Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: I'm Alex Stone, former military service member and law enforcement officer, now CEO of Echelon Protected Services, one of the fastest growing private security firms on the west coast. And this is ride along, where our guest and I witness firsthand the issues affecting our community.
I believe our proven method of enacting meaningful change through compassion and understanding is the best way to make our streets a safer place and truly achieve security through community.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Jamie Worley, host of the grit podcast. Today, I'm here to ride along with Alex Stone to find out which really going on in downtown Portland to see if this culture change thing that he's promoting is really working. Let's roll.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Awesome. All right, we're gonna meet up with Bach. He should be here in a second.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Bach?
[00:01:09] Speaker C: Where's he at?
[00:01:09] Speaker A: You know Bach, by the way. That's right.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: Yeah, Bach.
He's with us.
[00:01:12] Speaker A: Yo.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: What up, bro?
[00:01:15] Speaker C: Hey.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Good to see you, brother. You good?
[00:01:17] Speaker C: I'm good.
[00:01:17] Speaker A: You know Jamie.
[00:01:18] Speaker C: What's up, big time?
[00:01:19] Speaker A: How you doing?
[00:01:20] Speaker C: Doing good.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: It's good to see you.
[00:01:21] Speaker C: See you, too.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: I feel like I'm with giants today.
[00:01:25] Speaker C: And yet you're the giant.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: And yet you're the.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: You're the boss.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:28] Speaker B: Right.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: Okay. All right, well, let's hit the road, guys.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: All right, let's do it.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Hey, so we're patrolling the streets of Portland right now. Buck is in the back. Jamie's riding shotgun with us.
[00:01:39] Speaker C: Hi, Jamie.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: What's up, buddy?
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Jamie, kind of give us a, you know, what's the last time you've been in Portland, and how's it different from where you live on the east side?
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Well, I tell you what. It's been a while since I've been in downtown Portland. I've come. I come down to Powell's books every once in a while, but maybe once every three or four months. But I tell you what, Portland has changed a lot, and it's not been for the better. But I will tell you what. When I look around, I've seen what Portland used to be. I see what it is now, and I truly believe that this place can really come back to what it used to be, to its own glory. It's just sad to see it in the state that it is today. But if we keep working hard and you keep plugging this culture that you always talk about, this place really can change, and I think it's going to.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I agree, man. We have to make a change.
We have to make a change, right?
[00:02:29] Speaker C: There's too many people out here that are hurting.
[00:02:31] Speaker B: Absolutely. So what is the goal when we contact somebody?
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Oh, good question.
Typically, we say, hey, how are you doing? We always ask people, you do, do you want to get off the streets? Are you houseless? Do you want to talk to us about that?
[00:02:43] Speaker B: And you do that as a security company?
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Yeah, all the time. And so, you know, we. We really want to focus on getting them into services. Last month alone, we transitioned 176 people off the street into some type of shelter service, detox, an rv village, a small, tiny, tiny home village, or in a government program. So we're just going to keep patrolling. You know this, as you know, when you hit your district, you want to fill your entire district out. Yeah, you want to.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: You gotta take the temperature of what's.
[00:03:14] Speaker A: Gotta take the temperature.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: Every day's different.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Every day is different. Where are the drug dealers posted up? You know, where's the criminal activity happening? Right. Stuff like that. So tell us, you know, when you were in law enforcement, you know, those days were a little bit different, right?
[00:03:28] Speaker B: It was a lot different. I was in a small coastal town, small coastal town, nothing like this. But it's interesting, you're always aware of everything that's happening around you, and whether it's a small town or a big town. It seems that the same problem persists in small towns as in larger towns, just on different levels.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a human condition.
[00:03:47] Speaker B: It really is. I mean, I'm guessing the meth problem is pretty bad here.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Oh, 100% matter percent fentanyl.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Torbo, where I was on the coast, highway 101 runs up and down all the way to Canada, through Washington to Canada, all the way down to California, through Mexico. It is a pipeline for drugs, major drug trafficking corps, and we would see it frequently, but not nearly as frequent as here. So I think it's a lot of the same.
[00:04:10] Speaker A: We had our homeless, so I was on highway 30. So a lot of the drugs that would go from the 101 over to the five. Oh, yeah, they would take. Our five is big. Yep. They would take that spur by our town.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: Let me ask you this. With all the contacts you make, what percentage of individuals would you suspect? Now, we're not psychologists or psychiatrists. Would you guess or approximate that they have some sort of mental illness going on, which is why they're out? Is it more of a, they're not mentally ill, but they're just addicted to drugs, or is it a combination of both?
What do you think?
[00:04:45] Speaker A: I brought in specialists about this, and we're going to have some more on the podcast. But the research that I've done and the people I've spoken to, they basically say, number one, the dynamic is unique because being homeless alone causes mental illness. It causes depression, long term depression. Right. It causes PTSD. So you can actually develop a mental illness or disorder from being homeless because you're being attacked constantly.
[00:05:13] Speaker C: Alex, can we pull over?
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Love to pull over.
[00:05:16] Speaker C: Left side. Just pull over real quick.
I want to check on the. Behind us to the southeast.
Individual in the doorway underneath an umbrella. Sure, yeah.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: And so, you know, and also with drug use. Drug use. Long term drug use can also cause mental illness.
People on people that are mentally ill will you also use drugs? So it's kind of a triangle effect that's always amplifying and causing more and more trauma. Yeah.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: You can't figure out just one thing or the other.
[00:05:44] Speaker A: No, but I would say at least 30%. That's what people quote to me. 30% are struggling from some type of.
[00:05:49] Speaker C: Mental illness south of the street or disorder.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: And they're self medicating.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: All right, y'all ready to roll out?
[00:05:57] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: There you go. Let's do it.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: So we just jumped out of this sprinter van, right? We've been patrolling individual. We're gonna go check on box is gonna lead the way.
[00:06:09] Speaker C: How you doing, brother?
[00:06:16] Speaker A: So a lot of what we deal with are just medical emergencies.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: A lot of overdoses. So we'll probably check. I mean, the average guard will probably check ten people a day easily per district. Maybe 20 or 30 sometimes. Yeah.
And especially, as you know, the strength of drugs comes in cycles.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: A lot of these drugs and precursors are created in China and then shipped here, and then the cartels bring it up the border.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:06:42] Speaker A: And so they're always different strengths. Yeah. So what used to cost someone $20 to $150 a day to get high on heroin? The same level of strength now costs, like four to $25 a day for the same level of high.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: Just too easy.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: Yeah. You can get a white.
[00:06:59] Speaker C: Hey, buddy.
[00:07:00] Speaker A: Or a blue for $0.50 or a dollar now.
[00:07:02] Speaker C: My man.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: It's crazy.
[00:07:03] Speaker C: Hey, I'm Michael.
Doing okay?
Yeah. Okay. Do you need anything?
I can get you that, man. I'm Michael. Remind me your name. We've talked before.
[00:07:17] Speaker A: Jack.
[00:07:18] Speaker C: Cool, cool, cool, cool. I can help you. Yeah, ma'am.
All right, let me. You want me to help you up?
All right. I can get you serious when you get your feet, my man. Yeah. Are you interested in any help?
I can help you with some resources, man. Maybe.
Maybe treatment, maybe a shelter, maybe food. Do you need any of that?
I got some snacks I can hook you up with. I don't have, like a full meal, but I know you know, Blanche a house is open. I've seen you there.
I mean, Blanche a will be open, well, in 15 minutes.
