Having compassion
Where is our compassion?
Don’t ostracize people for not having a home
Letter to the Editor of The Goldendale Sentinel
By Leslie Naramore, executive director of WAGAP
October 18, 2023 - Recent years have been tremendously difficult for everyone. Some have not fared as well as others. The cost of living has been driven up through skyrocketing housing prices and huge increases in necessities like food and fuel. But living wages have not kept up. So, for some, this has left them without a roof over their heads.
These community members call the Gorge home, and for some that may mean Goldendale in particular. But they don’t have the basic shelter of a house to live in. We are all better if we pull together to help people in this situation, rather than ostracizing them and making them feel unwelcome for the simple fact that they don’t have what we have—a place to live.
Our WAGAP team just went to The Dalles on Thursday this past week to celebrate with Mid-Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC) and Nch’i Wana Housing for the official grand opening of The Annex, the transitional housing and shelter for people experiencing houselessness in Hood River, Wasco, and Sherman counties. This amazing new facility includes wrap-around services with culturally specific case management, healthcare, behavioral healthcare, respite medical care, jail diversion programming, employment resources, and rapid rehousing resources.
It was a massive effort for MCCAC to make this a reality, and they ran into so much NIMBYism (not in my backyard) in the process. But one of their biggest supporters is the Wasco County Sheriff, and I hear he made a wonderful speech at the grand opening to explain why it is so important to the community to support people who have fallen into houselessness. Besides getting people the help they need, this facility will keep his resources free to focus on actual law enforcement.
So, for someone who might think WAGAP is busing houseless people from The Dalles to Goldendale, The Dalles now has the best resource system in the Region, and that would be ridiculous. We can only hope that one day we’ll be able to pool our resources together on the Washington side to have a facility as robust with onsite services to help people get back on their feet, as they get all of the help they need and get back to living under their own roofs.
Until then, our amazing team at WAGAP will continue to serve those facing poverty in Klickitat and Skamania counties. Helping People. Changing Lives. That’s what we do.
I truly hope that your readers and those asking these questions can find it their heart to remember that we’re all human, we’re all doing the best we can with very different resources and life experiences. I hope that we can all take a step back to remember our common humanity.
Original article link: