{"id":24328,"date":"2025-09-24T19:15:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T02:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/?p=24328"},"modified":"2025-12-18T11:00:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T19:00:18","slug":"montavilla-community-in-portland-mourns-unhoused-neighbor-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/montavilla-community-in-portland-mourns-unhoused-neighbor-mary\/","title":{"rendered":"Montavilla community in Portland mourns unhoused neighbor Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor’s Note: Mary’s last name has not been used to protect the privacy of her family and her dignity in death.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday night, the altar at Montavilla United Methodist Church was filled with flowers as the community in this east Portland neighborhood came to honor the life of their dear friend, Mary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary wasn\u2019t a noted community activist, nor was she a political figure or local business owner. She was a mother of three, a grandmother, a recovering addict and she was houseless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late August, she was found deceased in the Oak Street Village pod housing complex on 82nd Street. She was two weeks away from entering stable housing for the first time in many, many years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe had a hard life, and yet Mary was loved,\u201d said Rev. Heather Riggs, pastor of Montavilla UMC. \u201cThe worship table was drowning in flowers. They were flowers from people who didn\u2019t have the money to purchase flowers, yet that was what they felt they could do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary stood maybe 5-feet, 5-inches tall, with fading red hair, a slight build and weathered skin from years of hardened living conditions. She wore colorful dresses and kept her makeup tidy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her appearance might be the face of the ongoing housing crisis, specifically in this neighborhood of Portland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary\u2019s face is also the one of hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone who calls the Montavilla neighborhood home has seen the number of houseless in their neighborhood increase due to many socio-economic factors. For years there have been several day service providers and support groups for folks like Mary, but people still camped in their tents along the neighborhood streets leading to the highly trafficked 82nd Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was never any shelter,\u201d said Rev. Dwight Minnieweather, executive director of Straightway Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some things are changing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straightway is the operator of the Oak Street Station, which opened last spring, with Mary as one of its residences in the 29-unit fenced shelter.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cMary was like a den mother,\u201d Minnieweather said. \u201cEveryone gravitated toward her spirit. Some of our participants knew her from before coming to this shelter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelter, alone, doesn\u2019t solve the houseless crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary had long been involved in Rahab\u2019s Sisters, a non-profit housed at Montavilla UMC that seeks to build community and provide space for women, trans and nonbinary individuals that is safe from the impacts of gender-based discrimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe was one of the core guests of Rahab\u2019s Sisters. She brought joy to so many people,\u201d said executive director Desiree Eden Ocampo. \u201cShe was never at a table alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this line of work, where you\u2019re there to support people living on the margins, success is more than affordable housing, Ocampo said. For example, Rahab\u2019s Sisters saw 400 to 600 unique visitors in 2019. During the pandemic, they served upward of 4,000 individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year Rahab\u2019s Sisters served 1,800 people needing everything from group therapy to mental health services, community meals and more. Recently, Ocampo said they\u2019ve added a primary care clinic to serve individuals, regardless of whether they have Medicaid or the ability to pay. In this case, an increase in participants means more people have access to needed services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur core purpose is to have community, because it\u2019s a human need,\u201d Ocampo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riggs said she negotiated to have Rahab\u2019s Sisters, along with PDX Saints Love and JOIN PDX be the three non-profit, wraparound service providers who refer participants into the Oak Street Village. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straightway Services is licensed through Multnomah County for Oak Street Village. Riggs said as the stable housing options open, the previously named non-profits continue to provide wraparound support to increase the likelihood of success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riggs said Montavilla UMC doesn\u2019t have all the right pieces in place to develop affordable housing or offer shelter on its property. But the church has been deeply committed to working with its neighborhood partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis project is working, because it is collaborative,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minnieweather said over the last eight months, the pod shelter has regularly been full. It takes a couple of months for residents to adjust to their living environment. The first month is really spent settling into the routine of housing and the rules the village applies to its residents. Then in the second month, they start working on everything from apartment applications to job coaching and more.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Mary, an unhoused woman living in the Montavilla neighborhood of Portland, was two weeks away from moving into stable housing when she died.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cEven after they exit, we\u2019re still available to residents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far, nine of the residents have successfully moved into stable housing. Mary would have been the 10th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minnieweather said residents of the village still expect to walk out and see Mary sipping her coffee in the shelter\u2019s main gathering space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her death has made Straightway Services and other partners more aware of what they\u2019re doing and why they are doing it \u2013 even when there are critics on the national stage ready to write off houseless people as unworthy of anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to get a little more humane. A life is a life. It\u2019s hard to lose anyone,\u201d said Minnieweather. \u201cA lot of times we see (neighbors) as houseless people and what does that mean? It\u2019s your uncle. It\u2019s somebody\u2019s daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Mary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also view this story on the Oregon-Idaho Conference website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday night, the altar at Montavilla United Methodist Church was filled with flowers as neighbors gathered to honor Mary \u2014 a mother, grandmother, and longtime houseless resident who died just two weeks before moving into stable housing. She wasn\u2019t a public figure, but in this neighborhood, she was deeply loved. Kristen Caldwell shares the story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":24330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24328","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-oregon-idaho-conference"},"yoast_head":"\nMontavilla community in Portland mourns unhoused neighbor Mary - Greater Northwest Area | News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/greaternw.org\/news\/montavilla-community-in-portland-mourns-unhoused-neighbor-mary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Montavilla community in Portland mourns unhoused neighbor Mary - Greater Northwest Area | News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Friday night, the altar at Montavilla United Methodist Church was filled with flowers as neighbors gathered to honor Mary \u2014 a mother, grandmother, and longtime houseless resident who died just two weeks before moving into stable housing. 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