It's 1115 right now. You're not. You can make it in time. I mean, you're not that far out.
You look sore, my man. Been a long night.
There you go.
Been a long couple years, right?
Kind of tiring out here, huh?
[00:08:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:15] Speaker C: Okay. You want me to help you pick that up? My ma'am.
Here, I got you.
Yeah.
[00:08:25] Speaker A: There.
[00:08:25] Speaker C: There we go. There we go.
You got it, my ma'am.
All right, good luck. And like I said, blanche house ain't that far away, especially if you got a scooter. Okay. And if you want to get into a shelter in the future, brother, I'm happy you see me all the time. There's always one of us at Blanche a house too.
So you can hit us up then if you. If you end up wanting those things.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: Yeah, we're not the police or anything, bro. We're just out here trying to get people into shelters today. Yeah, bro.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: All right. Have a good day.
[00:08:59] Speaker B: I gotta tell you what, this is the first contact I've ever been on like this with a security team or even law enforcement where this type of help was even offered. Yeah, I've literally. I'm sitting here just. I don't even know what to say. I haven't seen this before. No, I don't know. I don't think anyone's doing this. They are. I've seen churches do things like this, but I've never seen people who have been hired to protect property. It's usually very cut and dry. I'm here to protect property. You have to leave and that's the end of that.
[00:09:30] Speaker C: Well, consider the alternate.
[00:09:31] Speaker B: Either leave or they drag them off.
[00:09:32] Speaker C: You show up, you drag him off.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Okay?
[00:09:35] Speaker C: That's not good for him. It's not good for you. It's not good for your relationship.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: No.
[00:09:38] Speaker C: And then let's say later on, I mean, if you're looking at it just from a dollars and cents standpoint, he gets mad at you, wants to retaliate, he throws a brick through your window.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:09:48] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: Yeah. All these windows will be broken. Yeah. We escalate him, they'll come back and retaliate.
[00:09:52] Speaker C: Yeah. And then now we've got people that are like, oh no, you can't mess with that guy's car. He's a good dude. And they're coming out of the woodwork, and I'm getting surrounded by seven people, you know, and who want to fight me. And I got old ladies who are homeless coming up going, you don't understand. This is my friend who has no motivation to defend me at all.
And it all chills out.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:10:11] Speaker C: Like, it's just relationships.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Out of ten times, they actually say, yeah, I want help.
[00:10:15] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: Really?
[00:10:16] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Well, I can tell you this. As a former pastor, I've offered help to the same people over and over and over again, and it only takes one day, one time. You'll know when that is, that they're going to say yes to that help, and all of a sudden, their life completely changes. But the mere fact that you're even asking. I'm not even talking about offering. You're offering, but the mere fact that you're asking if they want help is something nobody else is doing for that person.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: And we're affiliated with almost. So I also sit on the board of a nonprofit called loving one another.
[00:10:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: And that's the. You'll meet them today at another property. But we're affiliated with 40 other nonprofits in the area. We have. We run our own resource center.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: Right. So if someone says, yeah, we can actually take them, get them a shower, get them new clothes, everything. So when they go to transition to a shelter, they've all this stuff. Let's motor up. Let's go. Yeah. More things to do.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: I am literally still at shock. I'm still literally shocked at what just happened there. And people may watch this, say, well, that's no big deal. All they did was all, listen, it's a huge deal. It is a huge deal simply because no one's doing it.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Yeah. And we already know that guy. We already know. And look, you know, we could judge him. He had bolt cutters. He's obviously stealing bicycles. That's why he has bolt cutters. But we're not here to. Yeah, pentanol. We're not here to judge. We're here to say, hey, man, my favorite line is, when you were in second grade and your teacher asked you, what? Who or what were you gonna be when you grow up? Did you ever think you were gonna say, I want to be a homeless, addicted person in Portland, Oregon?
[00:11:49] Speaker C: No.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Nobody plans that.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: And they say no. And I'm like, what happened? And then they tell us their story. It unfolds.
[00:11:55] Speaker C: Right.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: The whole story of trauma unfolds. And that. And that's when you jump in there and say, hey, I'm here to offer you a hand or help today.
I can get you into shelter, I can get you into detox. What do you need?
And you know, 10% of time. Yeah, they say, yeah, let's do it.
Okay, so we've been patrolling here in the, obviously the northern part of downtown area and we have two people overdosed, you know, on the side of the road completely hunched over. Their glung capacity has got to be 30% of what it should be. And so we're going to go out and draw out and check out.
[00:12:38] Speaker C: Hey buddy, you okay?
[00:12:39] Speaker A: I don't like black gloves.
[00:12:40] Speaker C: You alright? My ma'am, can you sit up for me? I'll give you a cigarette. Boss, I'm worried about you.
You breathing in there?
Are you breathing in there, buddy? Hey, are you breathing okay?
Yeah, I don't want a cigarette. He's breathing, he's talking.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Your money is out in the open and expensive, exposed.
[00:13:06] Speaker C: We don't want somebody to take that from you, boss.
No, I will give you one. But, but I'm worried about somebody taking your property. Can you put your money away?
[00:13:15] Speaker A: Here, take this money. Here, take that money and put it in your pocket. Okay. Keep that money close to you.
Okay.
Gosh, man.
[00:13:31] Speaker C: Hey my man. Hey, do you need me to call somebody for you?
No.
Okay.
He's talking, he's conscious? Yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm good.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: Hey buck, do you got a cigarette?
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Cigarette for him?
[00:13:51] Speaker C: Oh yeah.
Here's one for you and here's one for your partner. Okay. Hey, my man.
Yeah.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: Do you know how long ago they used?
[00:14:05] Speaker B: We're not cops, man. We're just.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Yeah, we're just trying to see if they're gonna overdose. If they just used and they're. And they're gonna continue. We're afraid they might overdose. You okay? All right, appreciate it.
[00:14:15] Speaker C: Yeah. Can you guys check on these, on this couple here in a couple minutes?
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Make sure they're all right?
[00:14:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I.
[00:14:21] Speaker A: This is. I mean people are selling fentanyl out of that little place right here. This isn't our one down here. Boston?
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, you're just going around trying to help people?
[00:14:28] Speaker A: Yeah, but if we see a medical emergency, we'll jump out and sit and check on Brandon.
[00:14:32] Speaker C: Good to meet you, man.
Rob. Good to meet you guys. Nobody's doing anything? Yes. Do you need snacks or anything?
[00:14:39] Speaker B: I don't mean I'm not discovering any water. I'm just saying that this isn't.
[00:14:43] Speaker C: How many juice? No, I know, I just have granola bars.
[00:14:47] Speaker A: People, they don't want to do it. They don't know how to do it. It takes a lot of weight. Everyone that our people are more highly paid, we train them more highly skilled, you know? So there is a level of difference there.
[00:14:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:59] Speaker A: All right, sweetie. You take care, okay?
I actually know her. I've known her for, like, two or three years. Yeah, she used to have a tent outside of the navigation center. She has a little hunch. They call her birdie. The streets.
[00:15:16] Speaker C: No, I ain't birdie.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Oh, I'm pretty sure that's birdie.
[00:15:18] Speaker C: Hundred bucks.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: You don't think it's birdie? I could see.
[00:15:20] Speaker C: Oh, sitting here. I thought you meant the wheelchair.
[00:15:22] Speaker A: No, no, no.
[00:15:22] Speaker C: That lady sitting here is birdie.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: That's birdie. Okay.
That's her normal voice, actually.
So.
