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Columbia Sportswear CEO donates $1.5 million for new homeless shelter


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Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle is donating $1.5 million of his personal money to build a new homeless shelter in Northwest Portland.

This comes just five months after Boyle wrote an opinion piece in The Oregonian about the homeless problem. He threatened to move the Sorel headquarters out of the area.

Now, he’s helping to fund a place where those suffering from homelessness can go.

"If you're going to say something about it, you better do something about it," Boyle said.

He donated the $1.5 million dollars to the nonprofit Oregon Harbor of Hope. It's a monumental move in the blending of public and private sector responsibility.

"When the mayor and Bob Stoll came to me with this concept, I said, you know, ‘Absolutely, I'll back it,’” Boyle said, noting that city officials came to him about two months ago with the idea.

The “Navigation Center and Temporary Shelter” will hold about 120 people. It’ll have meeting and meal areas inside, as well as beds, bathrooms, showers and spaces to do laundry.

"The problem we're going to have in terms of homelessness is many, many times greater than anybody is planning for," said Homer Williams, a deverloper who is the chairman of Oregon Harbor for Hope.

It’ll be built in Northwest Portland, beneath the north end of the Broadway Bridge. Currently, the lot, between NW Naito Parkway and the train tracks is empty. Prosper Portland, an agency of the city of Portland, owns the land.

The spot is within eyesight of the Residence Inn by Marriott Portland Downtown/Pearl District. That’sWilliams’s hotel.He once actively fought against putting a shelter so close to his building.

"Once I got involved, well then it's hard not to get involved more," Williams said. "What is not acceptable is having people living in the bushes."

He also had a realization.

"As a community we can manage this, but if we don't have everybody involved, we can't expect the city to manage this on their own," he said.

It’s a call for help, from others besides Boyle. Although, Boyle did say his $1.5 million donation likely isn’t a one-time deal. "You know, this is an ongoing problem which is not going to be going away with just one, one building, so I'm committed to being around for the long term,” Boyle said.

Boyle is hoping his donation inspires others from the private sector to do something similar, but he’s not just calling for money donations, he’s also asking for the community and neighborhoods to step up and volunteer time as well.

The Joint Office of Homeless Services, which is a colllaboration between Multnomah County and the City of Portland, says it's encouraged by the private-public partnership and hopes it spurs other business leaders to take a similar action.

"It's always a good thing when we see new partners come to the table and say we want to be part of the solution, here's what we can contribute," said Marc Jolin, the office's director.

Jolin says his office will work on outreach to people staying at the shelter to help direct them to existing services.

"The shelter offers an opportunity to engage with the people," Jolin said. "Connect them witht he services that they need to hopefully move out of shelter and in to permanent housing."

The shelter is expected to be finished by late Summer 2018, early Fall 2018.


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