by matt werbach
As I drove through Troutdale, the fog sat low over the highway obscuring all but the half-mile or so in front of me. It looked like snow for a moment—a sort of grainy, light snow just floating over the area. When I approached the bottom of the exit ramp on my way to the gas station a man carrying a sign came into view. He wore a stocking cap of black or navy-blue pulled down so that it almost covered his eyes. Underneath his hooded sweatshirt—he wore no coat—he had a zip-up collar that he’d pulled over most of his jaw. Around the bottom of the cardboard sign his hands barely poked out of the sleeves of his sweatshirt. He wore no gloves. His jeans were tattered, and just looking at him as he shivered in the 40-degree morning brought a chill to my body. I am not the hyper-sensitive type. I do what I can to help those that haven’t had the good fortune I have, but it’s not easy for anybody right now.
It’s a sight you see at exit ramps and street corners in larger towns from Boston to Portland: need. In the Columbia Gorge it sometimes escapes us as we go about our daily routine because so many of the people who need help have blended in. They aren’t necessarily homeless, and our street corners rarely host enough traffic for them to get the assistance they require. While I sat at that red light in Troutdale, I was reminded of the fact that thousands of children, adults and seniors—some out in plain view and some toiling away in silence—desperately need help to get through the winter. As I drove through the intersection I took a second to read his sign. I expected a biblical verse or creative plea. It was simple. It read: “I will do anything for work. I need food.”
This winter is supposed to be a drier and less-harsh one than last year’s, but it certainly hasn’t started that way. November brought an early ski season to the resorts and record-setting winds at the coast. Rain shrouded much of Oregon and Washington toward the end of the month. This December—no matter how mild the predictions—will bring more than cooler temperatures and cloudier days. It will usher in a season of need for many residents of the Columbia Gorge.
Fortunately, the season when many feel the most charitable coincides with the season in which people need the most help. Almost everyone is feeling the effects of a tight economy, and helping out the less fortunate is not an option when you can’t sufficiently support yourself or your family. It can be hard to remember that no matter how bad you have it, someone probably has it worse. But there’s always something that can be done. When there isn’t any money I can usually find an old coat or a sweater to pass-on. When there aren’t any extra goods, there is always time. Donating just an hour of a Saturday afternoon to serving food at a kitchen or collecting spare change for a good cause can bring days of comfort to those who share your community but not your good fortune.
The Columbia Gorge is blessed not just with breath-taking scenery, but also with the warmth and kindness of good people willing to do great things for their community. Many charitable organizations and non-profits have already begun their holiday drives, and many more will soon join in the giving. There’s an odd thing that happens in the winter: in a time when the weather turns our thoughts inward, we begin to look beyond ourselves. In the season in which we bundle-up, stow-away and close ourselves off to the elements, we also open our hearts and reach out a helping hand. A rising tide lifts all boats, and here in the communities that make up the Columbia Gorge we truly embrace that mantra.
At columbiagorge.com we have recently added a “donations” tab, which leads you to a long—but by no means complete—list of charitable companies and organizations striving to make this community the best it can be. There are hundreds of ways to share your time, money or ideas. In return, you’ll receive the gift of knowing that you made someone’s winter a little warmer—someone’s night a little brighter. This December will surely bring challenges to those in need, but there is no enemy that cannot be bested by the efforts of this community. The less fortunate do not always carry signs that clearly proclaim their needs, and it often seems that there isn’t much more we can give of ourselves in a time when so many are pushing their budgets to new limits, but we are a community far stronger than most. We can make things better. We are the Columbia Gorge.