Well, we just rolled out. We did a medical check. They're both talking. They're coherent. They're making sentences. So at this point, you know, they don't want medical. They don't. Went for Narcan. We don't think they're gonna overdose. We don't know when they ingested or when they smoked the fentanyl.
If they just did it, they could go into an overdose. So, you know, Bach went and contacted the group next to them in that corner alley, little nook, which is probably the dealer, to be honest, and said, hey, can you just monitor them? If it gets bad? Can you flag someone down?
[00:16:04] Speaker B: And I'll tell you what, if this hurts my heart. Yeah, I understand why people don't stop to help you.
[00:16:13] Speaker A: Scary.
[00:16:13] Speaker B: You can't. Well, it's scary, but I would take that even further.
You can't. You can't genuinely have compassion, self, or someone like that who's on the side of the street like that and not feel some sort of human pain on the inside.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
It's a mirror into your own soul, right?
[00:16:32] Speaker B: We're too self centered that. But that pain will cause you to come to a fork in the road of do something about it or don't. What are you gonna do?
[00:16:41] Speaker A: Who am I?
[00:16:42] Speaker B: Man, it just hurts my heart to see this.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Every time you get out and help someone that's that lost. You have to look in the mirror and say, who am I?
You know? And most people don't want to have to answer that question on a daily basis. They want to follow their vices. They want to listen to the excuses. They want to dig down deep and worry about their greed and all these other things. And when you humble yourself and you invert that power dynamic, and you empower other people by serving them.
It changes who you are inside. So where am I headed? Back.
[00:17:18] Speaker C: I don't care. You can turn left here, and then we can work our way back north. I'm thinking 6th.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:17:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: So.
[00:17:26] Speaker C: That is.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: We gotta talk to this guy first. So, you know, you're talking about the grit and what you do at the grit building. Leadership. Right. Leadership development.
[00:17:35] Speaker C: Right.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: And so kind of break that down for us.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: Here. Let's talk to this guy first, and then we'll pile of cash.
[00:17:44] Speaker C: I'm just gonna hop out real quick.
[00:17:45] Speaker A: Just roll out real quick. We'll be quiet, and then we'll do your secondary.
[00:17:51] Speaker C: Are you doing okay? Awesome. I work security for the property. Do you need a cigarette or anything?
I'll hook you up with a cigarette. Hey, he's just with me. Don't worry about. Nobody's gonna hurt you.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: You're good, bro.
[00:18:01] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, we're security.
I know. Here. Here. You want some snacks? Okay. Yeah. I, uh. Here. I'm Michael. Ma'am.
What do we call you? Jabri. Good to meet you, ma'am. Everything going okay in your world?
[00:18:19] Speaker A: Going, but it's nothing I can't fix.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: Need any help?
[00:18:25] Speaker A: Where the fuck aren't these locked?
[00:18:29] Speaker C: Okay.
Yeah. Are you looking for a shelter?
[00:18:38] Speaker A: So I had a. There's a whole separate issue. There are two dumpsters that didn't have locks on them, which are gonna pull people in.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: Dumpster diving. So I was recording that issue. I also found a baggie that had probably meth or fentanyl in it. And I threw that away because it was actually. I mean, a kid or a dog could pick it up and overdosed. So I was throwing that away and then messaging the owners of the property. Hey, we need locks on these dumpsters. So what was going on on your side of the garage?
[00:19:06] Speaker C: No, I just said hello to him. He got really alarmed very quickly because. And I don't blame him. I mean, you know, a bunch of big dudes hop out, and one of them is wearing body armor, and it's right in the middle of a parking garage. I get it. So he had a little bit of a, like, hey, my man, we're friends, kind of a moment. And then after that, we get hooked him up with a city team voucher and a cigarette granola bar. And he's, uh. He's good to go. So nice guy, man. I really.
[00:19:30] Speaker A: Did he want a radio cab to city team?
[00:19:32] Speaker C: Well, city team doesn't, man. I mean, you're looking at 5 hours before you got to be there. So I didn't even think about that.
[00:19:38] Speaker A: Okay. Okay.
[00:19:39] Speaker C: He was totally cool because it's just right across the.
[00:19:42] Speaker A: So city teams we had. They actually had the executive director of city team on.
[00:19:49] Speaker C: Hey, Texas, you want a cigarette?
[00:19:56] Speaker A: He's great. I've contacted. We got a roll. We got.
[00:19:59] Speaker C: Hang in there, buddy.
[00:20:04] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:20:07] Speaker C: He looked like he was having a hard time, and then all of a sudden, you shot his name, and he snaps out of it.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Yeah, I talked to him several times before, too. He's really funny. Yeah.
[00:20:14] Speaker C: He's a good dude.
[00:20:16] Speaker A: He doesn't want to get into a shelter, though.
[00:20:17] Speaker C: He does not.
[00:20:18] Speaker A: He lives. He lives it. Yeah.
So that guy, hopefully he'll go to a city team. Great. Executive director was on yesterday. We donated, I think, $9,000 last year as a company, as a security company today. And, you know, we buy the vouchers, like $15 each something, and then we give them out, and they'll accept anybody.
[00:20:37] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:20:38] Speaker A: Yeah. And they're a discipleship program. They're religious based system, but, you know, they're one of the very few people that will. Can literally can get anyone into a shelter.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: So we work with them because they're awesome.
[00:20:50] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:20:52] Speaker C: I really like that guy. I got a long history with him. He and I had more than one heart to heart.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Texas.
[00:20:58] Speaker C: Really hard.
[00:20:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:58] Speaker C: It's really hard to get him to. To, like, you know, look, people have to want to get off the street. You know, it's not jail.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:21:07] Speaker B: You know, Michael. Michael, you so with. With the way that you're dressed, you ever is. That doesn't seem to be a barrier between you and the people that we're dealing with.
[00:21:15] Speaker C: The biggest barrier is what's in your heart.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:21:20] Speaker C: The. What I wear is an immediate barrier. But what you say and when they see light in your eyes, and I'm not going to act like I have not had bad days, but if you show up with kindness first, bro, people respond, man. And, yeah, it's kind of a barrier.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: We have someone that's passed out. They might be overdosing, so we're just gonna check on them real quick.
[00:21:40] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:21:51] Speaker C: Hey, my man. Are you doing all right?
Hey, brother.
Hey, I'm Michael. I work security for the property.
Sorry to wake you up, man. I was worried about your breathing. You know who I am? Good to see. What's your name again, brother?
What happened to your eye?
You hurt?
You want a cigarette, my man?
I got some granola bars, too. You want one of those?
Okay. These are a couple buddies of mine. They're just kind of hanging out with me, so don't be worried about them.
Yeah.
You doing okay, though?
[00:22:31] Speaker B: You want some help up? You want some help up? You got it.
What happened or something?
[00:22:43] Speaker A: He owes me a ride along.
[00:22:45] Speaker C: Does he?
[00:22:45] Speaker B: Did you fall down or around then.
[00:22:48] Speaker A: Oh, Prindle?
Yeah, prindles off.
[00:22:50] Speaker C: He's around.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Can you take your glasses? Can we take a look?
[00:22:55] Speaker A: It's hard to wake up.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: Where do you think he got you?
[00:22:59] Speaker A: That's what he is. Out.
[00:23:02] Speaker B: He's got a spider bite or something.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Dude, you need to go to hospital.
[00:23:07] Speaker C: If you don't want to go to the hospital, I need to call Portland street medicine for you. What you've got is a bad infection on the side here. I'm an EMT, okay? So brother to brother, man to man, I'm just telling you what I'm thinking. That must be looked at. That can't. You can't ignore that.
