“Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn’t commit.”

 — Eli Khamarov, Lives of the Cognoscenti

It’s easy to think of homelessness as the guy with the newspaper laid out over him, trying to sleep in an alley.

Oregon Food Bank distribution

Yet, today as we unpacked boxes of Oregon Food Bank food over our lunch hour, my friend Alex and I heard the pastor at the True Life Church in Beaverton tell us that his church serves homeless teens.

“There are approximately 400 homeless high school kids in the Beaverton School District,” he said (paraphrasing). “900 in total, I am told.”

Fred went on to tell us that he regularly sees those kids getting emergency food aid.

Oregon Food Bank Distribution point

“They define homelessness in teenagers as those who are moving from one friend’s house to another, sleeping on couches. That’s about half. The other half are those who are moving from family member to family member because their parents aren’t available for them.” (again paraphrasing)

You’re not going to see those kids sleeping in alleys in this town. They’re going to look like normal kids, doing normal kid things. You may not see it in your town, either. But it’s there. As long as the need exists, the need to feed will exist.

Thanks to the True Life Church and the Oregon Food Bank for filling a need in our community.

Today’s gift of time … Helped move food from the central Oregon Food Bank location to the distribution point at the True Life Church in Beaverton.