Women's shelter's expansion launched

PORTLAND-- Former Oregon Sen. Mark. Hatfield and the board of directors of the Portland Rescue Mission conducted a Site Celebration Event for the expansion of the mission’s Shepherd’s Door women’s and children’s shelter on Sept. 27.

Shepherd’s Door, located in northeast Portland at 13207 N.E. Halsey St., provides an immediate haven and meets the urgent and long-term needs of homeless women and their children. Operating since 1994, Shepherd’s Door is one of very few facilities exclusively for homeless women and their children, and the only facility that provides extended stay opportunities combined with on-site stabilization and life change programs.

Shepherd’s Door currently accommodates only 12 clients and their children. The new Shepherd’s Door Facility --a 42,000 square foot expansion -- will feature 96 beds, an adult education center with computer learning center, a library, a dining hall and a development center for children that will include daycare and classrooms. The construction project will also allow administrative and support service office expansion.

The Portland Rescue Mission provides a wide scope of service to Portland’s homeless and poor, including over 158,940 meals served, 58,608 shelter beds and 49,137 pieces of clothing distributed in 2000. Portland Rescue Mission ministers to a diverse homeless population both at its shelter in Portland’s Old Town, and at Shepherd’s Door.

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