[00:23:22] Speaker A: You need a cycle of high.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:23] Speaker C: You can lose your eye. Yeah. If an infection gets into this triangle in your face. I'm not going to make this up. I'm going to tell you the truth. There's a triangle right here where your sinuses are.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:23:34] Speaker C: That infection, if it comes over here, it can be fatal.
[00:23:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:39] Speaker C: What you have is treatable. Let's get that taken care. But that, I'm telling you, my man, man to man, that can't continue. So I got two options for you.
I can call a Portland street medicine, or I can call you a taxicab. I realize hospitals can make you feel like you're being there, being mean. I get it. But.
[00:23:58] Speaker A: But, bro, you need hospital.
[00:23:59] Speaker C: You can't ignore that. We gotta get that taken care of.
[00:24:02] Speaker A: That's.
[00:24:02] Speaker C: Emergency room doesn't get better. It only is going to get worse. Okay. You're already like. Let me take a look at your.
Oh, man.
[00:24:11] Speaker A: I think. I think we should call.
[00:24:15] Speaker C: It's not airways not. There is airways not compromised. Are you still breathing? Okay, can you swallow? Okay.
[00:24:21] Speaker A: Is your hearing changed in that ear? No, no.
[00:24:25] Speaker C: Why don't you look at me real quick? Yeah, dude.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: Yeah, you need to go to the ER, bro.
[00:24:31] Speaker C: We, we. You need an ER, like today.
[00:24:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:33] Speaker C: So let me, let me. Let me call you a taxi if you. Because I think this is gonna be faster. The taxi is gonna be faster. All right. Okay.
[00:24:43] Speaker A: So he has a spider bite or something that he's had for several days on this face his entire face is swollen?
[00:24:51] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:24:51] Speaker A: Pus. I just need his face. One of his eyes is completely swollen closed. So we're getting him a ride to the hospital. So it's not a hardcore emergency.
[00:25:01] Speaker B: All right.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: We're not gonna call a medicine. We're gonna give him a taxi ride. We're gonna call an agency and have him get a ride over there to the Audi. So at this point, that's the best thing we can do for him. It'll get him off the streets for a little bit, maybe get him a city team doctor when he gets out. He can do that as well. So that's the plan.
Hey, give him a city team voucher so when he gets out of the hospital.
[00:25:21] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:22] Speaker A: Get somewhere to go.
Have you heard a city team is a shelter on the east side?
They have, like. They have a whole two. A ruby. They got a whole two year program.
They got a whole two year program.
[00:25:37] Speaker C: This is Michael.
[00:25:38] Speaker A: And once you get out of the hospital, they can get you into a shelter that can actually help you detox.
If you don't want to go there, you don't have to, but it is a good idea.
It's pretty bad.
Yeah.
He thinks he got bit by a spider.
Just a bit of an update. Instead of using a taxi service or an emergency vehicle, like an ambulance, we didn't feel like that. His condition rose to the level of an emergency vehicle. We don't want to use those resources because someone could be dying and need that ambulance. So instead of using an ambulance, we're going to use a vehicle that's actually driven by another organization. It's another nonprofit, and it's a transportation vehicle that they use in these types of situations. So we're able to reach out to them, contact them. They agreed to do the transport, and they should be here in about five minutes. So we're good. We're just waiting for that vehicle.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: Hey, we showed me your id. No cop showing me no id.
You know how fast you're going, ma'am?
The reason I pulled you over was.
[00:27:01] Speaker A: That's funny.
[00:27:03] Speaker B: So what's your middle name? Is Elle.
[00:27:05] Speaker C: You have enough room to get out of the hospital? Would you like a city team voucher? It's Lily Long shelter on the other side of the river.
[00:27:16] Speaker B: What's your middle name?
[00:27:18] Speaker C: How long can it be sheltering at all?
[00:27:20] Speaker B: Larry.
[00:27:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: Lily. Larry, Lydia.
You don't know my middle name is Lucretia or something like that?
[00:27:31] Speaker A: Yeah. I can't say it right. Never.
[00:27:35] Speaker B: Put an l on there. Yeah. There you go.
[00:27:39] Speaker A: You need one that's like cash.
[00:27:41] Speaker C: I got a stack of them.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
Awesome, bro. Yeah.
[00:27:49] Speaker C: You gotta put these in a Ziploc baggie because if you don't and they're on your person, they're gonna get soaked and ruined.
[00:27:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:58] Speaker C: I'm gonna go fill this out. I'll give. Are you alright? You sleepy?
Okay. You're not gonna fall over on me, are you?
[00:28:12] Speaker A: Okay. All right.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: So you live on the street or do you have a place?
Probably a dumb question.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: She lives 50th individual.
[00:28:24] Speaker B: No, I was. I was talking to Tommy. You know Tommy?
[00:28:28] Speaker A: No, I didn't see no Tommy there.
[00:28:31] Speaker B: Oh, it's the guy I was talking to over there.
[00:28:32] Speaker A: Tommy's got a lot of energy, bro.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Tommy, he's got a lot of energy. He's got a lot of hope, man. That dude is.
[00:28:38] Speaker A: I talked to him.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
Cool.
I know. That's. That.
Yeah. Okay.
[00:29:00] Speaker C: Okay. And it's across the river. Okay. Yeah, it's a. It'll give you an overnight stay. Okay. Shower, food, all that stuff. The trick is, is that there's a line. Okay. The line starts before check in. So if you got there at like, I don't know, 04:00 okay. 420, something like that. 430. You'd probably be able to get in there, but you're gonna need to go.
You are truly a blessing. It's a limited. Why wait for a tiny home?
[00:29:33] Speaker A: So the transport should be here any minute, bro. Yeah.
[00:29:37] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: Any minute. As we were helping Wyatt over here with a spider bite, there's an individual here who's helping to get into detox center. Gentleman's right behind me right now. And so Terrence is going to come from loving one another and talk to him, help him get into detox, and then we're going to get.
[00:29:52] Speaker C: Did he walk this direction?
[00:29:53] Speaker A: That way?
[00:29:54] Speaker C: Oh, because there's a Starbucks right in there.
[00:29:57] Speaker A: Do you have Jamie's phone number? Yep.
[00:30:00] Speaker C: No.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: You should give it to me.
[00:30:02] Speaker C: Let me look.
[00:30:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
And so van's here. Jamie took him to get coffee. He was really anxious. I think he needed something like that to calm him down.
And Terrence will be here any minute to get this individual, hopefully, into detox today. And so we're just, you know, working the streets, doing everything we can to help out.
Hey, how's it going? Hey, there, Bobby Lakes.
Spider bite.
[00:30:29] Speaker C: Spider bite.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:30:30] Speaker C: He went to grab a cup of coffee with our friend who's not leaving with us. I'm gonna call him and just say, come back. They were like a half a block away. He was here for a while he needs to be seen, like bloodshed, we.
[00:30:39] Speaker B: Can take him to.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: Oh, he looks bad, bro. My name's Alex, by the way. Michael. Nice to meet you, Michael.
[00:30:45] Speaker C: I'm Michael as well. Nice to meet you.
[00:30:47] Speaker A: You can buy me. Yeah. We love I be. And I love Allen Evans.
[00:30:50] Speaker B: He is.
[00:30:50] Speaker A: I love him to death. Great guy. Yeah.
I was homeless and all that and. Yeah.
[00:30:56] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:30:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's good, though.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: I mean, good as in the sense you can relate with people, right?
