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CSS volunteers are people of action

Dec. 8, 2016

John Winquist was driving on W. 11th near Beltline earlier this year when he spotted a small abandoned metal building in a nearby field.


“There wasn’t anything going on around it,” John says. “Just a sign with a phone number.”

John got out of his car, looked around at the metal structure, and wrote down the phone number. Three months later, the Roosevelt Safe Spot has a sturdy metal building that serves as the community meeting room sitting near the middle of the camp.


Just a little imagination, some ingenuity, a bit of persistence, and a desire to be of service was all it took.


John and his partner Pem do volunteer work for Community Supported Shelters, in particular at the Roosevelt Safe Spot where they do odd jobs to help make the camp a more comfortable and efficient place for residents. Their commitment to help with infrastructure improvements at the Roosevelt camp led to construction of the community room.


“We couldn’t be happier,” says Safe Spot Coordinator and resident Donna Jackson. “This metal shelter has really made a huge difference for all of us at this camp.”


The new meeting room serves as a place to get out of the elements for a while and to gather for meals and meetings. Yet none of this would have happened without the foresight and handiwork of John and Pem. Not to mention their persistence.

For John, the wheels started turning when he saw the metal structure on W. 11th. He called the number posted on the building and found out the building itself was not for sale. But he did eventually talk with the owner of Tri-State Carports that sold metal structures like the one on W. 11th. The owner listened to John’s description of the CSS Safe Spots and agreed to donate the metal sections and hardware needed for the building.

John and Pem drove to Harrisburg to pick up the metal walls and attachment pieces. CSS hired a crew of workers from Portland to come down and construct the building.



John has since added two sliding windows—ones he found at a window company in Junction City, which gave him a good discount. He also built a lean-to shed on the back side of the shelter that serves as storage for firewood.


The new community room has allowed residents to gather for community meals four or five times a week. Before the room was built, Donna says, the camp had at most one meal a month together. It’s also a gathering place for weekly planning meetings where decisions are made about Safe Spot events and where problems of daily living can be worked out.


“It has no doubt brought our community closer together,” Donna says. “We really look after each other here, and can have longer conversations about whatever is going on in people’s lives. There’s not as much of people being isolated as there maybe was before.”

“I really like what Community Supported Shelters is doing to provide a little stability in people’s lives,” John says.


John and Pem continue to volunteer for CSS. Their primary focus recently is cutting and hauling firewood for the Safe Spots, and they have brought four cords to the camps so far.


John will continue to keep his eyes open for opportunities to help make a difference in people’s lives at Community Supported Shelters.

Community Court Program

04 May, 2024
Community Supported Shelters’ Roosevelt Safe Spot Community has been transformed into a shelter community aligned with the City of Eugene Community Court program. Beginning in January, people charged with minor misdemeanor offenses who have opted into the Community Court system (rather than Municipal Court) can opt into the CSS shelter program and move into one of 16 available Huts at Roosevelt.

Volunteers Boost Energy Systems at CSS Communities

03 May, 2024
During the ice storm that brought Eugene to a standstill in January, all the batteries that stored the energy from the solar panels at CSS’s Lot 9 Community went dead, meaning no lights and no way to charge cell phones. Dave Reuter knew that because of a monitoring system he had set up to keep track of the status of the solar energy systems at eight CSS communities. Dave, a volunteer who has led an effort to upgrade and standardize the CSS power systems, and his wife Janel Erickson, who has worked with him on this project, are intrepid outdoors people. While most of us struggled to get out of our front doors, Dave and Janel loaded a couple of fresh batteries on their Flexible Flyer sled and attached Yaktrak spikes to their shoes and a rope to the sled. With Dave in front and Janel in the rear, they guided the sled the five miles from their Friendly neighborhood home to Lot 9, near Autzen Stadium.

UO Interior Design Creative Storage Collaboration

02 May, 2024
A sixty square foot area. Six feet by 10 feet of space covered by an unconventional Conestoga shaped canvas. This is the simple description of the Hut basic to all CSS communities. How can a safe, comfortable, and efficient habitat be created within this framework using common and inexpensive materials? This was the question posed by Assistant Professor Solmaz Mohammadzadeh Kive to her Architecture 484 class this winter term at the University of Oregon.

Volunteer Spotlight: Sandy and Percy

30 Apr, 2024
For the past several months, a couple of long-time donors to Community Supported Shelters have joined us for two hours a week at our main office to do whatever needs doing. While this may sound like a modest amount of time, Sandy and Percy’s consistent, constructive, and upbeat engagement demonstrates a truth that is often overlooked: big issues can be meaningfully addressed in small increments of time.

Eugene Parking Ban Opposition Testimony

12 Mar, 2024
It's not too late to share your thoughts on this proposed update. Send your written testimony to mayorcouncilandcitymanager@eugene-or.gov .

Incarceration and Homelessness: Breaking the Cycle

15 Jan, 2024
Formerly incarcerated people are almost ten times more likely to be homeless than the general population, according to a study from the Prison Policy Initiative. Jack spent 27 years in prison, from the age of 33 to 60. “It is a long time. It's an entire lifetime,” he says. At first, he thought he might never get out and continued what he calls “bad behavior.” But he saw others who participated in educational programs and were successful in getting their sentences reduced. He realized if he started “acting right,” he might get out. He especially credits a program called “Nonviolent Communication” with helping him. He started using what he learned and realized that “the person we communicate worst with is ourselves.”

From Waste to Wonder - UO's Grey Water Conservation Project

14 Jan, 2024
Lima, Peru, and Eugene, Oregon, are worlds apart in many ways. But spend some time with Kory Russel, an Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon, and you will learn there are communities in both places with challenges of access to sustainable and efficient water use. Kory has a photo in his office depicting a highly condensed neighborhood in Lima, a city where he and some of his students work on sustainable water projects.

New CSS Director of Community Impact: Black Burrell

13 Jan, 2024
Did you know CSS has a shared leadership model, with three directors? This November, Blake Burrell joined CSS as our new Director of Community Impact. His role supports all of our direct service staff, managing internal relationship-building, culture creation, program operation, mentoring, and conflict resolution. Read on for his introduction:

Volunteer Spotlight: Veronica Paredes

12 Jan, 2024
Veronica Paredes has been helping sew the weatherproof porch coverings ("scrims") for the Huts, recently working 26 hours to complete 34 scrims for us before the holidays.

Bike and Build Volunteers Assist in Refurbishing Huts

13 Oct, 2023
Bike and Build organization was established as a nonprofit in 2003. Its website summarizes its mission: “Bike and Build engages young adults in service-oriented cycling trips to raise awareness for the affordable housing cause. We advocate for the need for affordable housing in thousands of communities across the country.” As teams bike from town to town, they volunteer for service projects and give presentations about issues surrounding the lack of affordable housing. Since 2003 Bike and Build estimates that over 3,800 participants have biked over 11 million miles and donated over 255,000 volunteer community service hours to local organizations throughout the country.
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