Dental Hygiene Products are key to great Dental Health

    Dental hygiene is very important for our health and for the houseless community. One way we can help them achieve proper dental hygiene practices would be having access to dental hygiene supplies. There are a few ways to help those less fortunate to have access to these supplies mainly through programs and groups like the Blanchet House, and hygiene for all. The only issue is the Blanchet house doesn’t list dental products as a need on their website.

    Travel Size dental product packs are low cost and compact easy for a person to store in any scenario. There are products readily available on Amazon for less than ten dollars. This low cost and small size make it easy for you to donate to places like the Blanchet House or h4a. 

 

    It is important to partner with them to see what dental hygiene products they need or want. The Unhoused community live in conditions that may make dental hygiene a low priority. Especially as they live through the winter. Our goal is to help them gain access to more dental products that could help improve their overall health.  

 

    To increase the smiles across Portland it is very important for everyone to be aware of the issue and to donate what they can in order to improve the health of the unhoused. Here are some ways you can make a difference in the community by contacting these different sources.

·         Blanchet House at 310 NW Glisan St

Phone Number :503-241-4340

https://blanchethouse.org/get-involved

·         Hygiene4all At 824 SE MLK Jr Blvd

Phone Number: (971) 236-2524

https://www.h4apdx.org/

 

Bootstraps and Other Nonsense — Things Not to Say to the Houseless

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nding up on the streets is hard enough without getting bombarded with insulting comments that may be well-meaning but are actually hurtful and ignorant. Unfortunately, these are things the houseless hear too often. Here are six things not to say. 

1. “Just pull yourself up by your bootstraps!” 

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash

The modern meaning of this phrase is to achieve something by yourself. It suggests that you should be able to accomplish whatever you want if you just put your mind to it. It may be intended as encouragement, but it fails to take a person’s circumstances into consideration. It also fails to acknowledge that the speaker’s own successes were not without assistance. You would be hard-pressed to find a “self-made” successful person who didn’t get help from many other sources on their way to the top, whether from education, family and friends, government breaks, or privileges of one kind or another. Everyone needs help, so even by the modern interpretation of this phrase, no one can really do it. 

The funny thing is, however, the original meaning from the 1800s was the complete opposite. It meant something that was impossible to do. Because you can’t actually pull yourself up by your bootstraps, unless you are somehow able to levitate. 

2. “Get a job!”

This is the ruder, less “encouraging” version of number 1. It assumes that getting a job is something easy to do for everyone, and like number 1, it fails to acknowledge all the assistance the speaker had in attaining their own employment. Not everyone has all the connections you do. Not everyone has the advantages of education, family, and friends, or even the confidence instilled from positive role models. Some folks have a much harder battle. A little understanding of that can go a long way. 

And the truth is, that the houseless person you insulted might actually have a job. It’s just not a job that pays them enough to afford housing. If your answer to that is “get a better job,” you haven’t been paying attention.

3. “Don’t use this money to buy drugs or alcohol.” 

If you’re going to take the step to offer someone money, you can’t also dictate what they spend it on. You don’t know what that person is ready for at the moment. And kicking alcohol, or whatever bad habit, might not be possible for them just yet. Give without strings attached if you want to give. It is a kind and generous act and that alone can get someone through another day sometimes. Let the receiver make their own decision how to spend it. 

4. “Why don’t you get some help?” 

This is a boldly ignorant statement that makes the assumption that the person you’re talking to hasn’t already done whatever they can to get help. They may well know about the programs available but didn’t qualify or were turned away. A better response would be to actually offer the help that you suggest they get. Learn about local programs and requirements so you can offer educated advice and have a respectful conversation instead. 

5. “Why don’t you go to a shelter?”

Related to number 4, this is likely well-meaning, but it’s a question that would only be asked by someone who’s never been homeless. Shelters provide a necessary service, but they aren’t all the cozy escape from the streets you may think they are. In fact, some houseless prefer the streets for one reason or another. The shelter’s rules may be prohibitive, the curfew may not line up with their work schedule, or there may actually be too much drug use at the shelter. Many shelters even charge fees, and some take up to fifty percent of a resident’s SNAP benefits. Often they just don’t have enough beds for the people who request them. 

6. “You don’t look homeless.”