[00:31:05] Speaker A: All day long, this is what we do. Hey, what up, t?
[00:31:08] Speaker C: Hey.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: How'S it going, brother?
[00:31:12] Speaker C: Hey, Josh.
[00:31:14] Speaker A: So come eating.
[00:31:15] Speaker C: Terrence.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: Terrence just arrived from low. Say what's up to the folks. That's the gentleman who needs help. You can take him off.
[00:31:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:31:22] Speaker A: I like your hair. Get it twisted, bro.
[00:31:26] Speaker C: Josh and Terrence? Yeah. You guys, he's.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: He.
[00:31:29] Speaker C: This Josh is Terrence. He's a buddy of mine. He needs to help out and get into a detox and rehab and all. Okay. So we can use you guys to transport to hospitals, to detox centers.
What about to, like, shelters, warming centers?
We've taken people to go get showers.
[00:31:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:50] Speaker C: Okay.
Oh, that's fantastic. And in terms of, like, your guys's call load, like, are you guys usually just back to back to back to back to back? Back to back?
[00:31:58] Speaker B: We're just starting out. Most of our day is walking around, connecting with people. That's most of our day at the moment, but so.
[00:32:07] Speaker C: So Tiffany Hammer told me about you guys, and this is, like, my first interaction, like, you know, I mean, because Tiffany and I are. We're good friends, and she's like, you got to call, you know, you guys.
[00:32:18] Speaker A: Yeah, anytime.
[00:32:19] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: That's what we're out here for. We're trying to get it ramped up to where we are. Back to back to back to back.
[00:32:24] Speaker A: We're taking somebody to detox tomorrow. Yeah.
[00:32:27] Speaker C: Oh, are you? So you can schedule it as opposed to just being.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: Well, with detox, we kind of have.
[00:32:33] Speaker C: To, because we can't.
[00:32:33] Speaker A: If it's in the middle of the.
[00:32:34] Speaker B: Day, we can't just go drop somebody off the detox.
[00:32:37] Speaker C: Detox only accepts people during certain hours.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: So the guy that buck. We're just doing a recap real quick. The bach. As we were working with this guy with a spider bite, Wyatt, we had a guy across the street contacted us, said he wouldn't get into detox. We called Terrence. Terrence arrived. So what happened?
[00:32:53] Speaker C: So we was able to work directly with him and help call a person that we work directly with which is Mike Silver.
[00:33:01] Speaker A: Awesome.
[00:33:01] Speaker C: Police department.
[00:33:02] Speaker A: Love it.
[00:33:02] Speaker C: Portland fire Department. I'm sorry. And he was able to provide us.
[00:33:07] Speaker A: With a tiny home for him.
[00:33:08] Speaker C: So we're going to get him to a tiny home, our shelter, by 130. He said all of the shelters was for today. So, yeah, whenever we do reach out to people, we gonna try to do our best to try to scramble around and find them these shelters that we've.
[00:33:19] Speaker A: Made the possibility all the shelters are full, but you were able to find them a tiny home. And then he's gonna meet you at the resource center at around 130. So we won't meet you at Central Plaza later. Don't worry about that. I'll take care of that. And then may get this. Let's get this guy to a shelter. Okay, cool. All right. Good job, bro. Killing it, bro. Man. Get you a cape. I love it, bro.
Good man.
[00:33:44] Speaker C: Okay, so right now we are moving to forth of Washington.
We were waiting for Hope Van, which is going to transport our friend to the hospital for emergency services for care for his infection.
We're headed that way right now. We're going to go pick him up and, yeah, get him the care he needs.
We got that guy straight ahead into a tiny home.
[00:34:19] Speaker A: Yeah, that's legit. Yeah, that was good.
They wanted. He wanted to detox, literally. We got Terrence there. Terrence. He's gonna meet him at the resource center. Love you one another. Resource center. And then we're gonna transport him to the tiny home.
He'll be in a tiny home by 03:00 p.m. today, bro. That guy.
That's good stuff. When someone's on the road, I mean, living on the street, right, and they're ready to transition and change, or they have an emergency, like a giant spider bite and a guy that's closing shut because of swelling. You gotta act fast. Get him into the hospital fast. We didn't want to call an EMT or a medical unit because those services should be helping people that could literally be dying. Right?
[00:35:06] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: So we don't know.
[00:35:07] Speaker C: Services are so thin, you'd be waiting 45 minutes, you know, for a triage call like that. Because it's gonna get triaged. Yeah. And triage, for those of you who don't know, is a french word, and it means to sort, and it's always in emergency services, worst first. So in his case, he's not currently bleeding and about ready to die. And so as a result, it's everybody else first.
[00:35:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:35:30] Speaker C: There we go.
There he is on the left. Hand side.
[00:35:34] Speaker A: Oh, where is he?
[00:35:35] Speaker C: Yeah, right there.
[00:35:39] Speaker A: So this is where you have to be at one?
[00:35:40] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:35:41] Speaker A: We're not far, so unfortunately, the cops are here. They probably don't want me to double park.
[00:35:47] Speaker C: That's all right. We're doing good.
[00:35:57] Speaker A: Make room for the vehicle.
[00:36:03] Speaker C: Oh, I know.
[00:36:04] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:36:04] Speaker C: Actually, we've met him, and we're talking to him. We just got separated, and now we're coming back. You guys okay?
Is that guy with the hatchet?
[00:36:13] Speaker A: Hey, Wyatt.
[00:36:16] Speaker C: And the property owner's been like, you want to roll?
You want to roll? Is this him? Good indus, the guy with the hatchet usually on point.
[00:36:28] Speaker B: I don't. Yeah, I don't.
[00:36:30] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:36:31] Speaker B: It's gotta be, dude. Let me look.
[00:36:34] Speaker A: Oh, what's up, Brian? See you in a long time, man.
[00:36:36] Speaker B: Down here.
[00:36:36] Speaker A: How you been, man? Good.
[00:36:37] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:36:39] Speaker A: No, you want to get to a shelter? What do you. What's up, man? You tired?
[00:36:42] Speaker B: No, I'm not a cop. I'm a pastor.
[00:36:44] Speaker A: I know you. Streets always win, bro. You can't win.
[00:36:46] Speaker B: Cool, cool. God is good, man.
[00:36:49] Speaker A: Subway Michael. Get a good coffee?
[00:36:53] Speaker C: Yeah. He's gonna give you a ride up the hospital.
He's with baby lakes Hope, man. Yeah. Hey, hang on to that cd team voucher, brother. Okay. Yeah. In here. Shove this guy in your pocket so when you get out, you have a smoke.
[00:37:07] Speaker A: That's who I. That's how I met you.
[00:37:09] Speaker C: You got one?
[00:37:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:10] Speaker C: Well, one left. Oh, you got a whole pack? Yeah, I'm gonna save mine for later.
[00:37:16] Speaker A: Dude, we just got a guy into a tiny home, like, 30 minutes ago.
[00:37:19] Speaker C: Oh, he helped you out with the pack? Good times, bro. All right, enjoy first and wait.
[00:37:26] Speaker A: Cooches. Make sure we have a. I didn't know about there. He could probably meet him there at 130.
[00:37:34] Speaker C: Is there other spots, too? Is there other spots, too?
Okay, when you get to the doctor, you need to get. You're gonna need to show them all your skin because this is coming out all over the place. Had I known that, I would have called an ambulance. But you're already going, okay? You got to get seen, okay, buddy? All right. Go get taken care of. All right, guys, I. Yeah, that's what I just talked to about. I didn't see that, nor did I know about it. If I had, it would have been.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: Yeah. We're gonna stop blocking traffic now. Sorry about that.
