Director's Desk | Street Roots groundbreaking ceremony was motivated by hope and community
It didn’t go as planned — and that is OK. The day came after weeks of planning the Streets Roots groundbreaking processional. It was time for the community to kick off the renovation of the West Burnside Street building and celebrate that we are 80% of the way to our fundraising goal.
This wasn’t about a building. It was about creating space for people experiencing homelessness and poverty to show up as their whole human selves, so we can work together for their better future.
It was tempting to cling onto my idea of what the groundbreaking should be. After all, so many things went wrong. The music speaker wasn’t loud enough for everyone to hear. The microphone kept turning off while people were using it. I didn’t hand over the reins to our artistic director when it was the appropriate time to do so. I didn’t say ‘hi’ to everyone I wanted to say ‘hi’ to — and for the people I did greet, it was brisk. If your love language is words of affirmation or quality time, I feel like I offended you.
Perhaps most difficult of all was the fact that the HOPE sign was gone, no longer hanging off the front of the building. Street Roots staff and vendors painted on the sheets that eventually draped the front of the building. The banner represented what our capital campaign stood for, and that is hope. Despite the challenges and difficulties, Street Roots proceeds with hope, the idea that at any given moment, we have everyone needed around us to make anything possible.
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You might understand why it felt like a blow that our grand banner was gone just when everyone gathered. But if the sign was up, the following moment couldn’t have unfolded. The morning of the groundbreaking, someone from the streets walked up to it, and without even asking, started spreading it out.
I walked up to her and said ‘hi.’ She told me her name was Maddie and asked me what was on the sign. I shared that it said the word HOPE. She paused for a moment, cracked a smile, and said, “that’s the word I have tattooed on my hand.” She began unraveling the sign, spotting that it was starting to rip in the middle.
“I can fix that — I just need a sewing kit,” she said.
My inner critic was saying, “You don’t have time for someone to sew this sign. The groundbreaking starts in an hour!” But ultimately, the work we are doing isn’t about a building. It’s recognizing the full humanity of people on the streets and creating space for them to participate in building a better future.
So I walked over to a convenience store in Old Town and bought Maddie a sewing kit.
When I came back, Maddie asked me and Jose, who works with O’Neill Construction Group, to put the sign on one of the fences so she could begin sewing. Watching her sew the sign created joy for all of us.
Maddie didn’t finish the sign “on time.” That didn’t matter.
The new building at Street Roots represents hope, it represents creating space for unhoused people to discover opportunities, and this moment with Maddie was hope in action. That’s what this work is all about.
Learn more about the Street Roots capital campaign to renovate the Street Roots Burnside Building at streetroots.org/hope
Cody Pika Tavita McGraw is the capital campaign director at Street Roots. This column represents his views. You can reach him at cody@streetroots.org.
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