At our May meeting we were joined by representatives from the City of Portland and Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services and shelter operator Human Solutions to discuss the new family shelter, Lilac Meadows, which is being opened at the Briarwood Suites on SE Powell Blvd and SE 79th Ave. The facility will house 40 families and up to 120 children. See our meeting minutes for a summary of the discussion.
In our recent June meeting, we discussed two topics related to welcoming the families of Lilac Meadows to their new neighborhood:
- Crosswalk at Powell and 79th – the project is funded but seems to be delayed. This would be a critical facility to help the families navigate the neighborhood.
- Welcoming Activities – when asked what the Foster-Powell neighborhood could do to welcome the families, Human Solutions suggested volunteers cooking meals. Their website lists other ways to offer help (see below).
Crosswalk
Portland Bureau of Transportation has plans to add crosswalks to Powell Blvd, including one at 79th Ave. However it seems the construction is delayed, possibly until 2020. Alida Cantor, a concerned Foster-Powell neighbor, is leading the effort to connect with PBOT and other responsible entities to advocate for expediting this project. The safety of the 40 families living at Lilac Meadows would be improved with the lighted crossing and pedestrian refuge island. If needed, we may be reaching out to our Foster-Powell community for help in advocating to PBOT to get this crossing built sooner.
Welcoming Activities
The following is from the Lilac Meadows information page:
How can you help?
Our emergency shelter programs are actively supported by community members – in fact, we couldn’t do what we do without you! If you’d like to be part of this exciting opening and ongoing family program, here are our top needs at the moment (stay tuned, needs change over time!):
Make a gift to our fundraising campaign! We are working hard to raise $50,000 for this new location to complement County funding. Human Solutions is responsible for on-site programming for kids, three meals/day for all residents, staff training, garden beds, and more. Click here to be part of getting this amazing new space off the ground!
Make & serve meals. Human Solutions prides itself on providing nutritious meals for shelter residents three times a day plus an after-school snack for kids. Our amazing Volunteer and Donations Coordinator Christina Newcomb is the right person to contact to learn more and sign up; reach her at 503.278.1637 or volunteer@humansolutions.org.Lilac Meadows Family Shelter, Human Solutions
Shop our Amazon Wish List. This has got to be the most effective way to donate exactly what we need! Shelter staff maintain this Wish List so you know you are donating exactly what is needed. Check it out and send what feels right to you. We’ll put it all to good use!
If you have an interest in organizing neighbors to make and serve meals, please contact us and we will support you in those efforts!
News Coverage
Here are articles that have been published about Lilac Meadows. If you are aware of any others, please let us know in the comments below and we’ll update this list, as appropriate:
I am tired of being harassed by staff. My girlfriend had a vape pen I. Her hand a tobacco one and after receiving a write up the one staff member and Maintenance guy comes and excludes my family and I for 24 hours. Funny how they can write you up then take the write up back at their convenience and somehow a vape turned into the room smelling like smoke. Coming from someone who smokes. All about accountability maybe the staff should be held accountable for their wrong doings.
We are now excluded indef8nitely because the maintenance guy never put our smoke detector back in. Blamed us for it. Tamara is the most horrible person. They want the people thay need help and are housed there to be accountable but they won’t hold their staff accountable. I am opening a lawsuit on this property. They have violated my civil rights on so many levels. Singling us out because I have a job and they don’t think we needed to be there. They have made us quarantine because of.covid twice which 211 was supposed to cover the hotel expense and never did so after 2 980 dollar trips we were left pretty broke. This place is hell on earth.