[00:38:06] Speaker C: Get it done, bro. Get it done. Oh, yeah.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: That's just the smell.
[00:38:10] Speaker C: Ah.
[00:38:10] Speaker A: I will call it first in first. And cooch.
I will. I'll call him right now?
Yeah, no worries.
[00:38:20] Speaker C: That bald headed bearded guy right in front of you.
[00:38:22] Speaker B: Mm hmm.
[00:38:23] Speaker C: He's got a.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: Care, bro. Appreciate you.
All right, man. Let me get in here.
All right, that was good.
So we're actually come. This is our next location. You said watching. I was like, well, actually.
[00:38:41] Speaker C: Oh, is it really?
[00:38:42] Speaker A: This is it right here. Jamie, we. We split up, which is tactically sound. Just kidding.
Tell us what happened.
[00:38:49] Speaker B: My bad, bro.
[00:38:50] Speaker C: Now, did we need to clap?
[00:38:52] Speaker A: Clap your hands, everybody. No. So.
[00:38:54] Speaker B: Oh, sorry.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: When you wake someone up in the morning, they're gonna eventually get hungry if they wait too long. That's kind of what happened, right?
[00:39:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:01] Speaker A: We care about the guy. We can't tell him no to food and water and drink. Right. So you split off. Tell us what happened.
[00:39:08] Speaker B: Yeah. So I walked Wyatt down. He wanted a cup of coffee, and so I could tell he was getting jittery, ready to pretty much walk away.
[00:39:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:39:16] Speaker B: And where we wouldn't be able to help him. So I just walked down to the coffee shop, bought him some coffee, bottom, a pack of cigarettes, and basically what I was trying to do is just not only just help him cope with what's going on, the best way I could give him something to drink and really just buy time so that I know that he would hang around. I was trying to build trust with him so that he would at least trust me enough to hang around till the medics got there so they could check him out. The important thing was do whatever you got to do to make sure he sticks around so that he can get the medical attention he needs. And so that was kind of the idea behind all that.
[00:39:58] Speaker A: Cool. I think you're right.
Our director actually said the same thing. It felt like maybe he was ready to bounce. Yeah. And so we were able to keep him. Terrance showed up while you were gone. One of the guys from loving one another, Buck, had contacted someone across the street. Street. And we were able to get a tiny home him into a tiny home village.
[00:40:17] Speaker B: Oh, really?
[00:40:17] Speaker A: Yeah. He's gonna get in there at 03:00 today.
[00:40:19] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: He's being Terrence at our resource center, so that's awesome. And then I had to talk with the guy right there just as we were talking with the cops.
[00:40:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:27] Speaker A: PPB. Because they just made that arrest. He's gonna go. And they had another tiny home available, so he's gonna go to the resource center at 130 as well.
[00:40:34] Speaker C: Yeah. Wow.
[00:40:34] Speaker A: So that's where he said it.
[00:40:35] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: So it looks like we're able to get three people and then we're just been working, like, three, 4 hours. Yeah, two, 3 hours maybe. And so if people are doing this every day, you can really make a substantive difference, right?
[00:40:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: This is how we can change culture. One person at a time, man. It's been a great day. We've still got more to do.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: We got.
[00:40:53] Speaker A: We're going to. We got to go out here and talk to all these people. It's been really active. A lot of assaults. I think we should approach without cameras at first. Maybe y'all can be far away and ask if people are willing to talk to us and engage us and see if we can get someone to tell their story about how they became homeless. That's my goal here. What do y'all think?
[00:41:11] Speaker C: I'm in.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Good, guys. Okay, so we're here in the property. I'm about to meet with the property owner here in a bit, but we're gonna try to get someone to talk to us, see if we can help anybody get it. So maybe someone can tell us our story. And then we're gonna wrap it up, man, because we've had, actually a pretty busy, productive day. I think we've all learned a lot of lessons today. So let's. Let's get after it, man.
[00:41:32] Speaker C: Let's just do. Let's keep it on Wednesday. I'll postpone it this week. I'll put a bunch of crap in the.
[00:41:37] Speaker A: Hey, how's it going, man? My name's Alex. We're doing a documentary on homelessness. Would you be willing to talk to us?
[00:41:44] Speaker C: I gotta let you go. Let me call you back. Hey, buddy, remember me? Yeah, I do. Hi. How you doing, man? Are your wounds healing?
Culture and the style and appearance of a skateboard professional beginner.
[00:42:05] Speaker A: Okay.
Yeah, we'll check her out, bro. Hey, we're gonna check this girl out real quick, okay? Do you need medical attention for your face, bro?
[00:42:12] Speaker C: I don't.
[00:42:13] Speaker B: I'm gonna give them the look of a.
[00:42:14] Speaker A: Hey, kids.
[00:42:15] Speaker C: You know, just because you fall and hit the ground.
[00:42:17] Speaker A: Yeah, roger that.
[00:42:21] Speaker C: Try again.
[00:42:22] Speaker A: Appreciate you, man.
[00:42:23] Speaker B: That's how we grew up, right?
[00:42:28] Speaker C: Howdy, howdy, howdy, howdy.
Good, man. How's everything going over here?
[00:42:34] Speaker A: What up?
[00:42:35] Speaker C: Yeah, cool, cool, cool, cool. Just checking in on people, saying hi. Yeah, our thanks to bro.
[00:42:43] Speaker A: Good. We're not the police, bro. Oh, I know. Okay.
[00:42:48] Speaker C: We met us about a half hour ago, maybe.
[00:42:50] Speaker A: Oh, nice. All right. What's up?
[00:42:52] Speaker C: How you guys doing? Yep.
[00:42:54] Speaker A: How you doing?
[00:42:55] Speaker B: Good, I'm good.
[00:42:55] Speaker C: Hey, sweetie got wild.
[00:42:56] Speaker B: He's gonna get some.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: Oh, that's good, bro. Yeah.
[00:42:59] Speaker C: Got me kind of worried about work.
[00:43:00] Speaker A: That's crazy, right?
[00:43:02] Speaker C: Kind of worried about you.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: It's all fussy, and he's got that thing on his neck.
[00:43:05] Speaker C: What's that now?
[00:43:07] Speaker A: Really?
[00:43:08] Speaker C: You just asked her if she was okay?
[00:43:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna have a hard time, get an infection diet. Your blood will get infected, and then that's it. Everything shuts down, man.
[00:43:19] Speaker B: What's your name? I'm Jamie. Good to meet you. Yeah, good to meet you, too.
[00:43:23] Speaker A: So, why are you on the streets? You. I tell it. We talked to us on the camera. Is that all right?
We want to get it. We want to get people stories, bro. We want it. We want people to understand we both been homeless in Portland. Him and I have both been homeless on the streets of Portland.
All right. Can you. Can you come in closer? Is that okay? Yeah. So, Brandon.
[00:43:42] Speaker D: Yeah?
[00:43:43] Speaker A: How'd you end up on the streets in Portland?
[00:43:46] Speaker D: So, about a year and a half ago, my son's mom found out that I was shooting up meth. And, you know, the funny thing was that she was shoving the shit up her nose every day, too, but, you know, so she was kind of hypocritical about it, and she used that as a reason to get a protection order on me, claiming that I was creating an unsafe environment for her son. You know, the thing is, I was. I was a stay at home dad for nine years. You know, I was a damn good father, too.
