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The People’s Store serves walk-up customers in Old Town. (Photo by B Okabe)

Photos | At the People’s Store, mutual aid for houseless Portlanders

Street Roots
The resource on wheels offers food, clothing and other items for free
by B Okabe | 21 Oct 2020

Temporarily operating out of a van borrowed from a volunteer, The People’s Store makes evening stops at houseless camps across Portland twice a week. The store offers hot food, clean socks, medical supplies, clothing, books and other items, free of charge, to anyone who approaches.

This resource on wheels started after Ian Clark and Lulu Skach witnessed what Skach described as “a lot of houseless folks getting tear-gassed at protests.” They wanted to help houseless Portlanders living in Black Lives Matter protest areas. Skach began emailing and making calls and eventually connected with other activists through Instagram who were talking about the same thing.

The project, originally called Protest Protections, launched in early June, and it has since broadened to address a larger gap in resources and services left by pandemic-caused closures.

The People’s Store seeks to be a mobile, adaptable, relationship-focused link between resources and people living outside. Recently, the store bought a box truck to increase the scope of its reach and offerings, and it will do some fundraising so that it can build out the box truck to meet its needs as a mobile store.

Visit the People’s Store on Instagram @thepeoplesstorepdx and click on its Linktree if you are interested in volunteering your time, resources or supplies. Volunteers are collecting blankets, tents, tarps, sleeping bags, Gatorade, water, soft snacks, and medical supplies such as bandages, wraps, alcohol wipes, body wipes and sanitary items.

The People’s Store van
Volunteer Sasha Mancisdor hands out Gatorade while The People’s Store is parked at Laurelhurst Park on Southeast 37th Avenue and Oak Street.
Photo by B Okabe

The People’s Store menu
The People’s Store menu shows the goods the store offers free of charge. “I really needed socks, and now I have socks,” one shopper said, wishing to remain anonymous. He also picked up a book, an offering donated from Street Books, a bicycle-powered mobile library.
Photo by B Okabe

The People's Store customer
Bobby accepts clothing items from volunteer The People's Store volunteer Sasha Mancisdor. He said he likes the store “because it is doing the good thing … and that’s a good start to something better.”
Photo by B Okabe

Volunteers look at the camera, wearing protective masks in 2020
The People's Store volunteers, from left: Sasha Mancisdor, Ian Clark, Katie Rettew and Emma Schu.
Photo by B Okabe


Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
© 2020 Street Roots. All rights reserved.  | To request permission to reuse content, email editor@streetroots.org or call 503-228-5657, ext. 404.
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