Exposure to the need

1) Purchasing needed supplies that shelters are requesting such as socks, bottles of water, toilet paper, paper towels, dog food, etc.

2) Prayer for those experiencing homelessness, care providers, and the city of Portland 

The Garden Space in China Town has opportunities for prayer.

Typically one-time volunteer events

1) Volunteer to help set up an evening shelter for the night and welcome guests

2) Volunteer to help clean up shelter in the mornings and dismiss guests

3) We All Have a Name:

A new initiative that is run by City Team (Lance Orton and Ryan Buchanan). There will be scheduled times where volunteers can meet up in Old Town and spend an hour doing outreach, getting to know the names of unhoused neighbors and offering resources to them.  For more details, please reach out to nicole@togetherpdx.org.

4) Nightsrike:

A weekly outreach event hosted by City Team.  It is an opportunity to volunteer to meet needs of our unhoused community on Thursday evenings under the Burnside Bridge.  

5) Shelter site beautification:

A one time event to beautify a shelter space through requested projects such as painting, cleaning, gardening, decorating, etc to make a space more enjoyable for participants, staff, and volunteers

Typically committed volunteer positions

1) Utilization of church space to create a new overnight shelter space: 

This is the primary ask of the Mayor’s team to support his goal of adding 1,500 new shelter beds in Portland by 12/1/25. Churches would receive a monthly payment to use their space and the shelter would be run and staffed by an existing shelter operator. If you have questions as to whether your space might be a good fit for this or would like to learn more, please contact

Nicole Larson (TogetherPDX) nicole@togetherpdx.org

Adam Lyons (on Mayor’s staff) adam.j.lyons@portlandoregon.gov

Matt Huff (Pastor running shelters) mhuff@portlandcentralnaz.org

2) Volunteer Musicians:

The Mayor and his team are passionate about humanizing our unhoused community and feel that playing music is a powerful way to do that.  They would love to develop a team of volunteers who would play music in the shelters

3) Reunification Volunteers:

One tactic in Mayor Wilson’s plan to address homelessness is to reunify anyone who is homeless who has a supportive family member or friend with them.  The city has resources to purchase plane or bus tickets and to help arrange that reunification.  The Mayor’s team would love to develop a team of volunteers who would like to help with these efforts