[00:44:15] Speaker A: Yeah? Yeah. So you were living with your wife, your girlfriend, and the baby for nine years. No problems?
[00:44:22] Speaker D: Not really. I mean, nothing out of the ordinary.
[00:44:26] Speaker A: What led to the meth use? Just.
[00:44:29] Speaker D: Just, you know, honestly, I just.
[00:44:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, bro, it's exciting, bro. Drugs are exciting at fun.
[00:44:39] Speaker D: And then, you know, when I. When I got on the street, then fentanyl, you know, got introduced to me. But, you know, it sucks that she got the protection order because, you know, a lot of shit happened, all within the course of three weeks.
[00:44:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:44:53] Speaker D: You know that I got that protection order and got.
You know, I ended up getting removed from home due to that. And then, you know, a week later, I was shacking up with this girl in a hotel, and she cleaned out my bank account. I had a portfolio account through Wells Fargo with unlimited.
Her and I used to gamble together. So I think she saw the ATF.
[00:45:13] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. My shoulder.
[00:45:15] Speaker D: She cleaned out my bank account while I was sleeping and was bold enough to come back, put my wallet back, my box, and come back to me. So I didn't know for, like, two days. And then a week after that, lost my job. Week after that, totaled my car. So house, money, job, car, everything gone.
[00:45:31] Speaker A: We talk about this all the time.
[00:45:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:45:35] Speaker A: A lot of people are really just. They're just a unique series of events away from living on the street. Right. I have a very similar story to yours. You know, I lived on the. Near Eon Avenue, that Starbucks on highway 30 on Eon. Yeah, I lived there for two years. Yeah. You know, and it was the same kind of thing. Relationship didn't work out. I ended up on the street, you know, and I had nowhere to go. I was living. I was literally finding bathrooms to clean myself in.
And so this can happen to almost anyone in America.
[00:46:03] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:46:03] Speaker A: You know, most people only have.
[00:46:05] Speaker B: They don't realize it.
[00:46:06] Speaker A: Yeah, they don't realize it. Everyone's living paycheck to paycheck, and they can take a bad injury, a car accident, a breakup, and the next thing you know, you're living on the streets. So how long have you been homeless?
[00:46:15] Speaker D: About a year and a half, you know.
[00:46:17] Speaker A: And what's your plan from here? What's your. What's your goal?
Honestly?
[00:46:20] Speaker D: I want to get a roof over my head before winter.
[00:46:25] Speaker A: It's rough here, bro.
[00:46:26] Speaker D: I've got a girlfriend that I take care of. She's disabled, so I'm taking care of her. She's at benefit out on the streets off and on since she was 13. And, you know, taking care of her out here.
[00:46:36] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:46:38] Speaker D: It's my only priority.
[00:46:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:39] Speaker D: It's the only thing that I really care to do.
[00:46:51] Speaker A: You don't abandon her.
[00:46:53] Speaker D: I don't want to do another winter out here.
[00:46:57] Speaker A: So if you're going to shelter, you'd want to shelter with her.
And that makes it even more difficult because now you need a couple shelter.
[00:47:05] Speaker D: Right?
[00:47:05] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:47:06] Speaker D: There's no way I'll ever separate from her for longer than a day, you know?
[00:47:11] Speaker A: Would you be able to be clean for a 48 hours period to get into a shelter, you and your old lady?
[00:47:15] Speaker B: Most likely.
[00:47:16] Speaker A: Okay, so you saw, you know, we talked.
[00:47:21] Speaker C: How are you?
[00:47:24] Speaker A: Nice to meet you, bro.
[00:47:25] Speaker D: A lot of people are real paranoid.
[00:47:26] Speaker A: About being on camera.
Yeah, well, below your face, bro.
So, you know, the van that just left here is. There's a nonprofit that has a shelter called by B Lakes. That's who drives that van. The people who took Wyatt, you know, to the hospital today, they can. They have spaces, and they have couples in there. They have men to women's and a couples place, but you gotta be clean for at least 48 hours, right? So you're willing to explore that type of. That transition.
[00:48:04] Speaker B: They keep you off for a winter.
[00:48:05] Speaker A: Man, we get people into shelters all the time. We got another guy into a tiny home village today. He literally contacted us at the same time. We met Wyatt earlier, and within 30 minutes, we got him a confirmed tiny home to live in. So we transitioned last month, 176 people off the street.
[00:48:24] Speaker D: My ultimate goal is to get into housing and get a studio apartment or something.
[00:48:32] Speaker A: So where do. Where do you live at? Where do you stay at? What side of town?
[00:48:36] Speaker D: All over, really. I mean, you know, wherever we end up for the night and the rest are in.
[00:48:40] Speaker A: That's where we rest.
[00:48:42] Speaker D: I kind of want to get a more permanent spot set up by. You know, I hear that putting a tent inside of a tent inside another tent is our head for the winter. You know, it adds some insulation, so I might do that.
[00:48:53] Speaker A: I probably shouldn't give you tips, but whatever.
[00:48:55] Speaker D: Whatever I can do to keep her warm.
[00:48:56] Speaker A: I think it's called a finnish or a swedish heater. You make a. You make a fire on the outside, and you run a metal pipe through the fire and then into your tent, and it sucks the air through the heated pipe. Yeah. But you don't get any fumes because the end of the pipe is on the other side of the fire, like four fields.
[00:49:14] Speaker D: Another thing you can do is it'll.
[00:49:16] Speaker A: Be 75 degrees in there and 25 degrees outside. Yeah.
[00:49:19] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:49:19] Speaker D: You can run pipes through a fire and then bury them underneath your tent.
[00:49:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:49:24] Speaker B: Oh, interesting.
[00:49:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:25] Speaker B: Heats the ground.
[00:49:26] Speaker A: Yeah.
So I want to. I want to try to help you if we're going to contact you again. Where we. Where can we contact you at?
[00:49:34] Speaker D: I have a text now. Number.
[00:49:36] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:49:36] Speaker D: That I'm. You know, I check it every day, at least once a day.
[00:49:39] Speaker A: Can I get your text? Is that all right?
[00:49:40] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:49:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
And Jacob.
Brandon. My bad.
[00:49:46] Speaker D: I go by saying, yeah.
[00:49:49] Speaker A: Terrence is the guy who got. I can't remember his name.
[00:49:52] Speaker B: Wyatt.
[00:49:53] Speaker A: No, the other guy. I think Derek got Derek into the tiny home today, so I'm gonna have to. I'm gonna let them know.
No, he's a little. Little older. White dude. His name is 50 years old.
[00:50:02] Speaker D: Okay. Yeah, I know.
[00:50:03] Speaker A: Yeah. And so you need to get through always, man. Ada access matters.
That's right.
So we're going to. I'm going to have them start texting you, and when you and your old lady are ready, they'll get. You'll find you a shelter, bro, and we can do it within a 24 hours period, I promise you. We did this 176 times.
[00:50:26] Speaker B: Yeah, before that cold weather hits, man. Just let them know. Get you out of this.
[00:50:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:32] Speaker D: I mean, honestly, people underestimate, you know, how detrimental having four walls and a roof is to success in life.
[00:50:40] Speaker B: This is why when I lost my.
[00:50:42] Speaker D: House, it was like maintaining full time employment was nearly impossible. Getting ready in my car and all that, you know, I was consistently, you know, showing up late and shit like that just because I was scrambling to get ready in this tiny little space, you know, couldn't keep my clothes clean. And it just, you know, they. They started seeing too much, you know? Yeah, that downfall there. And they let me go. It just discouraged me so much. And, yeah, on top of everything else, I just couldn't bounce back.
