Vida Trout, a longtime supporter of Portland Rescue Mission, turned 102 years old this week! SEE ALSO: Trimet Surprises Vida With “Birthday Bus” Vida has always been very mission-minded, and was actually good friends with the Van Diest family when they founded Portland Rescue Mission in 1949! Vida’s compassion for people in need is evident:…
Read MoreHave homeless people become so invisible we wouldn’t notice our own family members living on the street? In a social experiment done by New York Rescue Mission, several people agreed to pose as homeless men and women sitting on the sidewalk. Then they had their unsuspecting family members walk by them. Check out the video…
Read MoreIt’s pretty safe to assume that everyone has encountered someone on a street corner asking for help. They often ask for money, prompting the thought, “What do I do? I don’t want to give them money, but I don’t have anything else to offer them.” Melody ran into this predicament several months ago. A man…
Read MoreFor the past 20 years, Willie Baronet has stopped his car to ask homeless people on street corners, “Can I buy your sign?” He first asks how much the person wants for the sign, and then negotiates a price. He buys most signs for about $10. After two decades of collecting signs, Baronet has amassed…
Read MoreTo must of us, getting handed $100 would be exciting. To a homeless person, it’s a lifeline. Check out this powerful video from “Give Back Films.” While giving large amounts of money isn’t necessarily the best way to help a person on the street, this example of radical generosity reveals important truths: To someone in…
Read MoreA team from New Seasons Market volunteered last Thursday, cleaning the gardens and planting seeds at Shepherd’s Door, our women’s and children’s ministry. The team consisted of twenty department and store managers from the Seven Corners location. “We are working with our Lend a Hand program in which every New Seasons staff member gets 8…
Read MoreEarlier this month, a team of students from Multnomah University spent the day here at the Mission cleaning, raking, landscaping, organizing, and working hard to keep our facilities running smoothly! Once every spring and fall, the school cancels classes and students help out a local nonprofit or charity with whatever needs they may have. This…
Read MoreThis week’s edition of Mondays at the Mission features Justin from Up And Running Again, an organization that helps rescue missions all over the country create a program for their addiction recovery residents to run a half marathon. Their philosophy is that if a person can train to run a half marathon, then there should…
Read MoreNarayanan Krishnan had a great job. He was an award-winning chef working at a 5-star hotel in Switzerland. But when he returned home to his native India to visit family, what he saw there changed everything. Watch his powerful story brought to you by CNN to see how his care and compassion for…
Read MoreA volunteer team from the Sellwood New Seasons grocery store recently arrived at Shepherd’s Door – our addiction recovery facility for women and children – ready to meet new friends, learn more about what we do, and, of course – get their hands dirty. “Our group was looking for an opportunity to get out into…
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