A good answer to this might be, “Oh? You don’t look clueless.” But, the fact is, it proves that you are. It shows that you aren’t really aware of the many levels of homelessness. Not everyone struggling on the streets pushes a shopping cart and holds up cardboard signs. Not all houseless are unwashed or addicts. Some are living out of their car or an abandoned building. Some may be living in a shelter, cheap motel, or even couch surfing. None of these people have permanent housing and are therefore houseless. All of them need some kind of assistance. A little reading up on what homelessness can look like will go a long way in understanding someone’s particular situation.

Want something better to say? 

Try simply saying, “hello.” That simple acknowledgment is something that the vast majority of people do not do. Most houseless are treated as if they are invisible. Making a point of recognizing the person standing there, making a connection, however mundane, reminds that person that they are important, that you see them. From there, asking if they want to talk, or just making small talk for a minute can be refreshing. You don’t have to feel pressure to give. Simply acknowledging them and treating them as a fellow human is a form of giving. If you want to help, but don't have cash or can't afford to, consider letting them know that and ask if you can help out some other way. There might be some small task that would be easy for you and would mean the world to them. 

And if you really care and want to help solve the homeless crisis, you can go well beyond these steps and take some real and meaningful action. 

Challenges to Getting Proper Nutrition to Those in Need

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t’s hard enough for those of us who have a regular income and shelter to eat a proper healthy diet. But for the unhoused there are challenges that go far beyond the norm. It’s not about having the willpower to eat an apple and some carrots instead of a chocolate bar or Doritos; it’s about not even having the choice, if you get to eat at all. Two of the major problems that the unhoused and low-income face are poor quality shelter food and food deserts.

Photo by Steve Knutson on Unsplash

These aren't issues most people even think about. “The diets and nutrition of homeless populations receive negligible attention as a public health issue,” says Deviana W. Dewi, a research assistant with Johns Hopkins’ Global Food Ethics & Policy Program. While the people at shelters and soup kitchens do much needed work in getting the unhoused fed, there is often a problem with the food being low quality. Homeless diets are often comprised of foods “high in saturated fat and deficient in fibre and certain micronutrients,” according to the Cambridge University Press. But this isn’t by choice. “We need to debunk the common belief that individuals experiencing homelessness have the tendency to desire junk foods,” says Dewi. In her research, she found that many of the unhoused requested vegetarian meals that were unavailable. We all need to make the obvious connection that poor diet results in poor health. It’s no surprise that the houseless tend to have a higher rate of chronic illnesses and receive poorer quality healthcare than most. 

What can we do? For one, the quality of food can be improved regardless of budget. According to Advent Health, “plenty of healthy foods are inexpensive, such as dried beans, eggs, whole grains, and some vegetables and fruits.” In addition, Dewi suggests that educating the cooks, food donors, and even patrons of shelters could go a long way in improving the quality of the meals served. 

Another roadblock with getting proper nutrition to the unhoused and those with low income is the existence of food deserts. Jeremy Ney at the Social Policy Data Lab calculates that 23.5 million Americans live in a food desert, which is defined as a community where a quality food source is too far away. In urban areas, it is one mile; in rural areas, ten miles. It may not seem far if you have a vehicle, but most homeless and many low-income families do not. Often there is not even reliable public transportation. And it’s not just supermarkets, says Move for Hunger, it also includes “access to a food pantry or food-sharing program.” Funding for food pantries comes from the local, state, and federal governments, but it is determined by population density. This means that rural communities get far less support, and the available healthy options are fewer and farther away.

To add fuel to the flame of poor health, in addition to the lack of healthy options nearby, Newsweek reports that a more appropriate name for food deserts, according to health advocates, is “food swamps.” Many of these communities have an abundance of fast food restaurants and convenience stores keeping the locals filled up on fried foods and Red Bulls. When it’s inconvenient and costs too much to get to a grocery store—and sometimes even the prices at those grocery stores are far too high—people “go to fast food chains that are cheaper or closer to home,” says Ney. 

Is there a solution? Move for Hunger says “the government will have to fund federal food-aid, rather than cut spending” in order to bring more markets and pantries to these underserved areas. But others are taking matters into their own hands. Newsweek says that grassroots organizers and public health advocates are working hard to bring “farmers' markets, community gardens, food canning classes, and farm-to-school projects” to these deserts to revitalize their nutrition intake and create healthier and longer lives. 

It will take a gargantuan effort to make any dramatic change, however. We all need to do our part. Leave a comment below and let us know how you might help solve these issues. The smallest action could have a great impact. 

