021 @ 5:30 PM – mark your calendar!
PORTLAND CLEAN ENERGY FUND: Human Solutions Proud to be Among First Grantees
You may recall voting for the Portland Clean Energy Fund in 2018. This month, the Portland City Council officially voted to award the first round of grants to 45 local organizations taking climate action throughout the city – including Human Solutions! We’ve been granted $340,000 to create energy-efficiency and renewable-energy improvements to update our Ankeny Woods affordable-housing community in East Portland.
This means that 42 units of deeply affordable housing in East Portland will get upgrades to everything from roofing and insulation to lighting and landscaping. We’ll also be able to perform radon mitigation and make accessibility site upgrades. (For folks interested in the hard data, estimated annual energy savings from the rehab in the first year is 206,461 kWh/yr.) Our housing development project manager for this site says, “Human Solutions is excited to be able to make this investment in the Ankeny Woods apartments through the support of PCEF to preserve deeply affordable housing for years to come. We’ll be able to deliver energy efficiency improvements that help low-income residents maintain housing affordability, while benefitting their health through improved indoor air quality and meeting broader climate objectives.”
Racial, housing and climate justice are deeply intertwined. We’re so proud to be part of change on all three of these fronts.
JOIN US: Don’t miss volunteer orientation on Saturday!
Interested in getting involved? Become a Human Solutions volunteer! This Saturday, April 17th, we’re hosting our quarterly orientation for current and prospective volunteers. It’s a casual time to meet our team, connect with each other, learn about Human Solutions (and our trauma-informed care approach) and find out about upcoming volunteer needs and opportunities. Here are the details:
• WHEN: Saturday, April 17, 9:30 – 10:30 AM
• WHERE: On Zoom, of course! (Click here when the time comes.) Learn to use Zoom here.
• WHY: Because we like connecting with you and it’s a great way to meet others and know what’s going on. And, we figure you might want to build ties with Human Solutions’ broader work in the community – we do a lot!
• WHO: Current, past and prospective volunteers!
• RSVP: Not needed – just show up!
• WIN THE RAFFLE: Anyone who attends is entered to win a lovely bottle of Winderlea wine (if that’s your jam) and a copy of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s book How to Be an Antiracist.
We hope to see you there!
WHAT WE NEED NOW: Food for our emergency shelters
The way we volunteer has changed during the coronavirus pandemic, but the need to cook meals for people accessing our shelters hasn’t. Our drop-off potlucks were born last year when we realized we needed to modify our shelter and volunteering models to protect our staff, residents, friends and neighbors during the pandemic.
Now, instead people cooking in our shelter kitchens, our dedicated volunteers are cooking at home a few times a month – and their meals have been a hit! We’d love to have you or your community group join us. And if cooking isn’t your thing, that’s okay. We host continental breakfasts that require nothing more than picking up prepackaged items and dropping them off. Check our website for details, our calendar and sign-up links.
Want something even easier? Get involved with our canned food drive! We work daily with our awesome shelter kitchen coordinator, Christina, to learn what she needs from the community to make her kitchen sing. Recently she let us know that she is low on the canned foods she uses to prepare meals for the 220 residents at our three shelters. These days this is what she needs:
• Broths: Veggie, Chicken and Beef
• Carrots
• Chili
• Corn
• Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soups
• Crushed Tomatoes
• Fruit
• Green Beans
Questions? Contact Shawna, our volunteer coordinator, at 503.278.1637 or volunteer@humansolutions.org. You can deliver directly to any of the shelters (all in East Portland and Gresham) by coordinating with her.
Thank you, as always, for your interest in what we’re up to at Human Solutions and your participation in our community. We firmly believe that we all benefit when people connect and support each other across differences and help meet each other’s needs. There’s so much to do – we’re glad to be doing it with you!
