503-654-1705 office@stpaulsumc.us

Another meeting of your housing research team has contributed to enlarging our understanding and expanding our pool of options. We came away with a deeper understanding of the need and the many options for solutions. In the future, our church will decide which options we will use to assist our chosen segment of the unhoused population. In our continuing quest to gather information, this team plans to take some field trips in July and August to explore existing solutions in the area.

This second meeting resulted in more organization, detailed forecasting, and the definition of roles of each team member. We are organized to meet at least monthly, and plan to formulate plans of action into 2024 at our July meeting, which will include dating and planning our second all church gathering relating to the unhoused problem. Our roles, often obvious or self assigned, are; Chairperson – Dave Smith, Facilitator – Diane Rheos, Governance Board Liaison – Ervin Miller, Communications – Bonnie and Mike Smiley, Organizer/Administrator – Linda Cook, Clackamas Land, and Housing Representative – Anna Hoesly, Dream Development Representative – Steve McMurtry, Spiritual Leadership – Courtney McHill, Questions Researcher – All Team Members.

At this time, your part in this process would be to have conversations with each other to come up with ideas and questions for us to research. This will give us lead time to find the answers and consolidate any input we get for future all church conversations.

Our team’s unofficial motto is: caution, care and inclusion. With this in mind, please stay in contact with us so that we can answer any of your questions or research to find that answer. This is, and will be, a whole church project with everyone’s input thoughtfully considered.