If you’re in the Portland area, and you’d like a little nudge in the right direction, here is a list of resources to get you started. 

Houselessness and Nutrition - How Stone Soup pdx is Helping

 

Houselessness and Nutrition

How Stone Soup is Helping

I recently had the opportunity to interview Craig Gerard, Executive Director of Stone Soup PDX which is a quaint restaurant that sits right between Oldtown and the Pearl districts on Burnside street.

Stone Soup in downtown Portland, Oregon is helping the disadvantaged houseless community by providing food for local shelters and also training those who are at risk of becoming houseless. Those who are at risk of becoming homeless are defined as those who have recently moved or been relocated, partnering with social service providers like Join and Catholic Charities. Referring partners help vex the potential program participants and are excited about careers in the food and service industry. Stone Soup is more interested in where people want to go, as opposed to where they’ve been.

Increasing nutritional intake is of the utmost importance to help the houseless community be able to become self-sufficient. According to an academic article written by Sprake, Russell and Barker, “People experiencing houselessness are at risk of being malnourished due to a low income and lack of ways to store and cook nutritionally beneficial foods, leading to a reliance on cheap, ready-prepared foods. They may also lack knowledge of how to achieve a healthy diet in their situation. Provided food sources (e.g. soup kitchens) make an important contribution to energy intake and nutritional health, but may not be optimised to improve users’ diets.”

• Sprake EF, Russell JM, Barker ME. Food choice and nutrient intake amongst homeless people. Faseb J. 2013;27.

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4589081/ 

Stone Soup PDX trains participants of their program to not only be prepared for a career in the food and hospitality industry, yet also are teaching these same individuals that they too have the capability to create nutritious foods, giving them the power to make nutritious meals themselves. The training is a four month program, basic food preparation, and they can choose their specialty in the third month. Then an externship is found for month four where they will come back and finish with Stone Soup. The participants are being paid a living wage while studying through the program.

Stone Soup’s program gives the tools to those who have the ambition to learn and excel. You can help, do something profound and make a difference. Currently, Stone Soup is responsible for training 16 graduate students and when considering the length of the program, this sits right at national average for graduates for the program that Stone Soup is under.

During the pandemic, Stone Soup PDX is dedicated to donating meals (currently they are making and donating 2000 meals a month through contracts in Multnomah county) having completely changed the operations of the restaurant into a cooking / distributing center. Stone Soup has also been the directing hub that is networking with other restaurants to fulfill nearly 20000 meals a month to shelters contracted by Portland.

It’s simple to think that there are people who just simply won’t make the choice to get on their own two feet, and this idea unfortunately can cauterize our hearts believing that there are those who truly have circumstances outside of their control and need assistance. It’s also important to mention that each individual has their own barriers to success and self-sufficiency. We can unfortunately consider individuals as being “smart” or “not smart” when instead Howard Gardner in his book “Changing Minds” speaks against this idea which is labels as the “Single Intelligence” where is states that some people believe that “intelligence is a single entity,” “people are born with a certain amount of intelligence,” “our amount of intelligence is defined by our genes,” and that “psychologists can tell you how smart you are through an IQ test.” Instead, Gardner writes that there are multiple intelligences in which a single individual can have more or less of and need training for. Some of these intelligences include:

• Linguistic intelligence - use spoken and written language

• Logical-Mathematical intelligence - reasoning and problem solving

• Musical intelligence - understanding various technical forms of music

• Spatial intelligence - capacity to form spatial representations

• Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence - solve problems or creating products

• Naturalistic intelligence - differ between types of rocks, animals, clouds, etc

• Gardner, Howard. Changing Minds. Boston, Harvard Business School Press, 1992.
  https://www.amazon.com/Changing-Minds-Science-Peoples-Leadership-ebook/dp/B00THMKOPS/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=changing+minds+gardner&qid=1619995482&sr=8-1 

In my interview with Craig (which will be available within a week) Craig speaks about how the program has impacted many, yet specifically focused his attention on Shawn. He and his wife both went through the program and Craig got to watch as they both got careers in the food and hospitality industry, raised children, and even have future dreams of making a food bus (which according to Craig they already purchased and are renovating on their own time). It’s amazing to think that Craig has truly impacted the lives of the disadvantaged here in Portland. You too can make a similar impact.

What can you do?

Order online:

• https://www.stonesouppdx.com/online-ordering 

Volunteer your time or donate:

• https://www.stonesouppdx.com/helpout