Poverty is tenacious. Homeless people suffer repeated and numerous set-backs as a consequence of years of bad decisions and circumstances outside their control. The homeless move in and out-of-state, have piles of debt that they can’t hope to repay, and face obstacles due to drug and alcohol abuse. Sadly, some families just can’t be helped. These observations were made by today’s speaker and fellow Rotarian, Jack Schwab, the executive director of the Good Neighbor Center in Tigard.
The GNC is an emergency shelter with nine units. It houses homeless families for up to six weeks, provides them with referrals to other social agencies, and hosts classes for children and adults. So far this fiscal year, the Center has sheltered 90 families including 135 adults and 190 children.
In the last ten years, the number of homeless children in Oregon public schools has doubled. Beaverton has the most homeless children in its school district. These children suffer from poor nutrition and a lack of education; they simply move around too much to receive adequate, consistent care and instruction. They are nine times more likely to repeat a grade at school, four times more likely to drop out, and only one-third read at grade level.
“The world shrinks when you’re homeless,” Jack observes. Children without homes become invisible; they don’t have friends and they don’t go on play dates or trips to the mall. Their families are too busy worrying about where to sleep and what to eat on a given day. In addition to providing three square meals each day and everything from bedding to toilet paper, the GNC–in cooperation with the Tigard-Tualatin School District—runs a ten-week, all-day summer school program for resident children. Kids get to go on field trips to places like OMSI. They get instruction in subjects like reading and math in an effort to get them back on track for the next school year. They get to play outside on a playground built by Rotarians.
Jack has been the executive director of the Good Neighbor Center since the fall of 2011. He will retire at the end of this fiscal year in June, but before taking his leave he wants to complete one last, big, important project. His swan song will be a 375 SF addition to the front of the GNC building to increase the size of the multi-purpose room that is currently used for everything from storing supplies and donations to hosting classes. Jack remembers the first time he visited the center in 2011; “I was in shock at the amount of clutter in the too-small space,” he remarked. Now there’s a chance to do something about it, thanks to help from the Portland Home Builders Association Foundation that has chosen the GNC as one of its 2017 projects. Engineering and design drawings are in progress at the time of this writing, and work on the project is expected to begin sometime in February. Completion of the addition is estimated in May, a mere month before Jack’s retirement. The total cost will be around $125,000 and the center has funds in place to make it happen. Still, Jack wants to raise $50,000 to replenish the GNC coffers before he says goodbye at the end of June. Naming opportunities are available.
For more information about the Good Neighbor Center, including volunteer opportunities, visit www.goodneighborcenter.org.