Peninsula Crossing Trail Cleanup
Donation protected
We need to raise some money for resources to clean up the Peninsula Crossing Trail from Willamette to Lombard to Columbia and to help the homeless transition to more sustainable housing.
The city, park service, and BNSF are unable or unwilling to provide the necessary resources to help the homeless and stop the devastation of the local environment.
Our initial needs are garbage bags, plastic gloves, and fees to transport and dump garbage. Once homeless show they can be responsible for their space then we can look at helping them with resources to transition out of a tent which must suck.
I think we all agree homeless are not bad people, not all drug addicts, and that this problem is societal. I'm not sure how helping them will work but we must try.
Update: I started this program by walking up and down the Peninsula Crossing Trail picking up trash. But it has grown into so much more. We have had multiple volunteers help and raised almost $1000 plus a bunch of supplies. We have had dozens of local neighbors donate space in their garbage and recycling cans, hauled thousands of pounds of garbage out of the park/trail area, cleaned up 100s of used needles, donated hundreds of dollars of food/supplies/socks, cleared out abandoned tents, painted over grafitti, returned dozens of shopping carts, and spread straw throughout the camp to help with the mud the homeless are living in. We have built relationships with other local volunteer groups and with the campers. We are constantly learning more and more about why they are there, what their biggest challenges are, and how to encourage them to move on to a better situation.
The city, park service, and BNSF are unable or unwilling to provide the necessary resources to help the homeless and stop the devastation of the local environment.
Our initial needs are garbage bags, plastic gloves, and fees to transport and dump garbage. Once homeless show they can be responsible for their space then we can look at helping them with resources to transition out of a tent which must suck.
I think we all agree homeless are not bad people, not all drug addicts, and that this problem is societal. I'm not sure how helping them will work but we must try.
Update: I started this program by walking up and down the Peninsula Crossing Trail picking up trash. But it has grown into so much more. We have had multiple volunteers help and raised almost $1000 plus a bunch of supplies. We have had dozens of local neighbors donate space in their garbage and recycling cans, hauled thousands of pounds of garbage out of the park/trail area, cleaned up 100s of used needles, donated hundreds of dollars of food/supplies/socks, cleared out abandoned tents, painted over grafitti, returned dozens of shopping carts, and spread straw throughout the camp to help with the mud the homeless are living in. We have built relationships with other local volunteer groups and with the campers. We are constantly learning more and more about why they are there, what their biggest challenges are, and how to encourage them to move on to a better situation.
Organizer
Nick Davidson
Organizer
Portland, OR