LET’S TALK
This title was the theme for our latest meeting of the St. Paul’s Housing Research Team. We spent the majority of our meeting time investigating techniques to communicate with church and community, so as to ascertain the concerns and hopes for our future housing project. The emphasis was on one-to-one conversations to gather as much information as we can. Plans were also made to heighten awareness of the need, potential and obstacles we need to consider.
Our next meeting will be August 18 during which we will tour the housing project called Bridge Meadows in north Portland. Their website: bridgemeadows.org describes their mission and purpose this way: “Bridge Meadows creates and inspires intergenerational communities enriching the well-being of children, families, and elders to provide permanency of home and family for children and youth who have been impacted by foster care.” Check out their website to see what this community offers. It is one of many successfully functioning, alternative housing opportunities in the metropolitan area and your team hopes to investigate many of these in the future to help our church collectively decide on our final project.
Further in the future, Sunday, September 10, will mark the beginning of the ‘Season of Questions’. This is the label we are giving this portion of our calendar year so that we can gather all of the questions that anyone has for us to research and answer. This is where your involvement is needed. It will be easy to get your questions and concerns to us in a variety of ways. You can use email, several team members are listed in the church directory, you can jot a note on a 3 x 5 card and hand it to one of us, you can sit with us at coffee hour and give us your opinion or, who knows, we may have a one-on-one with you and be able to get all of the details.
We will proceed with caution, care and inclusion while hoping to hear from you in the future.
( August 2023 Epistle)