This is the last of the villages/encampments we visited out west. We also visited some other programs which I may share more about later.
This was probably the most well run encampment and perhaps my favorite. They had 85 people here and could have up to 100. This was also a 90 day encampment at churches. The encampment was run by the people who lived there with support from Wheel/Share, a non-profit. They also run Tent City 4 which we didn’t see because we ran out of time. They had a very, very long list of rules that mostly resulted in more work to be done by the violators but also had a rather extensive ban list (boo) that is used at both encampments. Seattle also had three Nicklesville encampments we also didn’t have time to see.
They had several common area tents that were very organized. They used car ports like Camp Quixote. The security tent was at the front like most of the encampments.
They had a bike borrowing tent.
A donation tent.
An office for the treasurer and to keep track of all the volunteer hours
Common area with phone charging system.
Kitchen
TV and library room. And not pictured here a computer lab tent.
One of the coolest things they had was their shower trailer they made.
They used portapotties
And when people first came they stayed in the group tents until an individual tent opened up. The group tents have beds and they wash the blankets every week.
One of the most intriguing things is that they move this camp in one day, 4 times a year, all 100 people and all this stuff! I’d say that has to be an impressive thing to see. They have it down to a science at this point. They said that when they move, they start looking for the next church and they try not to go back to the same place more than once a year.
I’m not sure why this one was my favorite, but they struck a good balance of letting the people living in the camp run the camp and providing unintrusive support for that project. My one hesitation is the permanent bans.
Again, here’s the places we visited. A summary will be forthcoming after further research and reading and hunting down various rules.
Right to Dream Too – Portland, Ore
Dignity Village – Portland, Ore
Opportunity Village – Eugene, Ore
Whoville and Eugene SLEEPS – Eugene, Ore
Camp Quixote and Quixote Village – Olympia, Washington
Tent City #3 (didn’t see Tent City 4 or 3 Nicklesville encampments) – Seattle, Washington
