The fatigue is strong. I’m sure many of you feel it. We all keep adapting, doing the best we can given new challenges –and the challenges keep coming.
After a year and a half of the pandemic, the COVID-19 Delta variant poses a new threat. At Street Roots, we never lifted our in-office mask restriction, so while we don’t need to change our protocols, we do so with increased concern for everyone’s safety.
While the fires, ice storm and heat dome of the past year were extreme, the new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released Monday indicates that the extreme weather will keep coming. It’s a bleak read indeed. In fact, more extreme heat is forecast this week.
All of this is on top of the fact that addressing homelessness is always very, very difficult. Deep breath. The work demands endurance, and it takes all of us. And one thing that is clear at Street Roots: our community wants to pitch in.
Here are five suggestions:
1 | Volunteer at a cooling station or open one of your own. Multnomah County and the city of Portland have opened 24-hour cooling stations at Arbor Lodge Shelter: (1952 N Lombard St), the Sunrise Center (18901 E Burnside St.) and the Portland Building (1120 SW 5th Ave, Portland) as well as a day cooling shelter at the Charles Jordan Community Center (9009 North Foss Ave). Sign up to volunteer at the Charles Jordan Center or the Portland Building. Consider, too, opening up your own space.
2 | Check in on your neighbors. Mutual aid is a tremendous help in the pandemic and weather disasters. Bring your unhoused neighbors ice, mist spray bottles, buckets, rags, water, sunscreen, Rose City Resource guides (always available at our office to handout). Bring information on the cooling shelters available. Remember your housed neighbors too. During the June heat dome, most people died alone, indoors and without air conditioning. If you know people who are isolated and alone, check in on them.
3 | Learn the signs of heat exhaustion. Multnomah County has put together this guide to heat-related illnesses. During the heat dome, some Street Roots ambassadors recognized the signs of heat exhaustion and were able to summon paramedics for some people camping in Old Town. We all need to look out for each other.
4 | Dig into the digital Rose City Resource to learn more about organizations that work with people experiencing homelessness and poverty. This is a great way to know area resources and target your donations. If you are interested in donating clothes for hot weather, for example, check out the organizations that give out clothing.
5 | Support Street Roots vendors. It’s hard out there! Now you can pay your Street Rots vendor using Venmo (@StreetRoots) – and in bouts of severe weather when you can’t get to your vendor, you can still send them money through Venmo. They need extra support in severe weather when it's not safe for them to be out selling.
Thank you, Street Roots supporters!
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August 11, 2021 at 10:00AM
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Five ways to help out in the heat - Street Roots News
"help" - Google News
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