Event report & survey
Press Release
October 13, 2016
Contact: David Hazen, President
Emerald Compassionate Action Network (ECAN)
541-359-3598
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Fifty-three Faith Communities Gather to Seek Solutions to Homelessness
Eugene, OR, October 10, 2016 – It’s not often that members across the spectrum of faith congregations—including Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist—gather in one location to exchange ideas about how to aid and empower the homeless.
But last month, more than 53 local faith organizations, resource personnel from two-dozen non-profit organizations, and numerous unhoused people, filled the community room at Northwest Youth Corp, at the Faith in Action With Our Homeless conference. Participants were urged to report back to their spiritual communities following the event, and to convey strategies for continued engagement with the unhoused.
The morning of the event, Mayor Kitty Piercy and Mayor-elect Lucy Vinis welcomed the crowd, acknowledging the benefits the Eugene-Springfield community would derive if greater collaboration occurred among faith communities, schools, businesses and non-profits. Keynote speaker Sam Skillern described how his organization, the Salem Leadership Foundation in Salem, has become a statewide model for approaches that build networks between churches and their wider communities.
David Hazen, who conceived the Eugene event, says, “Sometimes the lack of a supportive partnership is the only barrier preventing a congregation from taking action on a shelter-related project.”
At lunch, participants chose among 12 small group discussions covering such topics as creating companionship with people who are mentally ill or suffering from addictions; building Conestoga huts and rest stops and helping homeless youth attending schools.
Hazen is president of Emerald Compassionate Action Network, a newly formed non-profit organization that aims to promote collaborative partnerships in central Lane County.
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Post-event survey results
