The Advocate, Issue 11, Dec. 9, 2011

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A closer look into Japanese Club activities and focus

December 9, 2011

Jazz Band Director Susie Jones retires after 13 years

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advocate the

Men’s basketball starts strong at tournament Volume 47, Issue 11

www.Advocate-Online.net

On Campus Feature

walking in the shoes of the

HOMELESS Every urban city in America experiences homelessness, and Portland is no exception. Students from the Mental Health and Human Services program did a 24-hour immersion to experience life on the streets. They explored social services, discussed homelessness, and connected with a homeless couple. Students explore social services around Portland during a 24-hour homeless immersion program through JOIN by Yuca Kosugi The Advocate

Five students in the Mental Health and Human Services (MHHS) program at MHCC and a reporter from The Advocate experienced 24-hour homeless immersion Dec. 2-3, hosted by JOIN, a social service day center in Northeast Portland. Students gathered around 7:30 p.m. Friday at the JOIN center on Northeast 81st and Glisan. That night the students discussed what homelessness is and what it means to them, and then went to sleep around 11 p.m. in the center. The day starts dark and early at 5:20 a.m. as the six students awake in their sleeping bag on the hardwood floor of the family room at the JOIN day center. JOIN worker Joe Clark hands each of the students three TriMet tickets for the day before they head out. The temperature was near freezing as the students left JOIN and crossed the bridge over I-84 to get to the Northeast 82nd Avenue MAX station. “Remember that many of the homeless people out there did not have the luxury of sleeping inside,” said Clark, as the students shiver in the frigid morning. Many homeless people cannot afford to buy a ticket to ride the MAX either, he added, and they take a risk of getting caught and facing a fine which they would not be able to pay. But if they don’t ride the train, they will not be able to eat breakfast. From there, the students rode on the red line train heading

Mt. Hood Community College

west and got off at the Old Town/Chinatown station. Then it was another brisk walk to Blanchet House on Northwest Glisan Street and 4th Avenue. By the time they arrived around 6:20 a.m., there was already a line of people wrapping around the first corner of the building. Breakfast is served from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. and there is a Blanchet volunteer who stands outside the door to regulate the number of people entering as spots open up inside. Inside, people sit four to a table, with five at one table, for a total of 41 available seats at any given time. Once one is seated, a volunteer gives each person a plate of food. When finished eating, they may go back outside, wait in line and then come in and eat again. Clark had planned to have the group volunteer in the morning, but a La Salle High School volunteer group had already signed up to work that morning. After the students finished eating, they waited outside for Larry Bishop, an ex-homeless person who JOIN found housing for six years ago. During the wait, a homeless man was untying his cart from a pole when MHCC student Bill Boyd noticed that the man had dropped an orange under his cart. “Sir, I think you dropped your orange under your cart,” Boyd said politely. But the man gave no indication that he heard, so MHHS club president Geri Criss stepped in and tried to help him out. “I think he thought I was trying to steal his cart,” she recalled later. But she only tried to get the orange from under the cart, when it seemed like the man became upset and tried to swing his cart at her in jerking motions. He hurriedly fumbled to untie the cart as he mumbled and shouted obscenities to her and the people around, as another homeless man got in between them and said apologetically to

see Services page 7

Photo by Yuca Kosugi/The Advocate

Larry Bishop has been helping JOIN by giving tours of social services in Portland to immersion groups.

Homeless statistics on the West Coast King County (Seattle)

2010: 8,937

Multnomah County (Portland)

2011: 4,655

San Francisco

2011: 6,455 Homeless rates as defined by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which includes the literally homeless as well as those sleeping in transitional housing for the homeless. Sources from: Portrland Housing Bureau, King County Coalition to End Homelessness, and Applied Survey Research

Gresham, Oregon


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