Ongoing efforts to curb camping reveal humanitarian side
Couple gets new start thanks to outreach program
“Northwest 16th Avenue between Glisan and Flanders streets has never looked worse,” wrote John Hollister in an email to the NW Examiner late last month. “This is an absolute disgrace.
“Two years ago this area looked like a park with zero tents and a simple two-strand wire fence with a sign asking people to please not enter the area,” he continued. “The fence was removed by ODOT (Oregon Department of Transportation) because they considered it too dangerous: Now look at it.”
Hollister helped lead Pearl volunteers in a 2022 campaign to clean up freeway medians on both sides of Interstate 405. After campers were persuaded to accept services or at least move along, the tents and refuse were removed and bark chips were spread in preparation for planting of ground cover. ODOT removed the unauthorized fencing, which it deemed a safety hazard.
“The government at all levels seems to continuously let the public down in these crisis situations,” Hollister wrote.
Hours after his disheartened email, he sent an update:
Now for the rest of the story. Before I went out to take these pictures today, I called the Northwest Community Conservancy hotline and asked for humanitarian help with this horrible situation. Within 20 minutes, Leif Spencer from the nonprofit Loving One Another, who works with NWCC, was there. Spencer acted quickly by approaching a large green tent.
Spencer met Kristen and Joshua, who are both battling fentanyl addiction. They were very afraid, hungry and feeling hopeless. Spencer immediately "met them where they were at” without judgment and began developing a relationship of trust.
He found out that they both wanted to live sober but didn’t know how to do it. They were afraid of detox withdrawals. Spencer went to work to find them medical detox resources, and he hopes to have them inside and safe by tomorrow or Friday (Jan. 26) at the latest.
Spencer wasn’t done! They were both starving, and Spencer went and talked to the general manager of Star Pizza, Will Carrell, who supported his efforts and gladly donated a pepperoni deep dish for the cause.
Spencer delivered the pizza to Kristen and Joshua, who were very appreciative, hopeful and looking forward to taking the next steps toward living a full life.
Spencer will be back here tomorrow to help others on this block and help clean up all the trash. Residents working with NWCC, LOA and Star Pizza. It takes a village!