40th Anniversary Dinner a Huge Success

Transition Projects' 40th Anniversary dinner, held on September 12th, was a smashing success. The Tiffany Center was packed with 250 people to honor 40 years of alleviating homelessness in Portland.

Local band the Usual Suspects performed to the dancing crowd, joined in the second set by guest vocalist Portland City Commissioner Randy Leonard, emcee Portland City Commissioner Nick Fish, and backup vocalists County Commissioners Deborah Kafoury and Judy Shiprack, and Transition Projects' own Executive Director Doreen Binder!

On hand for the festivities were Mayor Sam Adams, former Congresswoman Darlene Hooley, and a host of other dignitaries to help us commemorate 40 years of service. Also in attendance were many current and former staff members, board members, and executive directors, without whom the agency could never have accomplished so much in the past four decades.

The proceeds from the evening will go to support the work of Transition Projects in moving people from homelessness to housing. To make a donation to our work, visit our website at www.tprojects.org.

Where I Slept is now for sale!

Where I Slept: Being Homeless in Portland, a book comprised of images of and comments about homelessness, is now available for purchase. This book confronts homelessness by asking formerly homeless persons a simple question: Where did you sleep? Although we should not have been surprised, we found the replies alarming, jarring and discomforting.

In the spring of 2007, we asked the residents of Transition Projects' shelters to show us the places they slept while living on the streets. Equipped with just disposable cameras and the willingness to show us their truth, they delivered the photographs in this book in a matter of days. The project was intended as a temporary exhibit, but we quickly realized that this project needed to be memorialized for a wider audience. And we heard from the public-even from people who have long been associated with homeless issues-that these photographs tell, in a way that words cannot, about the need for a safe place to sleep for everyone. We determined then that the photos must live on in a permanent form, and so this book was born.

"There's a starkness-a sense of dehumanization and otherworldliness captured by these photographs that expresses the alienation that the chronically homeless feel on a daily basis. The most basic thing we can do to help the homeless is to reach out to them and acknowledge them as fellow human beings. The worst thing we can do is pretend that they don't exist." -Ted Wheeler, Multnomah County Chair

Where I Slept features contributions from:

• Portland Mayor Sam Adams
• Hon. Jeff Cogen
• The Rev. Chuck Currie
• Hon. Nick Fish
• Hon. Deborah Kafoury
• Gretchen Kafoury
• Governor Ted Kulongoski
• Hon. Randy Leonard
• Erik Sten
• Hon. Ted Wheeler
• and many others

Where I Slept can be purchased on our website now at www.tprojects.org.

Help Us Get Ready for Winter:

Annual Coat and Blanket Drive Starting Soon

As the days start getting colder, the time for our annual Coat and Blanket Drive draws near. Each year, we collect thousands of coats and blankets to ensure that none of Portland's homeless men and women needs to suffer from exposure through the cold winter months. 

We will be partnering once more with Windermere Realty's Share the Warmth campaign, providing barrels to each of Windermere's offices to collect these much-needed donations. Windermere's donation drive runs from October 26th through mid-December. We are also looking for other sites to host collection barrels - if you are interested in hosting a barrel this year, let us know!

The Coat and Blanket Drive is a success not only because of our donors, but also because of the dedicated volunteers who "adopt" a collection site and deliver the donations to us. Last year - a year that saw record-breaking snowfall in the Portland metropolitan area - we had over twenty amazing volunteers who braved the weather to collect each site's donations and deliver them to our shelters. This selfless work ensured that throughout those dangerously cold winter months, we had a full supply of coats and blankets to give to the people who needed them the most. We're staring to recruit pick-up volunteers for this year's drive now - let us know if you are interested in being one of them.

We are also participating in the 9th annual Truckload of Coats event, sponsored by KINK FM and Safeway. This one-day donation drive provides local agencies with thousands of winter items to pass on to our clients. This year's Truckload of Coats will be held on Friday, November 13th at two area Safeways - SE39th and Powell Blvd, and the corner of Murray and Cornell in Beaverton. You can bring any donations to that event, and we're also looking for volunteers to help us sort donations at each site.

If you are interested in hosting a barrel or volunteering to adopt an existing site for this year's Coat and Blanket Drive, or would like a list of participating sites to drop off donations at, contact volunteer coordinator Emily Coleman at 503.823.4926 ext. 4, or ecoleman@tprojects.org. Visit www.tprojects.org for a complete list of desired items. You can help us make this year's drive our most successful ever!