[00:51:11] Speaker B: And this is why the story on camera is because people need to know your story so they can begin to understand what folks go through, that you guys, a lot of people will look at the homeless on the street and say, oh, it's just human trash or whatever. That's not true. It's just. They're human, just like us.
[00:51:26] Speaker D: Like, I will never, ever in my life listen to another person tell me that homeless people are lazy.
[00:51:30] Speaker A: I work.
You do. You do. You work so hard to get. Just to live one more day. Yeah, you know, it's tough. It's really hard, bro. It's. It's hard work. And unfortunately, you know, people. You know, when they drive by, people are scared or they don't know what to do when they see someone on the street, they don't know what to think or do, so they just keep walking by, bro. You know, it's sad, bro, but, yeah.
[00:51:54] Speaker D: Yeah, now you get big time.
[00:52:00] Speaker A: No? Yeah. Awesome, man. Thanks for talking to us today. I sent your number over to.
[00:52:05] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:52:06] Speaker A: Brennan, Leaf and Terrence. They're gonna get a hold of you, bro, I promise.
[00:52:08] Speaker D: All right, sounds good.
[00:52:09] Speaker A: Awesome, bro. Nice to meet you.
[00:52:10] Speaker D: Yeah, have a good one.
[00:52:11] Speaker A: See you, too.
All right, have we checked on this person? Let's check on them.
[00:52:15] Speaker C: Yeah, he looks like he's sleeping, but he out of it. It was. The gal that he was mentioning was not the gal I thought it was.
[00:52:21] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:52:23] Speaker C: Hey there.
Hey, there. You sleeping? You okay? Hey, you okay?
[00:52:29] Speaker A: We're just checking in on you, so.
[00:52:31] Speaker C: Want to make sure you're all right. I work security.
[00:52:33] Speaker A: I remember I talked to you the other day. I came by here.
Have you used. You're not overdosing or anything? You're just taking a nap. You're just tired, okay. You want a cigarette or something?
[00:52:46] Speaker C: I'm out. That was my last one.
[00:52:48] Speaker A: Okay, we are. Let me go to Pete's real quick, okay? He's gonna buy a pack of cigarettes.
[00:52:51] Speaker B: Just making sure somebody's basically the ones laying on the ground. Just making sure they're not Odin, okay? That's all.
[00:52:57] Speaker A: Hey, sweetheart, here's us.
[00:52:59] Speaker B: Get us a food.
[00:53:01] Speaker A: I need a chip.
[00:53:02] Speaker C: Here you go, honey.
[00:53:06] Speaker B: What's your name again?
What's your name again, huh?
[00:53:10] Speaker C: Jackie.
[00:53:10] Speaker B: Jackie.
[00:53:11] Speaker C: You want a light?
[00:53:23] Speaker A: How long you been on the streets?
Really?
So this is your lifestyle now?
Have you ever thought about getting off the street? Yeah.
No one to help you, huh?
When's the last time someone talked to you about getting into a shelter? Actually came out on the streets and met you out here? Talk to you about it?
No one, huh?
Well, my name's Alex. It's nice to meet you. I'll be seeing you more because I'm gonna spend more time on this block.
And if you're wanting to get to a shelter, we'll talk about it next time I see you. We can chin. Okay? All right. God bless you.
[00:54:27] Speaker B: All right. You get some rest, all right? All right. Jackie.
[00:54:36] Speaker C: See the guy with the hoodie? With the orange hoodie right there?
[00:54:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:54:39] Speaker C: He's got a ass baton that's extended and he's very animated, to say the least.
[00:54:45] Speaker A: Let me tell him that Terrence is gonna fall to him tomorrow.
Hey, Brendan, I just wanted to see this. That's my brother. He died in 2007.
[00:54:59] Speaker B: You guys, you guys are doing good.
[00:55:00] Speaker A: Terrence is gonna follow me tomorrow.
[00:55:02] Speaker C: It's hard.
[00:55:02] Speaker A: I have no idea what you guys appreciate you, bro.
[00:55:04] Speaker C: It ain't security anymore.
[00:55:05] Speaker A: I was not looking for two years.
[00:55:07] Speaker B: You can always do better security by way of compassion.
[00:55:10] Speaker A: You don't have to be on the street no more, man. For real.
Okay?
[00:55:13] Speaker B: Guys like accomplishing the job for the client must go through the gateway of compassion, grace and mercy.
You see what I'm saying?
[00:55:25] Speaker C: Indeed I do.
[00:55:26] Speaker A: So, wow. Busy day, right? Busy day right along. Portland, Oregon. Our guest today, Jamie Worley, former police officer, been on the streets, knows what it's like. He's going to be back to tell us more of his background, what he's actually been through.
He's been more than just a police officer. I'll just say it that way. Right. And so hope we'll have him back again. We'll go through his entire background. You know, today we wanted to focus on the work that we do. Every day on the streets. So just give us a little bit of an after action review. What was your experience about what was going on?
[00:55:56] Speaker B: Being in law enforcement and even being homeless? At one point in my own life, I've got to tell you, I've been around police officers, deputies. I've seen all kinds of different security guard outfits. Nobody is doing what you guys are doing. I am just. I can't believe what I've been saying today. And to see you guys perform your jobs as security guards by way of compassion, mercy, and grace, it's like security takes a backseat. But compassion, mercy, and grace is actually accomplishing the goal of guarding these properties. I've never seen it done this way before. It is something that I don't think anybody's doing anywhere.
[00:56:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:36] Speaker B: Or we would have heard of it.
[00:56:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:38] Speaker B: Caring for these people one at a time.
[00:56:40] Speaker A: That's right.
[00:56:41] Speaker B: Is just.
Nobody else is doing it in this city, and I know there's other cities. This city needs what you guys are doing more than anything.
[00:56:49] Speaker A: Thanks, Jamie. I appreciate it, man. Buck, what are your thoughts?
[00:56:52] Speaker C: We got, you know, we did a lot today, right? Did a lot of stuff going on, but to be honest, it's a normal day for us. Day. Yeah, it's Thursday.
[00:57:02] Speaker B: Let me be honest. Let me be honest really quick.
The thing I've taken away most from both of you guys and watching what you do is not only what you guys are doing out here, the change you're making, one person at a time, but the biggest thing I think I've realized today is that I'm part of the problem. I'm not doing enough. I'm not doing enough of what you guys are doing. And it's inspired me to go back to what I do, and that is instilling men with grit, leadership, to be better men in their homes, their communities, and their churches, wherever they are.
And I've got to inspire them not to just be strong, but to be strong and be mindful of what's happening here, because I don't know what else we need more than what you guys are doing. So thank you guys so much. This has really opened my eyes. I had. I really had no idea.
[00:57:51] Speaker A: Well, thanks for coming out. Your expertise and this matter means a lot to us. I mean, you know, doing the job in law enforcement is difficult enough. Your other background, everything you went through in that life, we're gonna get into that later. But hearing that from you, man, it really. It just encourages me to feel like that we're doing the right thing here. Everyone at home. This is the ride along. It's in Portland, Oregon. Check us out online.
We're gonna continue to keep doing this work. This work doesn't end. It's here every day. Okay? Keep checking us out if you need. If you want to reach out to us. If you're interested in doing a ride along, message us. Reach out to us. You can email me, you can reach out to Bach, reach out to us on our social media platform. We want you to be invested as well.
See you next time.
[00:58:35] Speaker B: Do it. You won't regret it.
Awesome.
